Emory S. Bogardus. La distanza sociale

The volume deals with the social and historical reconstruction of the personal, environmental and cultural aspects that characterized the career path of the American sociologist Bogardus, author of the concept of social distance. The social factors that heavily invested the USA in the 19th century as lands of considerable migratory flows are analyzed. This movement can be further distinguished by referring to two migratory subperiods in which there was a succession of a so-called "first wave" up to 1880, and a "second wave" after 1880. These groups of immigrants settled consistently in the geographical area in the North (both East and West). At the beginning of the twentieth century, a "third wave" followed, during which immigrants came mainly from Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, China and India and settled substantially on the west coast, particularly in the Californian region. After a brief biographical note by the North American sociologist, the scientific interest of American sociology towards these profound changes, in particular of the Chicago School, will also be analyzed; the scientific debate and the main scholars who have contributed to the conceptualization first and then operationalization of the concept of social distance with the Social distance Scale and its relevance in the panorama of social sciences.