- Title:
- Seeking the highest good: social service at the University of Toronto, 1888-1937.
- Creator:
- Burke, Sara Z.
- Date Created:
- 1994
- Degree Awarded:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Subjects:
- University Of Toronto Women Attitudes Social Service Ontario
- Geographical Focus:
- Toronto
- Supporting Materials:
- n/a
- Description:
- During the late 1890s and early 1900s, many facultymembers and students at the University of Toronto became convinced that they shared a unique responsibility toalleviate the problems of urban poverty. This thesis argues that between 1888 and 1937, a dominant social ethic gainedwidespread acceptance in the academic community, and that until World War II, it provided a framework for the University's official participation in social service.By examining the social thought of a series ofinfluential academics, the study traces the dissemination atthe University of Toronto of an identifiable ethic or ideal: a combination of scientific and moral assumptions which originated in the distinct--but compatible--intellectualtraditions of empiricism and Fritish idealism. These convictions shaped the University's formal responses to thepoverty crisis after 1900, and were incorporated into thepolicy of the University of Toronto Settlement im 1910, andinto the curriculum of the new Department of Social Servicein 1914.Although this interpretation of social service remaineddominant at Toronto until the late 1930s, its authority was contested by the growing influence of professional social work among University women. The Toronto ideal conveyed aview of service which elevated the importance of educated men, while it devalued and ignored the social workactivities of female students and graduates. Throughout theperiod, the construction of gender roles in social servicesegregated the reform interests of men and women, andultimately atfected the academic development of both socialwork and sociology at the University of Toronto.
Source
- Preferred Citation:
- Burke, Sara Z.. 1994. "Seeking the highest good: social service at the University of Toronto, 1888-1937.", Department of History, Carleton University
- Link to this page:
- https://cuhistory.github.io/grads/items/hist_227.html
Rights
- Rights:
- Copyright the author, all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.