Thomas L. Haskell, in The Emergence

Thomas L. Haskell, in The Emergence of Professional Social Science, traces the
history of the old American Social Science Association (ASSA), founded in 1865, as it
confronted what he calls a "crisis of professional authority" (1977:vi). Reform and advocacy
coexisted, albeit somewhat uneasily, with science and objectivity during most of the
latter half of the nineteenth century within the ASSA. Members of the ASSA came not
only from the academy, but also included practitioners interested in charity work and in
prison reform among other causes. Many were involved in the Social Gospel, Chatauqua,
and urban reform movements as well (Ross, 1979:118). David Rothman's The Discovery
of the Asylum (1971) is a good example of the reform roots of those who later turned to
a rising professionalism during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Increasingly, however,
the professional associations moved to become more and more separate, academic