CLINICAL SOCIOLOGYthe earliest known proposal using the words ‘‘clini-
cal sociology’’ was by Milton C. Winternitz (1885–
1959), a physician who was dean of the Yale School
of Medicine from 1920 through 1935. At least as
early as 1929, Winternitz began developing a plan
to establish a department of clinical sociology
within Yale’s medical school. Winternitz wanted
each medical student to have a chance to analyze
cases based on a medical specialty as well as a
specialty in clinical sociology.
Winternitz vigorously sought financial sup-
port for his proposal from the Rosenwald Fund,
but he was unable to obtain the necessary funds
for a department of clinical sociology. He did
note, however, the success of a course in the
medical school’s section on public health that was
based on the clinical sociology plan.
The first course using the words ‘‘clinical soci-
ology’’ in the title was taught by Ernest W. Burgess
(1886–1966) at the University of Chicago. Burgess
taught the course in 1928 and then offered it twice
in 1929. During these years, the course was consid-
ered to be a ‘‘special’’ course and did not appear in
the university’s catalog. Burgess offered the clini-
cal sociology course, as a regular course, five times
from 1931 through 1933. The course continued to
be listed in the catalog for the next several years
but was not taught after 1933.
The University of Chicago catalogs did not
include a description of the clincal sociology course,
but the course always was listed under the social
pathology grouping. All courses in this section
dealt with topics such as criminality, punishment,
criminal law, organized crime, and personal disor-
ganization. Several of the students enrolled in
these first clinical sociology courses were placed in
child guidance clinics. Clarence E. Glick, for in-
stance, was the staff sociologist at Chicago’s Lower
North Side Child Guidance Clinic and Leonard
Cottrell was the clinical sociologist at the South
Side Child Guidance Clinic.
Two other universities offered clinical courses
in the l930s—Tulane University in Louisiana and
New York University. The Tulane University course
was designed to give students the opportunity to
learn about behavior problems and social therapy
by conferences and fieldwork in a child guidance
clinic. Louis Wirth (1897–1952), a full-time faculty
member and director of the New Orleans Child
Guidance Clinic, was scheduled to teach the course
in the spring of 1930. Wirth was unable to teach
the course because he accepted a one-year Social
Science Research Council Fellowship to work in
Europe. The course was taught in his absence, but
the university’s course information does not iden-
tify the professor who took Wirth’s place.When Wirth returned to the United States in
1931, he joined the faculty of the University of
Chicago. In the spring of 1932 he taught a ‘‘mi-
nor’’ course in clinical sociology but by then he no
longer was working with child guidance clinics.New York University also offered clinical soci-
ology courses in the early 1930s. Harvey Warren
Zorbaugh (1896–1965) was a faculty member there
in the School of Education which provided under-
graduate and graduate preparation for visiting
teachers, educational counselors, clinicians, social
workers, and school guidance administrators. The
major focus of the program was the solution of
educational problems and other social dilemmas.Zorbaugh, along with Agnes Conklin, offered
‘‘Seminar in Clinical Practice’’ in 1930. The course
was intended to qualify students as counselors or
advisers to deal with behavioral difficulties in
schools. From 1931 through 1933 the clinical prac-
tice course was called ‘‘Seminar in Clinical Sociolo-
gy.’’ The course was one of the highest numbered
courses in educational sociology and was offered
both terms of each year. The course was open to
graduate students who were writing theses or en-
gaged in research projects in the fields of educa-
tional guidance and social work.Zorbaugh, author of The Gold Coast and the
Slum: A Sociological Study of Chicago’s Near North
Side, had been involved with clinics at least since- That was the year Zorbaugh and Clifford
Shaw organized two sociological clinics in Chica-
go—the Lower North and South Side Child Guid-
ance Clinics. Zorbaugh was associate director of
the Lower North Side Child Guidance Clinic in 1925.
Zorbaugh was a founder, in 1928, of the Clinic
for the Social Adjustment of the Gifted at New
York University. He was director of this clinic at its
inception and was actively involved in its work for
over fifteen years. The clinic was for intellectually
gifted and talented preadolescents. The clinic gave
graduate students the opportunity to have super-
vised experiences in teaching, clinical diagnosing
and treating of children with behavioral problems.