Chicago City Wire

A newly released book examines the concept of scale as it relates to social sciences.

Edited by two Midwestern scholars, including a University of Chicago professor, Scale: Discourse and Dimensions of Social Life studies the way people perceive and work with the scale of social phenomena, from its application to interactions in social work to politics or natural disasters, viewed along a spectrum of “micro” to “macro.”

The book was co-edited by E. Summerson Carr, associate professor at the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration (SSA), and Michael Lempert, University of Michigan associate professor of anthropology.

A launch event will be held 6-8 p.m. Monday at Chicago’s Seminary Co-op Bookstore, 5751 S. Woodlawn Ave.

"There is no neutral way of describing scale," Carr, who, with her co-editor, collected input from many eminent academics for the collection, said. "I talk with students who are struggling to make the choice about whether to choose SSA's 'clinical' or 'administration (policy)' track, and I remind them that they can expect that their actual work in the field will require them to think across these scalar divisions, and even undo them."

The project was born out of a discussion about interdisciplinary applications across varied professions. The launch event, part of the bookstore’s Urban Readers series, is free and open to the public. Individuals will have an opportunity to meet the authors and have their copies of the book signed and/or engage in informal discussions with the editors.

"To study scale....is to examine how the ideals of social life stand in tension with ideas of what is practically achievable," the editors said in their book introduction.

Those interested in attending can register at https://www.facebook.com/events/1101303253281216.