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American Pragmatism, Sociology and the Development of Disability Studies
Journal of Health and Social Behavior are replete with articles using
quantitative methods to examine the relationship between poverty,
race, gender, education, stress, access to resources and employment
on outcome variables such as discrimination, disparity in
income, access to opportunities, health, well being and equal
justice for all citizens. Social science publishers like Sage Inc. have
instituted series of methodological primers that guide researchers
in how to better measure and analyze data, test hypotheses and
build ever more sophisticated models of individual, group and
organizational behavior. This vast literature conforms to the spirit
of the “scientific method” proposed by PIERCE and legitimized by
research in the natural sciences. At the same time much of this
literature is concerned with social problems and issues of justice
that carry forth another theme from the pragmatists; the desire to
make a difference and to judge the value of research by it practical
usefulness.
In the disability arena, these themes were also carried forth into
rehabilitation and disability research. In the United States,
rehabilitation research typically meant medical rehabilitation of
individuals after trauma or the diagnosis of impairment or social
rehabilitation through physical and occupational therapy and
education that would allow individuals to obtain a job or return to
work. Medical rehabilitation research burgeoned after the end of
World War II and particularly from the 1960’s to the present. This
work is most often directed by physicians and aimed at acquiring
knowledge that would improve functional status and permit
individuals to live independently in the community. Social rehabilitation
research was often undertaken by economists and researchers
in vocational rehabilitation and special education; sometimes
working in conjunction with physicians to develop programs that
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