The first in-depth empirical study that goes beyond the initial trauma of rape and considers the interplay between society and the experience of rape, the interaction between the victim and her own social world.

Settlement Sociology In The Progressive Years claims for sociology a lost history and paradigm only recently acknowledged for shaping the American sociological tradition. The roots of sociology as a public enterprise for social reform are restored through early research, teaching and social advocacy. Williams and MacLean trace the key works of early scholar activists through the leading settlement houses in Chicago, New York and Boston.