The Other Chicago School

Chapter 5 details Breckinridge’s collaboration with Edith Abbott at the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration, exploring the pair’s distinctive approach to the professionalization of social work and their consistent emphasis on public welfare programs. Building on their previous collaboration at the private Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy, Breckinridge and Abbott worked in tandem to build the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration and to make it the premier school of social work in the United States. This chapter examines the two women’s distinctive approach to social work, basing social welfare policy on social science research and emphasizing public programs rather than individual responsibility.