Introduction to Jane Addams’ “The Subjective Value of a Social Settlement”

The essay reprinted here was originally delivered as a lecture by Jane Addams at the summer session of the School of Applied Ethics in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1892. At the time, Hull-House was nearly three years old, having been founded on September 18, 1889.

Both Jane Addams and Julia Lathrop from Hull-House attended this summer session of the new School of Applied Ethics. Opened in July of that year, the school was based on the principle that the social, industrial, and intellectual questions of the day had an ethical basis. In 1892, individuals representing various social settlements in America including Vida D. Scudder, Helena Dudley, Emily Batch and Jean Fine from the college settlement association in New York, and Robert A. Woods, head resident of Andover House in Boston, came together in Plymouth to discuss the general topic of social progress.

Jane Addams gave two lectures at the session that summer: "The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements" and its companion, "The Objective Value of a Social Settlement." Enthusiastically received by those in attendance, these two lectures helped to establish Jane Addams as a national leader in the settlement house movement. At Julia Lathrop's urging, the two lectures were subsequently published by "The Forum" magazine under the titles "A New Impulse to an Old Gospel" and "Hull-House Chicago: An Effort Toward Social Democracy." In 1893, they were again printed as part of a collection of essays titled Philanthropy and Social Progress by Thomas Y. Crowell and & Company.

In "The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements" Jane Addams analyzes the philosophical underpinnings of the settlement movement during its early days, identifying the basic motives for this work. It is here that Jane Addams emphasizes the reciprocity of settlement house work analyzing its significance and rewards for all members of society. It is in this essay also that Addams first states her often repeated belief that "the best teacher of life is life itself."

One hundred years ago Hull-House in Chicago was a dynamic center of activity and a gathering place for individuals dedicated to developing new solutions to the social problems of the day. Today we face social issues very similar to those of Jane Addams' time. Presently our world is undergoing dramatic transformations that will effect every aspect of our culture and life. Taken together "The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements" and its companion piece "The Objective Value of A Social Settlement" represent a clear and thorough presentation of Jane Addams' thought and work one hundred years ago. They have been reprinted by the Jane Addams' Hull-House Museum at the University of Illinois at Chicago, not only because of what they tell us about Jane Addams experiences and times, but because of their potential to reveal much about our own.