Rockefeller Philanthropy and Modern Social Science studies a forty-year period of efforts to provide financial support to social scientists. The period is from the late 1880s to the late 1920s. Historical studies have tended to conclude either that Rockefeller philanthropy aimed to guide the directions of social science or that it did not. Some historians see the relationship between Rockefeller philanthropy and social science as compatible with the autonomy of social scientists. Others conclude that Rockefeller financial support conflicted with scientific freedom. I reconsider how and why Rockefeller donations were made to social scientists. By looking at what these donations aimed to do and what these donations accomplished, I conclude that each of two opposing camps among historians is partly correct. I bring to the conversation much archival research, which I employ to understand discussions and bargaining procedures between social scientists and foundation personnel. I find that the Rockefellers and their foundation officials developed many protective strategies to enable uncontroversial support of social scientists.

This book is also about the Rockefellers – John D. Rockefeller and John D. Rockefeller, Jr – and what they did when they understood that the American people expect business activities and business profits to serve ‘the public interest’. A key underlying issue throughout the book is that ‘the public interest’ was a changing concept over time. John D. Rockefeller was very wealthy.