In 1920s Chicago a strong and influential tradition of sociological research was kick-started by Robert Park , who encouraged his students to "get the seat of their pants dirty" by engaging with the society they were studying. Laurie Taylor presents the first of five programmes from Chicago, where he has gone to find out if the research tradition is still flourishing. 1: The Black Metropolis. Peter St Jean is a young
Caribbean-born sociologist who has been living for five years in Chicago's most violent district - South Side. Though the neighbourhood is crime-ridden, drug-infested and seemingly forgotten,
Peter St Jean 's observations are underpinned with a fundamental optimism. Producer Tony Phillips