Robert Ezra Park
Robert Ezra Park was an influential American urban sociologist, born on February 14, 1864, in Pennsylvania. His early career as a journalist sparked a deep interest in social issues, leading him to transition into academia. Park is best known for founding the field of human ecology at the University of Chicago, where he emphasized direct interaction with communities over traditional sociological methodologies. He studied under prominent figures like philosopher John Dewey and became involved in social reform movements, notably working with Booker T. Washington.
Park's academic journey included earning degrees from the University of Michigan and Harvard University, and he later contributed significantly to the understanding of race relations and group behavior through empirical research and published works. His approach, often associated with the Chicago School of sociology, examined the dynamics of immigrant societies in America, positing that societal loyalties are often shaped by fear of other groups. Park's legacy lies in transforming sociology into a more practical and engaged discipline, impacting future generations of sociologists and social scientists. He married Clara Cahill in 1894, and they had four children, balancing his professional life with a commitment to family and social advocacy.
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Subject Terms
Robert Ezra Park
American sociologist, journalist, and author
- Born: February 14, 1864
- Place of Birth: Harveyville, Pennsylvania
- Died: February 7, 1944
- Place of Death: Nashville, Tennessee
- Education: University of Minnesota; University of Michigan; Harvard University
- Significance: Robert Ezra Park was an American urban sociologist who, while working as a professor at the University of Chicago, created the field of human ecology, an approach to sociology in which the sociologist interacts with people instead of following methodology. Before becoming a sociologist, Park worked as a journalist and developed an interest in social problems while writing articles.
Background
Robert Ezra Park was born on February 14, 1864, in Harveyville, Pennsylvania. His mother, Theodosia Warner Park, was a teacher, and his father, Hiram Asa Park, was a solider in the Union Army. When the Civil War ended, the family moved to Red Wing, Minnesota, to live with Park's paternal grandfather. Park's father opened a grocery store there.
Park lived in Red Wing for the next eighteen years. He was not a promising student, but he liked learning about the townspeople and their ancestries. Park graduated high school in 1882—finishing tenth in a class of thirteen. After high school, Park expressed an interest in attending college, but his father forbade it, telling Park that he was not "study material." Park ran away from home and found a job working on a railroad.
Once he saved enough money, Park enrolled at the University of Minnesota. When he passed his first few courses, his father accepted his decision to attend college and even offered to finance his education. Acting on his father's advice, Park left the University of Minnesota to continue his education at the more prestigious University of Michigan. At this school, Park became a student of the famous philosopher John Dewey, who later introduced Park to journalist Franklin Ford. Park and Ford planned to start a newspaper called the Thought News, in which they would interact with the public and publish people's opinions about the goings-on of the day. While the newspaper never came to fruition, the idea served as an inspiration for some of Parks' later endeavors. While he was involved in Ford's project, Park met a young artist and social reformer named Clara Cahill, whom he married in 1894. In 1887, Park graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in philosophy.
Park spent the next eleven years (1887–1898) working as a journalist for various newspapers in Minneapolis, Detroit, Denver, New York City, and Chicago. He became known for his perseverance when pursuing a story and often wrote about the underworld, which required him to visit opium dens and gambling houses. Around this time, he became interested in race relations.
Life's Work
In 1898, Park gave up journalism to return to his studies, which he pursued with a passion. He earned a master's degree in psychology and philosophy from Harvard University in 1899. During the same year, he traveled to Germany to study at the University of Berlin. He enrolled for a semester at the University of Strasbourg and a few years at the University of Heidelberg.
When Park returned to the United States, he accepted a position as an assistant in the Department of Philosophy at Harvard. To make ends meet, he worked two other jobs: he was the editor of the Sunday edition of a Boston newspaper and secretary of the Congo Reform Association (CRA), a movement to help the poverty-stricken workers in the African country by drawing attention to their plight. Park ultimately concluded that the key to improving the situation in the Congo was to educate the less-fortunate and the young. In 1905, he planned a trip to visit an industrial school in South Africa and turned to Booker T. Washington for advice about implementing this type of school in the Congo. Washington had founded the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama. Park never made the trip, however. Washington invited him to visit his institute and offered him a job as the school's publicity handler, which Park accepted.
In 1910, Park and Washington traveled to Europe to observe its impoverished working/farming class while keeping in mind the racial problems in the American South. They co-authored the book The Man Farthest Down: A Record of Observation and Study in Europe, published in 1912, based on their observations during this trip.
Park resigned from the Tuskegee Institute in 1912 to return to his home in Massachusetts to spend more time with his wife and four children. Park's family had remained in Massachusetts during Park's time in Alabama.
Park joined the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago in 1914, first as a lecturer and then as a full-time professor. At this time, the school was one of only a few to have a sociology department. Park remained at the University of Chicago until his retirement in 1936. During his tenure there, Park was involved in many research projects. He and his colleagues used the city as a kind of research lab. Park coined the term "human ecology" to describe this approach to sociology in which he interacted more with people rather than following methodology as had been done in the past. This approach involving field work in the city became known as the Chicago School.
Based on his observations of immigrant societies in America, Park formulated a theory of group behavior. He posited that the strength of the loyalties that bind persons within a society depend on how much they fear other societies. In other words, the most tightly bound immigrant societies are the most fearful.
Impact
Robert Ezra Park was a pioneer in developing the field of sociology, changing it from a mainly philosophical discipline to a hands-on study of human behavior. Through his research and in his many published works, Park contributed to the understanding of race relations and group behavior.
Personal Life
Park married Clara Cahill Park, an artist, a syndicated newspaper columnist, and an activist for women's rights, in 1894. The couple had four children: Edward Cahill Park, Theodosia Warner Park, Margaret Lucy Park Redfield, and Robert Hiram Park. After his retirement in 1933, Park spent winters in Nashville, Tennessee, and summers in Michigan.
Bibliography
Ballis, Barbara. The Romance of Culture in an Urban Civilization: Robert E. Park on Race and Ethnic Relations in Cities. Routledge, Kegan & Paul, 1990.
Lidner, R. et al. The Reportage of Urban Culture: Robert Park and the Chicago School.Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Lyman, Stanford M. "The Race Relations Cycle of Robert E. Park." Sociological Review, Spring 1968, journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2307/1388520?journalCode=spxa. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.
Owens, Robert. "The Chicago School of Urban Sociology." Oxford Biographies, 25 Sept. 2023, www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780190922481/obo-9780190922481-0071.xml. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.
Rauschenbush, Winifred. Robert E. Park. Duke University Press, 1979.
"Robert E. Park: Sociologist." Pantheon, pantheon.world/profile/person/Robert‗E.‗Park. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.
"Robert E. Park: Sociology." The University of Chicago Centennial Catalogues, www.lib.uchicago.edu/collex/exhibits/university-chicago-centennial-catalogues/university-chicago-faculty-centennial-view/robert-e-park-1864-1944-sociology/. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.
"Robert E. Park." American Sociological Association, www.asanet.org/robert-e-park/?hilite=Robert+E.+Park. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.