INTRODUCTION TO THE SCIENCE OF SOCIOLOGY
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY
NEW YORK
THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON
THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA
TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO, FUKUOKA, SENDAI
THE MISSION BOOK COMPANY
SHANGHAI
INTRODUCTION TO THE SCIENCE OF SOCIOLOGY
By
Robert E. Park and Ernest W. Burgess
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
Copyright 1921 By
The University of Chicago
All rights Reserved
Published September 1921
PREFACE
The materials upon which this book is based have been collected from awide range of sources and represent the observation and reflection ofmen who have seen life from very different points of view. This wasnecessary in order to bring into the perspective of a single volume thewhole wide range of social organization and human life which is thesubject-matter of a science of society.
At the same time an effort has been made to bring this material withinthe limits of a very definite series of sociological conceptions whichsuggest, at any rate, where they do not clearly exhibit, the fundamentalrelations of the parts to one another and to the concepts and contentsof the volume as a whole.
The Introduction to the Science of Sociology is not conceived as amere collection of materials, however, but as a systematic treatise. Onthe other hand, the excerpts which make up the body of the book are notto be regarded as mere illustrations. In the context in which theyappear, and with the headings which indicate their place in the volume,they should enable the student to formulate for himself the principlesinvolved. An experience of some years, during which this book has beenin preparation, has demonstrated the value to the teacher of a body ofmaterials that are interesting in themselves and that appeal to theexperience of the student. If students are invited to take an activepart in the task of interpretation of the text, if they are encouragedto use the references in order to extend their knowledge of thesubject-matter and to check and supplement classroom discussion by theirpersonal observation, their whole attitude becomes active rather thanpassive. Students gain in this way a sense of dealing at first hand witha subject-matter that is alive and with a science that is in the making.Under these conditions sociology becomes a common enterprise in whichall members of the class participate; to which, by their observation andinvestigation, they can and should make contributions.
The first thing that students in sociology need to learn is to observeand record their own observations; to read, and then to select and[Pg vi]record the materials which are the fruits of their readings; toorganize and use, in short, their own experience. The whole organizationof this volume may be taken as an illustration of a method, at oncetentative and experimental, for the collection, classification, andinterpretation of materials, and should be used by students from thevery outset in all their reading and study.
Social questions have been endlessly discussed, and it is important thatthey should be. What the student needs to learn, however, is how to getfacts rather than formulate opinions. The most important facts thatsociologists have to deal with are opinions (attitudes and sentiments),but until students learn to deal with opinions as the biologists dealwith organisms, that is, to dissect them—reduce t