The Human Drama Behind the Study of People as Potato Bugs

Robert E. Park played a central part in defining sociology as a natural science. He imagined sociologists as unbiased and unaffected by the human behavior they studied. He particularly criticized the work of female sociologists who applied their sociological knowledge with the help of hundreds of thousands of clubwomen. He mocked these clubwomen and their ‘do-goodism’. Clara Cahill Park, his wife, was one of these clubwomen who engaged in all the work he mocked and she was allied with female sociologists. This resulted in a curious situation where Park supported his wife and engaged in social reform while simultaneously he criticized clubwomen and the work of applied sociologists.