The subject is Robert Ezra Park (1864-1944), a theorist in the development of social science and criminology who did not begin to address those subjects until he began university teaching in his 50th year. This has also made it difficult to pinpoint the assumptions underlying his thought and work. He was a strong advocate of the scientific method, and his philosophical foundation is best represented in the "positivistic organicism" tradition. He was further guided by the principle that society was organismic in character. Park adopted the consistent conception that dissecting society into its "forms" allows for more precise descriptions. He further assumed that sociology was inextricably intertwined with history. He opposed what he called "do-gooder" reformists and accepted a doctrine of Social Darwinism.
Park was part of a movement to elucidate human ecology, and he coined the term and presented many writings which synthesized ecological explanations of human conduct, with his most important work on the subject being Introduction to the Science of Sociology from 1921, a work that was highly influential. Park and Ernest Burgess co-authored the book, and these two were among the first to include a chapter on "isolation" as an important element in understanding human social life, along with the topics social contact and interaction, social forces, competition and conflict, and accommodation and assimilation. Park's methodology was also important if later overshadowed by his theoretical ideas. He used participant observation, social survey, life histories, and sponsored research to derive his conceptions. His tenure in academic sociology shows a consistent union of theory and research.
The subject is William Herbert Sheldon (1898-1977), whose theories have always been on the periphery of criminological theory and which some see as not at all scientific. However, he represents the last of the trendsetters who carried on...