Robert parker's main achievements

Parker, his colleagues and students drew the locations of juvenile delinquency, prostitution, mental illness and other social problems on the map of Chicago. This symbolic picture has a concentric circle, and the most concentrated social problems are outside the downtown area. This type of sociological analysis is called "human ecology", and Parker used this type of sociological analysis in the first class of 1926. According to Darwin's theory of evolution, Parker and his students mainly studied plant ecology and animal ecology, from which they borrowed concepts such as invasion, domination, succession and growth rate.

Parker used evolution theory, especially Darwin's concept of survival competition, to distinguish four main social processes:

1. Competition: the struggle of each unit in the system to obtain scarce resources.

2. Conflict: the competition between interconnected communication units. "Communication" is defined as what happens when hearts meet, so two or more individuals can influence each other. Thus, communication is defined as effective communication.

3. Adaptation: This happens when the conflict stops. Due to the distribution of status and rights, the relationship between superiors and subordinates is determined and controlled by the social structure.

4. Assimilation: the exchange and enjoyment of cultural elements, thus producing * * * culture. For example, Parker studied the integration of European immigrants into American culture.

● Social distance

Parker expounded Simell's concept of social distance, that is, the lack of perceived intimacy between two or more individuals or other categories. Parker got this concept from Simell's The Thought of Strangers, and one of his students, E Bogardus, developed a social distance scale. Parker also adopted the idea of marginal role from Simell's concept of strangers. Marginal people are people who live between two worlds and do not belong to either world. For example, children who immigrate to the United States generally resist their parents' language and culture, but they do not consider themselves as full members of American society. Parker's student E·V· Si Tong Quest wrote Marginal Man based on Parker's concept.

Significance of sociology

The Chicago School, especially under the leadership of Parker, defined the meaning of sociology in two important aspects. Before Chicago School, European sociology was essentially theoretical and abstract. The Chicago School is firmly rooted in data. After Chicago School, American sociology is based on the empirical world. Another equally important limitation is to make sociology get rid of the original norm-oriented approach and replace this direction with an attitude that emphasizes the objective application field.

Parker often tells his doctoral students in class that they should be happy to be able to study social problems, but they should conduct such research independently of their own moral values. For example, a sociologist in Chicago can make a survey on prostitution, but the scholar's dislike of this profession should not affect the research methods, results and explanations of the results. Parker's concept about the role of sociologists in social improvement is that individual reform ideas should be excluded from research.

● Mass communication research

Parker's "Immigration Newspaper and Its Control" Parker didn't publish many books in his life. Others said that he would rather instruct others to write 10 books than spend time writing one himself. Apart from his doctoral thesis, Immigration Newspapers and Their Control published in 1922 is his only work. He made a series of influential reports and published a book introducing his students. However, his most influential book is Immigration Newspaper and Its Control, which is by far the most important textbook and reading material about early American communication.

Immigration Newspapers and Their Control is divided into four parts and eighteen chapters. The first part, "The Survival Soil of Immigrant Newspapers", is divided into four chapters to introduce the reasons for the existence of foreign newspapers, the European background of immigrant newspapers, the integration of immigrant newspapers and its enlightenment. The second part is "the situation of foreign newspapers", which is divided into five chapters to analyze advertisements, the development of local newspapers, metropolis daily, metropolis daily, war and class struggle. The third part is "The History of Immigrant Newspapers", which is divided into five chapters to introduce newspapers founded by early immigrants, newspapers founded by late immigrants, immigrants' reflection on their own immigration situation, the survival competition of newspapers and the results of survival of the fittest. The fourth part is "newspaper control", which is divided into four chapters to discuss the control lever, Hamelin's manipulation control, opponent propaganda and government intervention, and alliance control.

The publication of immigration newspapers and their control is due to a country's concern that immigrants in the United States may be unfaithful. Are thousands of German-Americans loyal to America or K. William? Will they spread propaganda or sabotage? Parker directed the research of immigrant foreign language newspapers. He found that Yiddish, Polish, German and other newspapers mainly helped immigrants understand how to survive in North America. Few newspapers encourage loyalty to the original motherland. American foreign language newspapers and periodicals have gradually formed their own roles by helping immigrant readers integrate into American culture.

In the United States, Parker is the first person to study the relationship between ethnic minorities and the media. 19 At the end of the 20th century, a large number of new immigrants came to the United States. How to assimilate these new immigrants was a common concern of mainstream American society at that time. At the same time, American society also excludes new immigrants. Parker went deep into ethnic minority communities. After investigating dozens of foreign newspapers and periodicals, he published the monograph "Immigration Newspapers and Their Control" in 1922, opposing the suppression or control of these newspapers and periodicals. He emphasized that their role helps to maintain ethnic culture, let readers contact metropolis life through the language of their hometown, and let immigrants smoothly integrate into American society. Parker pays attention to empirical analysis and takes solving social problems as his main research direction. He investigated the slums of Chicago and the serious crime problem at that time. Parker's research contents and methods had a great influence on later scholars who studied media from the perspective of sociology in Europe, America and Japan.

In "Immigration Newspapers and Their Control", Parker mentioned a topic that communication has been studying: how does media content affect public opinions? How is the mass media influenced by public opinion? Can mass media bring about social change? What is the relationship between interpersonal communication and mass communication? Its definition of communication is similar to Shannon's later information theory.