Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/488

 WHAT IS A SOCIOLOGIST?

THE American public in general, and the Chicago public in particular, has had a recent spasm of interest in locating the genus " sociologist." Our respected president gave the cue by appointing to the Coal Strike Commission, in the place proposed for "an eminent sociologist," a railroad employee experienced in organizing railroad men. The newspapers very naturally raised the two questions : first, Is the appointee a good man for the place ? second, Is he a sociologist ? Before the echoes of this discussion were quiet, the distinguished president of an eastern college took occasion, in an address before leading Chicago citi- zens, to associate the name " sociologist " with the terms " freaks " and "faddists," and he is reported to have said that sociology seemed to him to have nothing to do except to gather up what is left after political science and economics have done all that is important with the facts of society. Thereupon the Chicago papers reopened the question, "What is a sociologist?" and some of them showed intelligence about the subject which clearly outclassed that of the learned specialist who went out of his way to exhibit his limitations.

We do not care to ask whether a railroad operative is a better man than a sociologist to arbitrate a labor difficulty. He may or he may not be, according to a variety of circumstances. Nor do we care to ask how high the sociologist deserves to stand in the esteem of other people. This is a matter that will adjust itself in time. Meanwhile it may be well for the sociologists occasionally to state to themselves and to the public just what their part in the world's work seems to them to be. The sociolo- gist may or may not be, in the eyes of his fellows, an important member of society, but his place may be so defined and his work so described that even college presidents might learn to talk intelligently about him.

In general, then, a sociologist is a man who is studying the facts of society in a certain way. Not every man who deals with

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