Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/282

 REVIEWS

A Text Book of Sociology. By JAMES QUAYLE DEALEY, Pro- fessor of Social and Political Science in Brown University, and LESTER F. WARD, of the Smithsonian Institution. New York : The Macmillan Co. Pp. xxxv + 326.

To say that this book comes nearer than any predecessor to satisfying reasonable demands for an elementary textbook in general sociology, may seem to those acquainted with the possible range of comparison a deliberate attempt to damn with faint praise. The estimate expresses my judgment, however, and the opinion is in no sense or degree a " tainted " tribute. I welcome the book, and both hope and predict that it will prove an important factor in securing for sociology the academic attention which it deserves. The mere fact that it is a collaboration, instead of the work of a single writer, is in itself a guarantee that it will have certain availabilities which no author of a sociological system could achieve alone, if he attempted to recast his theories for classroom use. The reasons for this are implied clearly enough in the book itself, in its statement of the way in which sciences grow (pp. 4-6).

At the same time, the great need in sociology just now is not a textbook, but teachers qualified to win due respect for the subject, whether they have a textbook or not. The only teachers of this type are sure to have a plan of instruction of their own, which might be made into a textbook, and they are likely to find anyone's else book a sort of Saul's armor at best. Less qualified teachers have already queered the subject in numerous unfortunate instances, and no book can be good enough to enable the unfit to make sociology reputable.

A textbook cannot be held responsible, however, for supplying either brains or training, and we must judge it upon the presumption that it will be used by competent men. Taking so much for granted, the present text can hardly fail to be serviceable in popularizing the system which has earned for Dr. Ward a permanent place in social science.

As I review his philosophy in this epitome, however, an impres- sion already derived from study of Dr. Ward's more elaborate books

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