Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/438

 REVIEWS

Elements of Sociology. By FRANK W. BLACKMAR, PH.D., Pro- fessor of Sociology and Economics in the University of Kansas. New York : The Macmillan Co.

The most essential thing in a book review is to see the point of view of the author and to make prominent the chief merit of his work.

The need which Professor Blackmar has attempted to meet in his Elements of Sociology is very evident from a mere glance at its table of contents. The outline, divisions, and general treatment of the sub- ject are at once a comment upon former textbooks and an explana- tion of the appearance of a new one.

Professor Blackmar is aware of the fact, as other teachers of sociology must be, that there is an urgent demand for a textbook throughout the country. There are colleges in which the study of sociology has lagged for want of a suitable textbook, and other col- leges which would have introduced the subject but for the same lack of a good book to begin with. Not only has the absence of a good textbook kept sociology out of the curriculums of many institutions, but has kept it out of favor among students where it has been taught. Only in universities where the resources render a textbook less neces- sary has sociology been able to make much headway.

This urgent need of a textbook does not imply that the books which have been heretofore used. are of no value. The Principles of Sociology by Giddings contains subject-matter which cannot be omitted in any study of the fundamental principles of society, but it does not deal with many aspects of the subject with which the stu- dent should be made acquainted. Ward's textbook, while containing an admirable condensation of his own system of sociology, gives almost no information in regard to the ideas and points of view of other writers. The Introduction to the Study of Society by Small and Vincent has answered to the demand for a systematic and scien- tific plan for studying contemporaneous problems, but it does not now meet the need of students who wish to obtain a general view of the science up to date. Spencer's books on sociology are too large and expensive. And so none of the books thus far are free from serious objections as texts for beginners.

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