Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/712

 REVIEWS

Women in Industry — A Study in American Economic History. With an introductory note by Sophonisba P. Breckin- ridge. By Edith Abbott^ Ph.D., of Hull House, Chicago. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1909. Pp. xxii+409. $2.00. It seems probable that no subject under general discussion lends itself so readily to easy generalization as does that of occupations of women. Sentiment, fear, prejudice, ignorance, personal con- venience, commercial advantage, short range of vision, have all combined to establish a comfortable theory in regard to what this occupation is and should be, and this theory has projected itself into the past and determined what it must always have been. It is not the function of the historian to enter the realm of prophecy and forecast the future, and thus test the reliability of the theory in a future age. But it is within his province not only to test it as regards the conditions in the past, but still more to study these conditions irrespective of preconceived theories, and by the induc- tive process to arrive at conclusions based on facts that shall take the place of theories based on ignorance. The great merit of Miss Abbott's work is that the investigation deals with facts and that these show the unstable nature of the prevailing theories in regard to women in industry. Moreover, she has disintegrated the mass and shown that there are women in industry and women in in- dustry — that all generalizations do not apply to all women.

Miss Abbott's method of work has been to raise the general inquiry in regard to the truth of prevailing theories, and then to answer it from a study of the history and statistics of the employ- ment of women in America. She first separates this general in- quiry into its several component parts and raises the questions: How far is the gainful employment of women, either in the home or away from it, peculiarly characteristic of the nineteenth century? Has the growth of manufacturing industries provided a new field for the employment of women? Or, has there only been an increase in the opportunity for work in those employments that have long existed? Has the result of it all been that what was formerly "men's work" has passed into the hands of women?

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