Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/742

 728 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

the initial position o, we assign the inoffensive and law-abiding; to I, we assign the minor misdemeanants; to 2, the major mis- demeanants; to 3, the felons whose offenses are not capital; to 4, the felons whose offenses are capital.

On the marking-scale for ability, we assign to the initial position those who are competent to work under direction; to I, we assign those who are capable of self-direction in a small way; to 2, those who can supervise in accordance with general instructions provided for them; to 3, those competent to exer- cise responsible direction, a group which includes the great majority of land-owning farmers, business men, and profes- sional men ; and to 4, we assign the directors of directors, namely, the greater organizers, statesmen and financiers, the greater dis- coverers and inventors, and the greater professional men and philosophers.

The marking-scale for education, in like manner, is simple, and is the same for all occidental countries.

The groups or classes assigned to its successive positions are : o, the illiterate; i, those educated not beyond the grammar- school grades; 2, those educated not beyond the high-school grades ; 3, those educated not beyond the college grades ; 4, those educated in university grades.

Assignments to positions on the conduct-scale and education- scale are matters of record, and usually it is not necessary to go behind the returns. Each grade, however, and each grade of ability admits of indefinite subdivision, and assignments to the intermediate positions must be made by experts. The probable error of their gradings is the measure of the scientific value of the marks. The most admirable example of the possibilities of such gradings that we have is found in Professor Cattell's Directory of American Men of Science.

We may pass now to the inquiry : What sociological problems may be stated and solved in statistical terms with the aid of these social marking-scales?

The answer turns upon a technical point, which may be stated in the form of a preliminary question, namely, Are the "dis- tances" or "steps" between successive positions on any given