Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/874

 860 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

late years we have had much running of boundary lines by men who knew nothing outside of social sciences. Mr. Ward's encyclopaedic equipment enables him to brush aside dreary discussions of 'ologies, and to mark of! the sets of phenomena with which the 'ologies deal. It is astonishing how easy and even popular the questions of frontier become when handled by a master.

Of the six chapters that serve to disengage the science from its neighboring sciences, the " Relation of Sociology to Anthropology " is the best. Here a firm line is drawn between animal and human societies by emphasizing the rationality of the latter. Everything that is being done to bring to light the processes of socialization and con- trol contradicts the easy-going theory that actual society is a spontane- ous product due to the social instincts of men.

At a moment when Tarde, Simmel, Le Bon, and Giddings are formulating principles that, being neither political, jural, ethical, nor economic, earn the distinctive title of "sociological," it is well to be reminded of the inclusive nature of the science. Mr. Ward does not regard sociology as an abstract science, pursuing some one principle like imitation or consciousness of kind through all its manifestations, but as a concrete science, dealing exhaustively with a great order of phenomena. It is an ology, not an us. It is not the fellow but the synthesis of the special social sciences such as politics or political economy.

In Part II the idea of forces is strongly marked by such terms as "social mechanics," "social genesis," "static," "dynamic." The author has been criticised for coining such technical terms as " genet- ics," "telics," " telesis," but I doubt not the public will soon take kindly to these much-needed words. One who resorts to these six chapters for light on the latest topics of discussion will be disappointed. Peculiarly equipped as he is for the essentially philosophical questions, as to the place and purpose, the scope and divisions of sociology, Mr. Ward has properly refused to be drawn aside by special studies on the behavior of crowds, the laws of imitation, or the forms of association.

Certain of the author's positions will not pass unchallenged. He regards desires as the only true social forces. But suggestion is a great transforming agent when it results in imitations that lift the social plane to the level of some invention or initiative. What Tarde called "extra-logical imitation " is not easily placed in Mr. Ward's classification. Moreover, his psychology is so individualistic as to