Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/511

 THE SCOPE OF SOCIOLOGY 497

the same persons. How fast this search will yield results that will appeal to the multitude should be none of the sociologist's concern. It is the search in which we shall push the frontier of knowledge about society beyond its present bounds. The few who should find a vocation in general sociology will in the end serve society best if they free themselves from the present eagerness of most sociologists to produce doctrines that will have popular vogue. Their merit as well as their ultimate suc- cess will be more secure if they rather devote themselves to some part of the fundamental work of which we are now sketching the outline. The first step toward understanding men in the associa- tions that constitute universal conditions of human life is to make accurate descriptions of these associations in terms of their func tional relation to the whole social process. This can be done only by rigid attention to the precise facts, without distraction of attention in the beginning to theories about the facts, or to the bearings of the facts upon persons or classes in our immediate surroundings. Just as geologists describe rock deposits in order to discover what they reveal about the process of building the world, so we must learn to describe human associations in such a way that they will reveal the most truth about the past and present process of forming society.

We must refer to another type of proposal which has impor- tant bearings upon our present subject. In working toward adequate analysis of society, Simmel has contended that the essential task of sociology is to make out and exhibit merely the forms under which men arrange themselves in different associations. That is, a certain number of variations are pos- sible in the forms of relationship which personal associations may assume. For instance, persons may be on terms of equality with each other in numerous associations for as many different purposes. For example, the huntsmen in a tribe, in the matter of equal freedom in given hunting grounds ; or the "powers" recognized by each other as alike entitled to the "open door" in China; or the members of a church with respect to all its privileges ; or the members of a book club, a traffic association, a postal union, a learned society, etc., etc.