Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/134

 REVIEWS.

The Theory of Prosperity. By SIMON N. PATTEN, PH.D. New York: The Macmillan Co.; London: Macmillan& Co., Ltd.

DR. PATTEN is always virile, interesting, though at times eccentric, and the book before us is no exception. We are not surprised to find him following his favorite process of reasoning deduction, but the patience of the reader is taxed more, perhaps, here than in any pre- vious work. Assertions are made and laws are formulated with utmost complacency, yet where are the historical illustrations, the facts from experience on which they must be based to be of value ? In the whole volume but five footnotes are given but four authorities cited. The time for such speculative work in science is past. Truths can be established only on the basis of fact. In this respect Dr. Patten's book seems almost mediaeval. Thus we are told that "wants grow more rapidly than productive power. This is an elementary law to which there are no exceptions" (p. 22). Perhaps this is true. It may be due to imitation. Yet Dr. Patten makes no mention of this or any other reason, but leaves us to accept the law on the ground of his authority alone.

The book is by no means free from fallacies. In his discussion of the conservation of the social surplus (p. 141), Dr. Patten makes func- tion, rather than feeling, the mainspring for conscious effort, thus blur- ring the distinction so carefully drawn by Dr. Ward. Again he makes labor a purely physiological process expenditure of energy and reproduction of energy while it really is a psychological process effort and satisfactions. To him work is normally a pleasurable activity and becomes irksome wholly because of the social stigma attaching to it. Here Dr. Patten makes the element of pleasure which undoubtedly accompanies the first hours of work the only factor in the process.

Throughout the work the method used is that of contrast. From the title itself, through the designations given Parts I and II " Income as Determined by Existing Conditions: A Study of Effort and Satisfactions," and "Income as Determined by Heredity: A Study of Discontent and its Remedy" to the last page of the book Dr.