Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/135

 REVIEWS 123

Patten uses this method of antithesis. The subject lends itself readily to this treatment, and the result is a style abounding in short, packed sentences full of well-chosen contrasts and happy distinctions at times epigrammatic. As for instance : " Misery is not a product of nature; it is man-made" (p. 41); "Rent is a costless income, not a seized income" (p. 133); "Monopoly is bad, but the confusion of ignorance is worse" (p. 74); "The laws of heredity are mental and social; those of the environment are physical and economic" (p. 9). But Dr. Patten does not always escape the danger which lurks in this use of contrast and condensation. Clearness of thought is at times sacrificed to fitness of phrase, and many of the generalizations are too vague or too sweeping.

The thesis of Part I is that economic prosperity depends upon the power of substitution ; the thesis of Part II is that social progress depends upon the power and control of impulse. It is the latter half of the book that is of first interest to the sociologist, for it is here that the idea is worked out that impulse, a product of the social surplus, is the dynamic principle in society and produces progress. This is a contribution to the field of sociology. It is only to be regretted that the subject is not developed with more of the acumen and enthusiasm which Dr. Patten used in an oral discussion of the same, which it was the privilege of the reviewer to hear shortly before the book appeared. From the book alone one can scarcely gather that by impulse Dr. Pat- ten means the same thing that Tarde expresses by the word invention, or so much of it as is due to pure surplus energy resulting from a satisfied state of the primary physical wants and as distinguished from invention as an intellectual process. This part at least, if not all, of Tarde's invention has been more correctly designated innovation by Dr. Ward. Dr. Patten's idea would have been much clearer had he used this or a similar term in place of impulse. But Dr. Patten seems practically to ignore the large movement that Tarde's works have started. As a whole, however, this last contribution of Dr. Patten's is a work of keen analysis ; one that will make a definite impression.

The introduction is no mere formal part of the treatise. It is an introduction in the true sense necessary, not merely preliminary, to the book itself. Here is discovered the purpose of the work, which is to show that the assumption made by many social reformers, that " so-called social evils are economic in their origin," has no foundation in fact ; but that social evils are due rather to non-adjustment to the environment. It is here that Dr. Patten strikes the keynote to his