Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/136

 124 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

theory of prosperity in the characteristically keen distinction which he draws between poverty and misery, the panacea for the one being treated in Part I, and the remedy for the other suggested in Part II. The introduction also contains the author's justification for the division of the book and the definition of the word income as used in the sub-titles.

A careful reading of the introduction thus prepares us for what is to follow. Part I is a study of effort and satisfactions, and is treated in three chapters, each of which is outlined by marginal topics and illustrated by diagrams. It is highly technical, crowded with defini- tions and distinctions, many of them too abstruse or too finely spun to interest the general reader. The economist, however, will follow the discussion eagerly, for Dr. Patten's new point of departure in many cases leads to interesting, if sometimes startling, conclusions.

Dr. Patten's analysis of the social surplus and the origin of values in chap, i is based on his theory of pain-and-pleasure economy. It leads to the very remarkable statement that the only time in life when the sum of values does not exceed costs is when one has decided to make his own "quietus" with "a bare bodkin " or some more up-to- date weapon ! The large view sees the result of the economic process to be, not " goods," but vital energy making future production possible and pleasurable. The social surplus, which is defined as the difference between total utility and total costs (p. 19), is thus seen to be an enduring fund disappearing only to reappear in some new form (p. 42). The waste of surplus is reduced by each step in the adaptation of men to external conditions.

In promulgating his own theory of wages Dr. Patten does not hesitate utterly to cast aside the cost theory. His theory might be called the "option theory," for he makes the option of the best worker in each industrial group to withdraw into the next higher group, if his wages are reduced, the factor in setting the standard of wages. "The monopoly power of each group, gained through the options of its strongest members, is the sole determinant of wages, and is the one thing for which laborers should seek. New options can do what no amount of effort in other directions can accomplish " (p. 50). This discussion brings chap, i to a close, and leads up to Dr. Patten's theory of substitution, which is developed in the two following chapters.

The point of view is now shifted from the traditional one of pro- ducer to that of consumer. Hence the conclusions are new. Accord- ing to this new view, substitution is the power determining the regulation of prices. The consumer can control prices by his power