Introduction to the Science of Sociology Part 6

There is, however, an area of life in which the a.s.sociations are more intimate than those of the primary group as that group is ordinarily conceived. Such are the relations between mother and child, particularly in the period of infancy, and the relations between men and women under the influence of the s.e.xual instinct. These are the a.s.sociations in which the most lasting affections and the most violent antipathies are formed. We may describe it as the area of touch relationships.

Finally, there is the area of secondary contacts, in which relationships are relatively impersonal, formal, and conventional. It is in this region of social life that the individual gains, at the same time, a personal freedom and an opportunity for distinction that is denied him in the primary group.

As a matter of fact, many, if not most, of our present social problems have their source and origin in the transition of great ma.s.ses of the population--the immigrants, for example--out of a society based on primary group relationships into the looser, freer, and less controlled existence of life in great cities.

The "moral unrest" so deeply penetrating all western societies, the growing vagueness and indecision of personalities, the almost complete disappearance of the "strong and steady character" of old times, in short, the rapid and general increase of Bohemianism and Bolshevism in all societies, is an effect of the fact that not only the early primary group controlling all interests of its members on the general social basis, not only the occupational group of the mediaeval type controlling most of the interests of its members on a professional basis, but even the special modern group dividing with many others the task of organizing permanently the att.i.tudes of each of its members, is more and more losing ground. The pace of social evolution has become so rapid that special groups are ceasing to be permanent and stable enough to organize and maintain organized complexes of att.i.tudes of their members which correspond to their common pursuits. In other words, society is gradually losing all its old machinery for the determination and stabilization of individual characters.[54]

Every social group tends to create, from the individuals that compose it, its own type of character, and the characters thus formed become component parts of the social structure in which they are incorporated.

All the problems of social life are thus problems of the individual; and all problems of the individual are at the same time problems of the group. This point of view is already recognized in preventive medicine, and to some extent in psychiatry. It is not yet adequately recognized in the technique of social case work.

Further advance in the application of social principles to social practice awaits a more thoroughgoing study of the problems, systematic social research, and an experimental social science.

REPRESENTATIVE WORKS IN SYSTEMATIC SOCIOLOGY AND METHODS OF SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH

I. THE SCIENCE OF PROGRESS

(1) Comte, Auguste. _Cours de philosophie positive_, 5th ed. 6 vols.

Paris, 1892.

(2) ----. _Positive Philosophy._ Translated by Harriet Martineau, 3d ed.

London, 1893.

(3) Spencer, Herbert. _Principles of Sociology._ 3d ed. 3 vols. New York, 1906.

(4) Schaeffle, Albert. _Bau und Leben des socialen Korpers._ 2d ed., 2 vols. Tuebingen, 1896.

(5) Lilienfeld, Paul von. _Gedanken uber die Socialwissenschaft der Zukunft._ 5 vols. Mitau, 1873-81.

(6) Ward, Lester F. _Dynamic Sociology._ 2 vols. New York, 1883.

(7) De Greef, Guillaume. _Introduction a la sociologie._ 3 vols. Paris, 1886.

(8) Worms, Rene. _Organisme et societe._ Paris, 1896.

II. THE SCHOOLS

A. _Realists_

(1) Ratzenhofer, Gustav. _Die sociologische Erkenntnis._ Leipzig, 1898.

(2) Small, Albion W. _General Sociology._ Chicago, 1905.

(3) Durkheim, emile. _De la Division du travail social._ Paris, 1893.

(4) Simmel, Georg. _Soziologie._ Untersuchungen uber die Formen der Vergesellschaftung. Leipzig, 1908.

(5) Cooley, Charles Horton. _Social Organization._ A study of the larger mind. New York, 1909.

(6) Ellwood, Charles A. _Sociology and Its Psychological Aspects._ New York and London, 1912.

B. _Nominalists_

(1) Tarde, Gabriel. _Les Lois de l'imitation._ Paris, 1895.

(2) Giddings, Franklin H. _The Principles of Sociology._ New York, 1896.

(3) Ross, Edward Alsworth. _The Principles of Sociology._ New York, 1920.

C. _Collective Behavior_

(1) Le Bon, Gustave. _The Crowd._ A study of the popular mind. New York, 1903.

(2) Sighele, Scipio. _Psychologie des sectes._ Paris, 1898.

(3) Tarde, Gabriel. _L'Opinion et la foule._ Paris, 1901.

(4) McDougall, William. _The Group Mind._ Cambridge, 1920.

(5) Vincent, George E. _The Social Mind and Education._ New York, 1897.

III. METHODS OF SOCIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION

A. _Critical Observation on Methods of Research_

(1) Small, Albion W. _The Meaning of Social Science._ Chicago, 1910.

(2) Durkheim, emile. _Les Regles de la methode sociologique._ Paris, 1904.

(3) Thomas, W. I., and Znaniecki, F. _The Polish Peasant in Europe and America._ "Methodological Note," I, 1-86. 5 vols. Boston, 1918-20.

B. _Studies of Communities_

(1) Booth, Charles. _Labour and Life of the People: London._ 2 vols.

London, 1891.

(2) ----. _Life and Labour of the People in London._ 9 vols. London, 1892-97. 8 additional vols. London, 1902.

(3) _The Pittsburgh Survey._ Edited by Paul U. Kellogg. 6 vols. Russell Sage Foundation. New York, 1909-14.

(4) _The Springfield Survey._ Edited by Shelby M. Harrison. 3 vols.