Sociology and Social Progress: A Handbook for Students of Sociology (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Excerpt from Sociology and Social Progress: A Handbook for Students of Sociology

It is only partially true that sociology is a new science; It is true that the name has only recently been applied to a definite body of knowledge, and it is still more recently that there has been a group of scholars devoting themselves exclusively to this subject and going by the name of sociologists. But it is not true that human society, the subject of sociological study, has only recently attracted the attention of students. On the contrary, it is one of the oldest subjects of inquiry and speculation. The philosopher, the theologian, the moralist, the man of science, and the economist have all devoted time to this subject, and each has made his contribution to it. Indeed, it is the opinion of many students in this field that some of the most significant contribu tions to our knowledge of society have been made not by writers who profess to be sociologists but by men who have turned their attention to those phases of social life which lie nearest their special fields of inquiry. Such writers have not occupied themselves with problems of nomenclature and classification, but have saved their energies for matters of more vital concern, whereas many of our formal treatises on sociology have been largely concerned with matters more formal than vital.

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Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Sociology and Social Progress: A Handbook for Students of Sociology

The problem of human welfare, before which all others seem trivial in comparison, is not to be understood without the widest attainable knowledge of things pertaining to man. Up to the present time the economist is undoubtedly the one who has made the most searching and the most effective study of this problem. But other light is needed and a wider view is necessary than the economist is in the habit of taking. The present volume is compiled for the purpose of presenting to the student, in convenient form, material for this wider view. It is based upon twelve years of college and university teaching. The selections presented are those which the compiler has found by experience to be the most instructive, the most stimulating, and the most thought-provoking. No attempt has been made to select only such passages as embody the compilers views, or even to select such as are invariably sound and accurate. The fact that a passage has proved brilliantly suggestive and provocative of serious inquiry has, in several cases, been the chief reason for including it.

It is the hope of the compiler that this volume may prove useful both to the college student and to the general reader. In college classes it is designed to be used as supplementary to an elementary text-book, as collateral reading to a course of lectures, or as a basis for class-room discussions. The latter is by far the most effective method yet devised for the teaching of the social sciences, and in connection with this method the compiler ventures to hope that this volume may prove especially useful.

The compiler wishes to express here his gratitude for the many courtesies which he has received from authors and publishers.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.