560 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



with a competent knowledge of what has previously heen thought and 

 written in regard to it, that the aspects presented should possess intrinsic 

 importance, and that the treatment should be scientific. The work which 

 Professor Giddings has published under the title of Elements of Sociol- 

 ogy * fulfills these conditions entirely, and we consider it, after careful 

 examination, as admirably adapted to the purpose it is meant to serve — 

 namely, as " a text book for colleges and schools." For use in schools — 

 that is to say, in secondary schools of the ordinary range — the treatment 

 may be a little too elaborate, but for college use we should say that it is, so 

 far as method is concerned, precisely what is wanted. We do not know 

 any other work which gives in the same compass so interesting and satis- 

 factory an analysis of the constitution and development of society, or so 

 many suggestive views as to the springs of social action and the conditions of 

 social well-being. Professor Giddings writes in a clear and vigorous style, 

 and the careful student will notice many passages marked by great felicity 

 of expression. In a text-book designed to attract the young to a subject 

 calling for considerable concentration of attention, this is an advantage 

 that can hardly be overestimated. 



In the first chapter the writer gives us his definition of society as " any 

 group or number of individuals who cultivate acquaintance and mental 

 agreement — that is to say, like-mindedness." The unit of investigation in 

 sociology is declared to be the individual member of society, or, as the 

 writer calls him, in relation to the investigation in hand, the "socius." 

 Whether in strict logic the unit of investigation in sociology can be the 

 individual, even granting, as must be done, that he is born social, is a point 

 on which we are not fully satisfied. We should be disposed to think that 

 the study of the individual was rather what Mr. Spencer would call a 

 " preparation " for sociology than an integral part of the science itself. 

 From a practical point of view, however, it must be conceded that a treatise 

 on sociology would begin somewhat abruptly if it did not present in the 

 first place an adequate description of the " socius," especially setting forth 

 those qualifications and tendencies which fit and impel him to enter into 

 relations with other members of the human race. Chapter V of the pres- 

 ent work deals with The Practical Activities of Socii, and shows in an in- 

 teresting manner what may be called the lines of approach of individuals 

 to one another in society. Sometimes the approach is by means of conflict, 

 and the writer shows how this may be a preparation for peaceful relations 

 through the insight it gives into opposing points of view. He distinguishes 

 between primary and secondary conflict — the first being a smuggle in 

 which one individual violently strives to suppress or subdue an opposing 

 personality, the second a mere trial of differing opinions and tastes, lead- 

 ing often to a profitable readjustment of individual standpoints. 



Chapter X, entitled The Classes of Socii, is an excellent one. The au- 

 thor classifies socii with reference (1) to vitality, (2) to personality — i. e. 

 personal resource and capacity — and (3) to social feeling. Under the third 

 classification he distinguishes (1) the social class, (2) the non-social class, 

 (3) the pseudo-social class, and (4) the anti-social class. The first of these, 

 the " social class," is well characterized as follows: "Their distinguishing 

 characteristic is a consciousness of kind that is wide in its scope and strong 



* The Elements of Sociology. By Franklin Henry Giddings. New York : The Macmillan Com- 

 pany, 1898. Pp. 358. Price, $1.10. 



