698 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



EDITOR'S TABLE, 



SOCIOLOGY m THE UNIVEESITIES. 



THERE was nothing commonplace 

 about the title tliat first confronted 

 the readers of tlie initial number of The 

 Popular Science Monthly in May, 1872. 

 The Study of Sociology : Our Need of 

 It, had the flavor of that Iiappy and 

 legitimate audacity that makes things 

 " go." For nobody knew what " soci- 

 ology" was. Only a few curious read- 

 ers of Comte, and subscribers to Mr. 

 Spencer's Synthetic Philosophy, had 

 ever met with the word. It is familiar 

 enough now; and if the repetition of 

 phrases meant always the assimilation 

 of ideas, we might expect the coming 

 generation to think of society as ration- 

 ally as it will think of the solar system 

 and the descent of man. "Sociology" 

 confronts us in the morning newspaper; 

 it is the favorite fad of philanthropic in- 

 stitutions; it is discussed in ministers' 

 meetings, and it pleasantly stimulates 

 the scientific ganglia of ladies' clubs. 



The popular history of sociology in 

 these twenty-three years has therefore 

 been interesting and instructive. To 

 Mr. Spencer and his followers the word 

 has alwaj's meant a strictly scientific de- 

 scription and explanation of society as 

 it is and as it has been. The business 

 of the sociologist, as Mr. Spencer under- 

 stands it, is to interpret the life and or- 

 ganization of society in terms of natural 

 causation and evolution ; not to abolish 

 evil for dissatisfied people, nor to invent 

 new moral worlds for gullible people, 

 nor to fit out reformers with a brand- 

 new set of rules of thumb. But it 

 was inevitable that as soon as the seri- 

 ous scientific study of 80ciety"was talked 

 about the uninstructed and incompetent 

 should try their hands at the task ; and 

 a curious mess they have made of it. 

 They have seized upon the word soci- 

 ology and made it do service in aid of 



every crazy enterprise and sentimental 

 crusade that all the cranks in Christen- 

 dom have ever thought of. To cap the 

 climax, the theologians of the Christian 

 socialist variety, and certain so-called 

 "economists" who enjoy airing their 

 disbelief in pretty much everything that 

 used to be called political economy, have 

 put their heads together and invented 

 something that they call "Christian so- 

 ciology," a last ridiculous manifesto in 

 the warfare of obscurantism against sci- 

 ence. Unable longer to sell text-books 

 of six day geology, these estimable per- 

 sons will see to it that the law of popula- 

 tion and the formula of marginal utility 

 are put on a safe Christian basis! 



Meanwhile, however, a real and great 

 progress has been made in the construc- 

 tive development of scientific sociology, 

 and, what is not less important, in teach- 

 ing it. But it has been made so quiet- 

 ly that the general scientific public is 

 scarcely aware of what has been accom- 

 plished. In European universities of 

 the first class sociology is to-day firmly 

 established as a recognized subject for 

 degree work, and it is taught by ex- 

 tremely able men. De Greef at Brus- 

 sels, Gumplowicz at Graz, Letourneau 

 at Paris, Durkheim at Bordeaux, and 

 Simmel at Berlin are professors who 

 combine scientific training with a philo- 

 sophical grasp of their subject. In this 

 country Prof. Sumner began using Spen- 

 cer's Study of Sociology as a text-book 

 at Yale soon after its publication. Since 

 then courses in sociology have rapidly 

 multiplied in our colleges. The new 

 University of Chicago recognized the 

 claims of such studies by putting Prof. 

 Small, whose teaching has been based 

 in a good degree on the views put forth 

 in Ward's Dynamic Sociology, in charge 

 of a well-equipped department of social 

 science. Columbia College last year 



