INVENTION AND PRODUCTION 



lead of those from whose writings he has made selection in his 

 Sociology and Social Progress. 



The importance of formal education as a method of socia 

 adaptation is stressed and his constructive social philosophy 

 provides an educational goal of " social efficiency " and a prin- 

 ciple of value in educational management. 



In the discussion of "Active Social Adaptation" the emphasis 

 is on social control, but the process is illustrated also in the in- 

 novator and moral reformer who try to adapt their social environ- 

 ment to their personal ideals of the right and good, although 

 this latter part is not stressed. 



Social control is necessary largely because the social instincts 

 have not as yet been sufficiently developed to secure by sponta- 

 neous action the type of social life that is most efficient. In 

 discussing this subject Professor Carver sounds another compara- 

 tively new note for the function of government is considered to be 

 pre-eminently that of suppressing uneconomic competition and of 

 encouraging economic co-operation. As competition among the 

 lower biological orders is advantageous in the development of the 

 species so is it in society. The competitive industrial system 

 which rewards according to merit gives the meritorious the 

 opportunity to succeed in the struggle and leave the largest 

 number of offspring as a social asset. But not all competition is 

 economic. Co-operation within the group is essential to strengthen 

 it for its inter-group struggle. 1 



The abstract discussion of individual rights and the limits of 

 social control is vain. With the sovereign group, might is right, 

 and the individual has no rights apart from social utility. 2 There 

 is no real issue as to woman's rights in the matter of suffrage. It 

 is purely a matter of social expediency, and Professor Carver does 

 not believe it is expedient. 



One of the great problems for social control in the line of social 

 efficiency is the improvement of the quality of the race-stock. 

 This opens up the whole question of eugenics which is considered 

 to be of the greatest importance. 3 Family pride, especially 



1 The Religion Worth Having, pp. 42 ., 88 ff.; Essays in Social Justice, ch. V. 



2 Ckss lectures; Essays in Social Justice, ch. I. 



3 Principles of Rural Economics, pp. 354 ff. 



