THE SOCIAL PROBLEMS OF TO-DAY 45 



we have one class defending its existing position Book i 

 and privileges, and another class attacking or ques- Chaptei 

 tioning them ; and it is out of circumstances such 

 as these, thus briefly indicated, that the practical 

 social problems of the present day arise. 



Now the question at the bottom of these can be social prob- 

 reduced to very simple terms. If all members 

 the community were content with existing social 



arrangements, it is needless to say there would be 1 " fenorto . have 



* their positions 



no social problems at all. Such problems are due changed ; 

 entirely to the existence of persons who are not 

 contented, and who desire that certain of these 

 arrangements should be changed. It will be seen, 

 accordingly, that the great and fundamental question 

 which, as a practical guide, the sociologist is asked 

 to answer, is whether or how far the changes desired and the practi- 



, , . , ii 1 i f cal question is, 



by the discontented are practicable ; and the first is the change 

 step towards ascertaining how far the arrangements 

 in question can be turned into something which 

 they are not, is to ascertain precisely how they have 

 come to be what they are. 



But this way of putting the case is still not 

 sufficiently definite. Mr. Spencer himself has put 

 it in somewhat similar language ; and yet in doing 

 so he has missed the heart of the problem. Mr. 

 Spencer's speculative gaze, travelling over the 

 past and present, sees one generation melting like a 

 cloud into another, and takes no note of the indi- 

 viduals that compose each. The practical sociologist 

 must adopt a very different method of observation. 

 He must remember that practical problems arise 



