RECENT LITERATURE

NOTES AND ABSTRACTS

Les premiers stades du processus de la socialisation.-The first stages in the process of socialization represent the accommodation between individuals and between groups in the primitive types of the conflict situation. The primitive family group is based on the economic and military co-operation necessary for the crude struggle with nature and for the success of the expeditions for plunder against weaker groups. Physical force is the social bond in the form of exploitation known as slavery, but on this basis the solidarity of interests tends to unite masters-and common misery to solidify the slaves. Serfdom-a form of exploitation modified by limited personal freedom-is characterized by the physical and psychical separation of master and serf in which mental constraint and legal sanction constitute the social bond. Co-operation, based on equality, becomes significant in the differentiation of labor according to aptitudes and is characterized by the conjunction of different activities into a harmonious whole. In the further stages of socialization, the two types of co-operation react upon each other; in each group the co-operation is equal, but between groups it depends upon exploitation.—Mieczylow Szerer, Revue internationale de sociologie, February, 1912.

E. W. B.

Die Abnahme der ehelichen Fruchtbarkeit auf dem Lande in Deutschland. On the basis of 100 married women of child-bearing age, Prussian statistics indicate a decline in the number of births from 29 in the years 1894-97 to 27 in the years 1904-7, in spite of a considerable increase in early marriages during the decade. The probable explanation for the falling birth-rate is discovered in the marked decrease of child mortality which evidently reacts upon marriage fertility, as indicated by the fact that the ratio of the sum-total of children to the whole number of families has remained practically constant. For further investigation it is desirable to secure a radical modification and perfection of statistics of birth, providing first of all for the classification of births according to the age groups of the mothers.-Dr. Prinzing, Zeitschrift für Socialwissenschaft, December, 1911. E. W. B.

Die agrare Neugestaltung Russlands.-There is now in process in Russia a peaceful revolution characterized by the emergence of an independent peasant class based on a transition from communal to individual ownership of agricultural land. The full release of the peasants in 1907, from further payment on the land allotted to them upon the abolition of serfdom, was a preparatory step to the carrying out of the ukase of November 9-22, 1906, which provided upon a two-thirds vote of the members of a mir, for the dissolution of community ownership and, if feasible, of the common village upon settlement, and for a consolidation of the distributed small strips into individual homesteads. Two agencies have been employed to promote this policy: first, an agrarian commission under whose supervision 14,000 villages have abolished communal ownership and 400,000 mir-men have become small landowners; and second, the peasant agrarian bank with provincial branches and local representatives for the purpose of purchasing large estates and dividing them into farms for sale to the peasant on favorable terms. Parallel to this transition in agrarian organization is the changing mental attitude of the peasant, indicated by his growing interest in scientific agriculture.-F. v. Wrangell, Jahrbuch für Gesetzgebung, Verwaltung und Volkswirtschaft im Deutschen Reich, Erstes Heft, 1912. E. W. B.

Régionalisme et progrès social.—Regionalism is the movement directed toward the development of natural economic and social districts in France-a reaction from extreme centralization. This movement is in accordance with natural growth;

its purpose is to build up lesser centers of trade and social life. Such decentralization as this involves is fostered rather than hindered by the great development of transportation and communication; future development in industry is likely to be in the direction of decentralization as we gain ability to decentralize motor power; the development of mutual credit associations is a decentralization of the banking system; trade-union organization can be maintained only through strong regional organization; nationalism can best be built up through developing strongly the great co-operating outer regions of France. Dr. Brun, Réforme sociale, March, 1912. A. D.

Essai sur la logigue de l'éducation morale.-Education must develop in the individual the knowledge of the good and the capacity to carry it out in action. Since character is plastic, the educator can impress and, so to speak, incorporate in the organism the ideas of the good. But these ideas can have value only as they express themselves in action; it becomes, therefore, the function of education to develop capacity for well-directed action; this involves a well-controlled nervous and muscular organism, clearness of thought, perseverance. This knowledge of the good and the sense of power to act is, also, a spiritual support and motive force.-A. Bauer, Revue internationale de sociologie, February, 1912. A. D.

La bio-sociologie.—The primary need of social science is a technology and a definite field. Bio-sociology furnishes these elements necessary to an exact science. Its precise field and object is the discovery of the interdependence between the individual characteristic and the environment. Its technology involves (1) improvement in methods of observation; development of biological studies such as those undertaken by the anthropometrist and the anthropologist; studies in heredity and studies of social environment; (2) refinement and development of statistical method; the work in correlation of Galton, Pearson, and Yule can be carried out in the study of a multitude of social data.-G. Papillaut, Revue anthropologique, January, 1912. A. D.

Das Aufsteigen geistig Begabter in England.-It is of the highest importance for national progress to provide ways and means for discovering and promoting mental capacity wherever found. Notwithstanding their tenacity in clinging to ancient social groupings and traditions, the English have devised methods for the selection of the fittest. But the standard of fitness has become a narrow economic one, and democracy exists only for the economically gifted, and for no others. Without membership in the moneyed classes the gentleman is impossible. While the Englishman protests his democratic loyalty, he will under no circumstances permit the social ladder to be abolished. On the contrary, he decries equality of opportunity for others as interfering with the opportunity for success of those who are destined to succeed by virtue of superior power, courage, cunning, etc. Nothing hurts the culture life of a nation more than the certainty in a portion of the population of being excluded, on account of lowly birth, from any higher station in life and from all important amelioration. To the close observer it is clear that in the competition of nations in all the fields of creative civilization those will in the long run prevail which best provide for the completest development and effectuation of all the genius living in obscurity within. Dr. E. Schultze, Annalen der Naturphilosophie, May, 1912. P. W.

Das Wesen der historischen Kausalität.-The two theories of historic causality popularly held, viz., that of individual-conscious motivation and that of collective or group desire, are both too simple, because purely psychological. For the appearance of any cultural innovation it is necessary that three conditions be simultaneously present: (1) a need or demand for a change; (2) a degree of maturity in the conditions of culture; (3) the initiative of a dominant individual. Historic causality is therefore sociological and not psychological, as appears from the fact that the form of social institutions varies while their instinctive bases remain constant. Cultural and physical factors, social conditions and numerical relations play a prominent rôle as causes in all historic change. The second general principle advanced is that of the dependence of historic causation upon processes of cumulation. In order that a desire shall gain cultural significance, it must rise above a certain liminal value or intensity, determined not only psychologically but sociologically. Due psychic preparation is

necessary for any essential innovation, and the requisite shifting and reversal of feeling tone leading to its acceptance is accomplished through repetition. It follows from the historic structure of consciousness that chance can play but a small rôle in mental life, and consequently also in historic-social life, contrary to the popular view which sees in history only the effects of accidental, isolated causes.—Alf. Vierkandt, Zeitschrift für Sozialwissenschaft, Hefte 4, 5, 1912. P. W.

Der Neo-Malthusianismus in seinen Beziehungen zur Rassenbiologie und Rassenhygiene.-The decline and fall of civilizations has been explained by Galton and others on the principle of degeneration of the upper and abler classes and their displacement from among the lower social strata of inferior heredity. On the strength of statistical investigations, however, we know that the distribution of ability within a nation does not coincide with social grouping, and that the hereditary character of superior capacity is at least questionable. Not physical but social heredity is responsible for the phenomena of degeneration among civilized peoples. Increasing wealth and prosperity, changes in the relation of the sexes and in the position of woman, and the disintegration of religious and philosophical ideas are the agencies undermining the life of nations by jointly making for the decrease of population-the great disease threatening civilized mankind with destruction. The neo-Malthusian propaganda is a conspiracy in behalf of race-suicide. But the fatal course of ancient civilizations, on which modern nations are far advanced, is not necessarily to be followed to its historic termination. Our advantage over the ancients consists in our knowledge of the danger and in our ability to forestal it by means of science and morality.—Dr. Pontus Fahlbeck, Archiv für Rassen- und Gesellschafts-Biologie, 1. Heft, 1912. P. W.

Kommunale Arbeitslosenversicherung. The present system of insurance against unemployment is based on the voluntary initiative of cities or of establishments within cities; this system is unsatisfactory (1) because not more than a third of the persons who are unemployed live in large cities; (2) if the insurance is voluntary, the worst risks will crowd in first; (c) the labor market is affected nationally, and the effects should, therefore, be borne by the Empire, rather than by cities. Moreover, the cities are afraid to establish such system because of the danger of attracting the unemployable persons; the present method has increased the amount of unemployment. An effective system must be compulsory and must cover the entire Empire.-Dr. Rosenstock, Soziale Praxis, May 16, 1912. E. H. S.

General Ability, Its Existence and Nature. The great divergence of opinion in regard to the correlation between different intellectual performances is due to misinterpretation; all the facts indicate unanimously that the correlation arises through all the performances, however different, depending partly on a general ability; this general factor is not any special sort of process, such as intelligent or synthetic operation; the explanation by attention is also inadequate; the general factor is the common fund of energy. Every intellectual act appears to involve both the specific activity of a particular system of cortical neurones, and also the general energy of the whole cortex.—Bernard Hart and C. Spearman, British Journal of Psychology, March,

1912.

1

E. H. S.

Social Problems: Their Treatment, Past, Present, and Future.-Social problems have been solved in the past largely by social instincts, which are wholly insufficient guides to social conduct and often lead us widely astray by rendering the fertility of the unfit dominant. Since we have suspended Nature's effective methods of raising our stock, it is necessary to consider every social problem from the biological standpoint; we must study, record, and measure the factors of human development with precisely the same accuracy as we have studied animal or plant life or inorganic nature. Sociology must change its methods, just as psychology has changed its methods; opinions, without a sufficient basis of facts, should have no more weight in sociology than in psychology. University laboratories should be established, adequately equipped biologically, medically, and statistically, with the sole business of sociological research.-Karl Pearson, Questions of the Day and of the Fray, No. 5, 1912. E. H. S.

Tuberculosis, Heredity, and Environment.-Biometrical studies of tuberculosis show (1) that a father is twice as infectious to his offspring as the husband to the wife; (2) that the father and mother are equally infectious, though the mother is closer to the children than the father. The conclusion is that the hereditary constitutional factor is immensely more important in tuberculosis than the infection factor. The intensity of parental resemblance in tuberculosis is absolutely similar to that for insanity or deaf-mutism, which certainly cannot be attributed to infection. When we devote all our national energies to isolation and segregation we are wasting a very large proportion of our efforts. The fall in the death-rate from tuberculosis is due to immunity; since the fight against tuberculosis, the rate of fall has been retarded.Karl Pearson, Eugenics Laboratory Lecture Series, No. 8, 1912. E. H. S.

Die Erweiterung der Sozialpolitik durch die Berufsvormundschaft.-Professional guardianship has developed in Germany as an aid in training children when the family is wholly lacking or is inadequate to perform the task. Such guardians are usually governmental officials; their number has increased very rapidly in the last few years; in October, 1911, there were 274 professional guardians, with 100,000 wards. Professional guardianship is becoming more necessary because of the complications of social relations and the crowding in cities; the illegitimate children, especially, need careful guardianship because of their social handicap and their high death-rate in the first year of life. In the light of social politics the aim of professional guardianship is to care for the child so that it may become a properly functioning member of society; since the guardian assumes the rôle of the normal family, his position should be central in the system of social politics. There are some indications that it may assume such a place. Othmar Spann, Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, March,

1912.

W. S. T.

Professor Boas' New Theory of the Form of the Head-a Critical Contribution to School Anthropology.-Professor Boas' theory, which claims that European immigrants change their type-in shape of head-even in the first generation, does not agree with any of the older theories, which rest upon a great number of measurements by anthropologists. His conclusions must be judged to be incorrect, (1) because a regrouping of his own figures shows insufficient differences from the normal to allow for the transfer of the people measured from the dolichocephalic to the mesocephalic type; (2) the technical requirements for accurate measurements were not met in his work.-Paul R. Radosavljevich, American Anthropologist, JulySeptember, 1911. W. S. T.

Morality as Inter-Personal.-Goodness is some form of desirable conscious life; it is a mistake to assume that goodness belongs to an individual, as most ethical writers have; goodness has been incorrectly identified, also, with the perfection of one element of consciousness-feeling, cognition, or volition. Social psychology has shown that the self is developed only in connection with other selves. All moral actions, therefore, have social references and social consequences. What is the highest good for me is the highest good for others. "Love of love" thus becomes the true ethical ideal. Love makes activities broader than the individual and gives to them an ethical quality. The good is not something attained at the end of a series of actions.-E. W. Hirst, International Journal of Ethics, April, 1912. W. S. T.

Tvangsforsikringen i England. The insurance law of England, which is to go into effect July 15, 1912, contains an unprecedented nucleus of progress in the unlimited powers of the insurance commissioners; thus the success of this law depends on the personnel of the commission. In contrast with this, the German law of 1911 does not give full scope to the authorities but restricts their responsibilities.—Aage Sørensen, Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift, March-April, 1912. J. E. E.

A Bugbear of Reformers.-The attempts to deny the law of diminishing returns are futile; this law is nothing more than the fact that land is a limiting factor in production. The amount of land necessary has not been greatly decreased by the substitution of capital; it has meant only that other land has been used. There are

three possibilities for us: (1) we must become more and more a manufacturing and commercial people, depending on the outside world for agricultural produce; (2) our people will spread over territories of the inferior races; (3) we must restrain our people from emigration until the pressure of population on subsistence becomes strong enough to check the increase and restore equilibrium.-T. N. Carver, Popular Science Monthly, May, 1912. J. E. E.

Assortative Mating in Man.-Biometrical studies of stature, complexion, color of hair and eyes, physical defects and other pathological conditions, and some psychical characteristics show that similar individuals tend to marry. The "charm of disparity," and "the selection of opposites" have been so long asserted that those notions will not readily be given up. Accurate biometrical results, however, point decidedly to parity, rather than to disparity, in human mating.—Dr. J. Arthur Harris, Popular Science Monthly, May, 1912. J. E. E.

The Increase in Industrial Accidents.-In Germany, Austria, and Great Britain there is a tendency to the decrease of those accidents which cause death or permanent disablement. In Germany and Austria the accidents which cause disablement from which the workman eventually recovers show a tendency to increase; there is no information on this point from Great Britain. In Germany the number of minor accidents has steadily increased during the last decade, in which there has been an elaborate and persistent campaign for the purpose of reducing the accident risk; this increase comes from turning serious accidents into minor accidents.-Henry J. Harris, American Statistical Association, March, 1912.

J. E. E.

Tenant Farmers and a Land Bank Scheme.-Sir Edward Holden has proposed that a bank should be formed by Parliament, with the object of lending money to the farmer for a series of years so as to enable him, if possible within his lifetime, to purchase his land. This plan purposes that a loan of £500,000 should be obtained from the state by the new "bank," such loan to carry 3 per cent interest. A farmer would be permitted to borrow four-fifths of the purchase price of his land at 4 per cent interest, repayable by annual instalments spread over a period up to 75 years if so desired. There seems to be some hesitancy on the part of the House of Lords to consider such a bill. Their attitude will show whether they think it more desirable that agricultural land should be owned by the actual farmer, by the capitalist landlord, or by the state.-Bankers' Magazine (London), April, 1912. L. E.

The Medical Side of Immigration. Certain diseases among the immigrants are found so frequently and others are so inherently dangerous that there should be rigid medical examination. Nachoma, hookworm, and other intestinal parasites, for example, are quite common among immigrants, especially from oriental and Mediterranean countries. In general the records show that the best class is drawn from northern and western Europe and the poorest from the Mediterranean countries and western Asia. Strict enforcement of the present medical laws will automatically exclude these races to a sufficient extent, admitting the few who are fit.-Dr. Alfred C. Reed, The Popular Science Monthly, April, 1912. L. E.

The Relation between Large Families, Poverty, Irregularity of Earnings, and Crowding.-A series of statistical studies in England shows that the poorer classes have larger families than the classes better off and as a result the nation is reproducing itself more largely from the less efficient class. While it may appear that large families are the cause of poverty, statistics show that large families and poverty, irrespective of such poverty as is caused by largeness of family, are closely connected. The larger families are found among those where the earnings of the father are irregular, and the largest familes are found where there are fewer rooms per family. Two remedies are proposed: draft the more numerous children of the less skilled into the more skilled trades or branches of trade, and reduce the number of children born in the poorest class.-Stewart Johnson, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, April, 1912.

L. E.