Sociology and Modern Social ProblemsEllwood, Charles A. (Charles Abram)
General
Sociology and Modern Social Problems
Ellwood, Charles A. (Charles Abram)
Social problems; Sociology
It is not unreasonable to believe that the development of the social
sciences will show us the way to remove many, if not all, social evils;
and it is also not unreasonable to believe that the knowledge which
these sciences will furnish will stimulate in the vast mass of
individuals an impetus to remove these evils. Moreover, training in the
social sciences will check many of the most menacing tendencies of our
present civilization. For one thing, training in the social sciences
will lessen the practical materialism of modern civilization, for it
will throw the emphasis on the relations of men to one another rather
than on the relations of man to nature. The social sciences, aiming at
the control of the social conditions and of social progress, necessarily
emphasize the higher life of man, and they therefore set before the
student as the goal, not material achievement or individual success, but
the service of man. Again, training in the social sciences will check
the exaggerated individualism, which, as we have already seen, is one of
the most menacing tendencies of our time; for the social sciences show
the solidarity of the society and the interdependence of its parts. They
show that no individual lives to himself, and that his acts evidently
affect the whole of society. Finally, training in the social sciences
will insure the development of true moral freedom in our social life,
for these sciences involve a searching but impersonal criticism of
social institutions and public policies. Now the very breath of life of
a free society is intelligent public criticism of its institutions and
policies. Without this, there can be no change, no progress. But
intelligent criticism implies scientific criticism, that is, criticism
based upon adequate scientific knowledge and without personal bias. This
means the scientific study of institutions and social organization. If
the American people are to perfect their institutions, they must
maintain and develop their moral freedom; and to maintain true moral
freedom, they must encourage the scientific study of social conditions
and institutions. To secure an unbiased attitude toward social and
political problems, to train every citizen for social service, to
reconstruct social organization along scientific lines, it is necessary,
therefore, to give the social sciences an honored place in the education
of all classes and professions.
SELECT REFERENCES
_For brief reading_:
WARD, _Applied Sociology_, Chaps. VIII-XII.
WARD, _Dynamic Sociology_, Vol. II, Chap. XIV.
HORNE, _The Philosophy of Education_, Chaps. IV and V.
DEWEY, _The School and Society_.
_For more extended reading_:
DAVIDSON, _History of Education_.
GRAVES, _History of Education_.
MONROE, _History of Education_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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