Synopses & Reviews
This is the finest single-volume edition of Sumner's works ever to appear.
—Ronald Lora, University of Toledo
William Graham Sumner is the "forgotten man" of American intellectual history. Too often dismissed or only superficially understood, his interpretations are now attracting closer scrutiny and appreciation. He is remembered chiefly as one of the founding fathers of sociology. He was also a strong supporter of classical liberalism during a time when liberalism was being transformed into a belief in statism.
Sumner's analysis of the relation between the individual and society is deeper and more sophisticated than is commonly thought. For students of American history and politics, the essays reveal the complexity of American political and social thought. For observers of the contemporary social scene, they raise issues concerning the relation of liberty to property and both to government that remain as vital and unresolved as they were a century ago.
Robert C. Bannister is Scheuer Professor of History at Swarthmore College.
Synopsis
William Graham Sumner is the "forgotten man" of American intellectual history. Too often dismissed or only superficially understood, his interpretations are now attracting closer scrutiny and appreciation. He is remembered chiefly as one of the founding fathers of sociology. He was also a strong supporter of classical liberalism during a time when liberalism was being transformed into a belief in statism.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. xxxix-xlii) and index.
Table of Contents
Foreword ix
Editor’s Note xxxvii
Bibliographical Essay xxxix I / Preacher 3
1. Individualism [1871] 5
2. Tradition and Progress [1872] 16
3. Solidarity of the Human Race [1873] 26 II / Educational Reformer 37
4. The “Ways and Means” for Our Colleges [1870] 39
5. What Our Boys Are Reading [1878] 46
6. Our Colleges before the Country [1884] 54
7. Discipline [1880 or 1889] 67 III / Polemicist 79
8. Republican Government [1877] 81
9. Presidential Elections and Civil-Service Reform [1881] 93
10. The Argument against Protective Taxes [1881] 110
11. The Philosophy of Strikes [1883] 127
12. The Family Monopoly [1888] 133
13. Democracy and Plutocracy [1888–1889] 137
14. The Concentration of Wealth: Its Economic Justification [1902] 149 IV / Social Theorist 157
15. Socialism [1880s] 159
16. Sociology [1881] 183
17. The Forgotten Man [1883] 201
18. The Survival of the Fittest [1884] 223
19. Laissez-Faire [1886] 227
20. The State as an “Ethical Person” [1887] 234
21. Liberty [1887–1889] 237
22. The Absurd Effort to Make the World Over [1894] 251 V / Anti-Imperialist 263
23. The Fallacy of Territorial Expansion [1896] 265
24. The Conquest of the United States by Spain [1898] 272
25. War [1903] 298 VI / Sociologist 323
26. Purposes and Consequences [ca. 1900–1906] 325
27. The Scientific Attitude of Mind [1905] 331
28. Mores and Statistics [ca. 1900–1906] 340
29. Science and Mores [ca. 1900–1906] 343
30. On Mores and Progress [ca. 1900–1906] 347
31. Folkways [1906] 357 VII / Prophet 373
32. The Bequests of the Nineteenth Century to the Twentieth [1901] 375
33. The Mores of the Present and the Future [1909] 393 Index