Sociology and Modern Social Problems | Page 7

text therefore, will not attempt to exclude ethical implications and
judgments from sociological discussions, because that would be futile
and childish.
(F) _Relations to Education._ Among the applied sciences, sociology is
especially closely related to education, for education is not simply the
art of developing the powers and capacities of the individual; it is rather
the fitting of individuals for efficient membership, for proper
functioning, in social life. On its individual side, education should
initiate the individual into the social life and fit him for social service.
It should create the good citizen. On the social or public side, education
should be the chief means of social progress. It should regenerate
society, by fitting the individual for a higher type of social life than at
present achieved. We must have a socialized education if our present
complex civilization is to endure. Social problems touch education on
every side, and, on the other hand, education must bear upon every
social problem. It is evident, therefore, that sociology has a very great
bearing upon the problems of education; and the teacher who comes to
his task equipped with a knowledge of social conditions and of the laws
and principles of social organization and evolution will find a
significance and meaning in his work which he could hardly otherwise
find.
(G) _Relations to Philanthropy._[Footnote: This topic is more fully
discussed in my article on "Philanthropy and Sociology" in The Survey
for June 4, 1910.] The great science which deals directly with the
depressed classes in society and with their uplift may be called the
science of philanthropy. It may be regarded as an applied department of
sociology. The science of philanthropy is especially concerned with the
prevention, as well as with the curative treatment, of dependency,
defectiveness, and delinquency. That part which deals with the social
treatment of the criminal class is generally called penology, while the
subdivision which treats of dependents and defectives is generally
known as "charities" or "charitology."
It is evident that there are very close relations between the science of
philanthropy and sociology. The elimination of hereditary defects, the

overcoming of the social maladjustment of individuals, and the
correction of defective social conditions, the three great tasks of
scientific philanthropy, all require great knowledge of human society.
The social or philanthropic worker, therefore, requires thorough
equipment in sociology that he may approach his tasks aright.
The Relation of Sociology to Socialism.--Curiously enough sociology
is often confused with socialism by those who pay but little attention to
scientific matters. This comes from the fact that some of the adherents
of socialism claim that socialism is a science. As a matter of fact,
socialism is primarily a party program. It is the platform of a social and
political party that has as the main tenet of its creed the abolition of
private property in the means of production. Socialism, in other words,
is a scheme to revolutionize the present order of society. It cannot claim
to be a science in any sense, though it may rest upon theories which its
adherents believe to be scientific. Sociology, on the other hand, is a
science, and is concerned not with revolutionizing the social order, but
with studying and understanding social conditions, especially the more
fundamental conditions upon which social organization and social
changes depend. As a science it aims simply at understanding society,
at getting at the truth. It is no more related logically to socialism than to
the platform of the Republican or the Democratic party.
The theories upon which revolutionary socialism rest may be proved or
disproved by scientific sociology. It is perhaps too early to say finally
whether sociology will pronounce the theoretical assumptions of
socialism correct or incorrect; but so far as we can see it seems
probable that the theories of social evolution advocated by the Marxian
socialists at least will be pronounced erroneous. In any case, there is no
logical connection between sociology as a science and socialism as a
program for social reconstruction.
Nevertheless, there has been a close connection between sociology and
socialism historically. It has been largely the agitations of the socialists
and other radical social reformers which have called attention to the
need of a scientific understanding of human society. The socialists and
other radical reformers, in other words, have very largely set the

problem which sociology attempts to solve. Practically, moreover, the
indictments and charges of the socialists and anarchists against the
present social order have made necessary some study of that order to
see whether these charges were well founded or not. In this sense
sociology may be said to be a scientific answer to socialism, not in the
sense that sociology is devoted to refuting socialism, but in the sense
that sociology has been devoted very largely to inquiring into many of