Sociology and Modern Social Problems | Page 8

the theoretical assumptions which revolutionary socialism makes.
The further relations of sociology to socialism will be taken up later.
Here we are only concerned to have the reader see that there is a sharp
distinction between the sociological movement on the one hand, that is,
the movement to obtain fuller and more accurate knowledge concerning
human social life, and the socialist movement, the movement to
revolutionize the present social and economic order. Moreover, it may
be remarked that while socialism seems to be mainly an economic
program, it involves such total and radical reconstruction of social
organization that in the long run the claims of socialism to a scientific
validity must be passed upon by sociology rather than by economics.
The Relation of Sociology to Social Reform.--From what has been said
it is also evident that sociology must not be confused with any
particular social reform movement or with the movement for social
reform in general. Sociology, as a science, cannot afford to be
developed in the interest of any social reform. Certain social reforms,
sociology may give its approval to; others it may designate as unwise;
but this approval or disapproval will be simply incidental to its
discovery of the full truth about human social relations. This is not
saying, of course, that social theory should be divorced from social
practice, or that the knowledge which sociology and the other social
sciences offer concerning human society has no practical bearing upon
present social conditions. On the contrary, while all science aims
abstractly at the truth, all science is practical also in a deeper sense. No
science would ever have been developed if it were not conceived that
the knowledge which it discovers will ultimately be of benefit to man.
All science exists, therefore, to benefit man, to enable him to master his
environment, and the social sciences not less than the other sciences.

The physical sciences have already enabled man to attain to a
considerable mastery over his physical environment. When the social
sciences have been developed it is safe to say that they will enable man
not less to master his social environment. Therefore, while sociology
and the special social sciences present as yet no program for action,
aiming simply at the discovery of the abstract truth, they will
undoubtedly in time bring about vast changes for the betterment of
social conditions.
SELECT REFERENCES
_For Brief Reading:_
WARD, _Outlines of Sociology,_ Chaps. I-VIII. ROSS, _The
foundations of Sociology,_ Chaps. I and II. DEALEY, _Sociology, Its
simpler Teachings and Applications,_ Chap. I.
_For More Extended Reading:_
GIDDINGS, _The Principles of Sociology,_ 3d edition. SMALL,
_General Sociology._ SPENCER, _The Study of Sociology._
STUCKENBERG, _Sociology: The Science of Human Society._
WARD, _Pure Sociology._ American Journal of Sociology, many
articles. For a fairly extensive bibliography on sociology, consult
Howard's General Sociology: An Analytical Reference Syllabus.

CHAPTER II
THE BEARING OF THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION UPON
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
Since Darwin wrote his Origin of Species all the sciences in any way
connected with biology have been profoundly influenced by his theory
of evolution. It is important that the student of sociology, therefore,
should understand at the outset something of the bearing of Darwin's
theory upon social problems.

We may note at the beginning, however, that the word evolution has
two distinct, though related, meanings. First, it usually means Darwin's
doctrine of descent; secondly, it is used to designate Spencer's theory of
universal evolution. Let us note somewhat in detail what evolution
means in the first of these senses.
The Darwinian Theory of Descent.--Darwin's theory of descent is the
doctrine that all forms of life now existing or that have existed upon the
earth have sprung from a few simple primitive types. According to this
theory all forms of animals and plants have sprung from a few
primitive stocks, though not necessarily one, because even in the
beginning there may have existed a distinction at least between the
plant and the animal types. So far as the animal world is concerned,
then, this theory amounts to the assertion of the kinship of all life. From
one or more simple primitive unicellular forms have arisen the great
multitude of multicellular forms that now exist. Popularly, Darwin's
theory is supposed to be that man sprang from the apes, but this, strictly
speaking, is a misconception. Darwin's theory necessitates the belief,
not that man sprang from any existing species of ape, but rather that the
apes and man have sprung from some common stock. It is equally true,
however, that man and many other of the lower animals, according to
this theory, have come from a common stock. As was said above, the
theory is not a theory of the descent of man from any particular animal
type, but rather the theory of the kinship, the genetic relationship,