Basic Sociological Principles [antikvár]

PREFACE Sociology is becoming an increasingly important area of study in most college curricula. It is significant both as a major field of concentration for some students and also as part of "general education" programs through which it reaches many more students. Those students who approach the subject for the first time often find it unnecessarily difficult, because most of the textbooks now available are either huge volumes which contain a mass of factual material with little integration at the student level, or they are specialized studies somewhat limited in scope and presupposing some acquaintance with the field. It is the writer's belief that a compact statement of elementary principles of sociology will help to clarify the material. This present volume is an attempt to make such a statement of principles. It is not intended to be a comprehensive "system of sociology" or a final delineation of the field of sociology, or anything nearly so ambitious as those terms imply. It is intended primarily to be a teaching device, an instrument which will assist the teacher of beginning sociology classes in his task of introducing college students to sociology. In order to function as such an instrument, this book has been kept relatively simple and has been organized about a logical series of ideas, and developed in a systematic way. The book is intended both for those students who wish a foundation of elementary sociology as the basis for further concentration in the field and also for those students who will meet with sociology only in a general-education program. It is the vwiter's belief that the same basic facts of sociology may be presented in the same way for both types of student. There seems little point in the current practice of presenting a few facts about social problems and social institutions to students in general education and then assuming that they know something about sociology as such. It is much more im-