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From International Socialism, No.14, Autumn 1963, p.35.
Thanks to Ted Crawford & the late Will Fancy.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
The Origins of Scientific Sociology
John Madge
Tavistock. 63s.
This assessment of some of the most important work done over the last 50 years in sociology is offered as an attempt ‘to demonstrate ... the possibilities as well as the pitfalls that face the attempt to build a scientific sociology.’ Research is selected to illuminate a range of social problems – suicide, industrial sociology, race relations, sexual behaviour, fascism, new communities, slums – and, apart from Durkheim’s study of suicide, all the sources are American. Madge’s emphasis is more on the practical application of sociology than on social theory and he seems less interested in the study of political and economic institutions (because it is less ‘scientific’?); consequently his book is only partially useful in explaining the uses of social science. But, on the whole, it exposes serious limitations in British studies. We have not yet produced any substantial body of research which tries to connect individual behaviour with social causes. Paperback sociology (Vance Packard, Hoggart, Wright Mills, ‘The Twentieth Century’, Eysenck) gives us hints by collecting ideas, but most of this is out of the context of economic and political change, and certainly without rigorous research. Madge’s volume might just help us find our way.
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Last updated on 24 March 2010