Review of An Introduction to Social Psychology by C. A. Ellwood
Margaret Floy Washburn
An Introduction to Social Psychology. By CHARLES A. ELLWOOD. D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1917.— pp. 343.
Professor Ellwood states in his preface that this book is "a simplification and systematization of the theories presented"in his Sociology in its Scientific Aspects. Those who are familiar with his writings will, recall that his point of view is that of the functional psychology of Angell. He is definitely opposed to behaviorism, and has no fear of the concept of consciousness. Mechanism in his opinion has yet to demonstrate its validity for psychic and social processes: "we cannot understand such a thing as value apart from consciousness." A society he would define, not in any purely objective terms, but as "any group of individuals who carry on a common life by means of mental interaction." "Sympathetic introspection" is to him, "after deduction from ascertained laws and principles of psychology, probably our chief instrument at the present time for the psychological
( 197) analysis of existing social life." Professor Ellwood's conception of the function of consciousness is the orthodox functional one that consciousness secures the adaptation of behavior at times of change.
The fundamental topics with which the book deals from this conservative point of view are the problems of social unity, of social continuity, of normal or gradual social change and of abnormal or sudden social change. The author prefaces his discussion of these themes with a chapter on Organic and Social Evolution and one on Human Nature and Human Society. In the former, after considering the biological factors that have led to the forms of animal association, he points out that the intellect is the distinctively human element in human social life. In the latter, he first rejects as inadequate or false the passive, hedonistic, egoistic and individualistic theories of human nature in favor of that which regards the individual as "a self-active unit, fashioned by the forces of an organic evolution which has been at the same time a social evolution"; and then treats of the roles of instinct, habit, feeling and intellect, in human society. Instincts are the primary forces in the social life; habit is the basis of all the higher forms of social organization; feeling represents the individualistic element; intellect is concerned with adaptation and change.
Social unity is discussed in two chapters. The factors which affect it are grouped under seven heads: external environment, biological conditions, instincts, habits, feelings, ideas, and institutions of social control. The chapter on social continuity considers the functions of heredity, the continuity of physical environment, custom, and social tradition in securing the permanency of social organizations, and treats briefly of the causes of social stagnation and social assimilation. In the chapter on "Social Change Under Normal Conditions," unconscious changes, produced by the processes of organic evolution, alterations of environment, unconscious failures to imitate exactly, are distinguished from conscious changes, whose mechanism rests fundamentally on free public discussion. Whenever anything interferes with such free developments of public opinion, we have the conditions for revolution, or sudden social change; a process which involves great waste, because when the acquired habits and standards of society are broken down, there is nothing but animal instinct to fall back upon, and society tends to drop to the animal level.
The remainder of the book is occupied with the relations of instinct to intelligence in social life, the role of imitation, suggestion, and sympathy, and with the topics of "Social Order," "Social Progress," and "The Nature of Society." The system of ethics advocated takes as
( 198) its ideal "not a perfect individual, but a perfect society consisting of all humanity." The author's ideal of social progress he calls the sociological ideal: it considers all kinds of conditions, physical and geographical, biological, economic, and the psychological influences of ideas and standards. And his conception of society he terms psychological, in accordance with "modern psychology," which "takes fully into account not only the strictly psychic elements in human behavior, but also biological conditions and forces."