SOCIETY AND CULTURE.

By Francis E.Merrill '26. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.:Prentice-Hall, 1961. 2nd Edition. 619 pp.$7.95.

SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION. By MabelA. Elliott and Francis E. Merrill '26.New York: Harper, 1961. 4th Edition795 pp. $8.50.

The quality of these two textbooks is attested by their wide adoption by American colleges and universities. Society and Culture (400 adoptions) is recognized as one of the best introductory sociology texts in a highly competitive field; Social Disorganization (700 adoptions), since its first edition in 1934, has stood practically unchallenged as the best book in the field of social problems.

The second edition of Society and Culture follows essentially the same theoretical approach as the preceding edition. The concept of society is considered basic; other concepts derive from it. Social interaction, which is the essence of society, and culture, which is learned behavior resulting from past interaction, are central concepts in the study of sociology. Since the culture of any given society is learned by individual members and incorporated into their personalities, it can be said that personality is "the subjective aspect of culture." Social structure and social change, two important sociological concepts, are closely related to social interaction which, therefore, becomes the unifying theme of the book. Thus, social structure, social institutions and social change, based upon social interaction, follow logically in the study of sociology. Social problems, in a society characterized by social change, with the consequent need of social control and planning, conclude the first five parts of the book.

The sixth part contains two entirely new chapters on the methods of social research, contributed by Dr. Pauline V. Young, an authority in this field. These two chapters are entitled "The Nature of Research" and "The Techniques of Research." The addition of these chapters greatly strengthens the general usefulness and value of the book. They are a valuable aid to the student who wishes to explore the workings of society and culture by entering into sociological investigations of his own.

This second edition reveals extensive revisions and additions, incorporating new research findings, thus enhancing the value of the book to the student. New material appears extensively in the chapters on population, caste, class, mobility, family and community.

The fourth edition of Social Disorganization also benefits from the inclusion of the latest research findings in sociological and related fields. While the book has been largely rewritten, it retains the general theoretical framework of the first edition. The wealth of sociological research of the past decade has been in the fields of class, status and role, small groups, delinquency and adult criminality, mental deficiency, mental disease, divorce and desertion, alcoholism and racial and religious prejudice. The text has been greatly enriched by use of this new sociological knowledge.

Profs. Elliott and Merrill, in using a social disorganization approach to diverse social problems, differ in this respect from other so-called social problems textbooks. Their approach affords the students a better sociological insight into social problems for they bring out clearly the necessity of understanding the social processes by which the patterns of interaction, which hold groups together, are weakened or broken, with the resulting social disorganization. The other type of social problems textbook often really has very little sociology in it.

An important focus of the book is social change, which is certainly a very significant factor in social disorganization. In view of the developments in agriculture and the mechanization of agricultural production, producing great shifts in population with consequent disorganization to rural economic and social institutions, the authors included two new chapers in this edition, one on the Agricultural Revolution and one on Rural Institutional Disorganization and Change. The chapters on alcoholism, migration, racial minorities, and totalitarianism are comprised of almost entirely new materials. The extensive treatment of international disorganization — revolution, totalitarianism and war - reflects its significance in our lives today.

I wish to conclude this review by quoting what Prof. Pitirim A. Sorokin of Harvard University said of the preceding edition of this book: "The third edition is really excellent. This is about the best text in the field." It merely remains to be said that the fourth edition is a still better textbook and that it remains the best text in this field of study.