Harvard. Course readings, final exams, and enrollment for Principles of Sociology. Carver and Field, 1904-1905

 

The post begins with excerpts from Thomas Nixon Carver’s autobiography dealing with his own training and teaching of sociology. He was an economist back when most sociology courses were taught within economics departments as was the case at Harvard up through the early 1930’s. Carver’s recollections are followed by the enrollment figures, the reading list, and the semester examinations for his Principles of Sociology course from the 1904-05 academic year.

Likely readings for this course can be found in Sociology and Social Progress, compiled by Thomas Nixon Carver (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1905).

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Carver’s background and institutional legacy in sociology
(From his autobiography)

Graduate Coursework at Cornell

[p. 105] The economics faculty consisted of Jeremiah W. Jenks, chairman, Walter F. Willcox, Charles H. Hull, and young  [Lucius S.] Merriam. The history department was very strong but I did not take any history courses, to my later regret. My fellowship was officially a teaching fellowship, but I was told that the holders had never been called upon to teach. It paid $550 which proved sufficient for my needs. I took courses under all three of the older men in the department of economics, but none under Merriam. Jenks conducted the seminar and gave a course on economic legislation, both of which I took. Hull gave a course on the history of economic thought, which I took, and another on industrial history. Willcox gave a course in statistics and another on sociology, both of which I took….

[p.111] … Johns Hopkins at that time was known principally because of its graduate school. Cornell had a growing graduate school but it was an appendage rather than the main part of the university. At Johns Hopkins, graduate students were segregated and had relatively few contacts with undergraduates. At Cornell, on the other hand, they were pretty well mixed.

Cornell had a larger faculty than Johns Hopkins and probably as many distinguished scholars, but the average was perhaps not so high, most of them being concerned with undergraduate teaching.

In the Department of Economics, Jenks was the oldest member and chairman of the department. He was more interested in the practical than in the theoretical side of economics. Merriam was a brilliant theorist and, had he lived, would have strengthened that side of their work. Jenks was a wide awake and interesting teacher, a man of the world who could meet on equal terms men prominent in government and business and might have done well in the diplomatic service.

Hull had an encyclopedic knowledge of American industrial history and should have written books on the subject, but he was so afraid that he might overlook something that he never got quite ready to write.

Probably the most brilliant of the three was Walter F. Willcox. Before the rise of the mathematical school of statisticians he was the leading statistician of the country. He also took us through Spencer’s Principles of Sociology and added a good many original ideas of his own. He was one of the few teachers of sociology whom I have known who were capable of taking a realistic and rational view of things.

Teaching at Oberlin

[pp. 122-123] Professor Hull had returned from his sojourn at Johns Hopkins. This relieved me of the classes in English and American history which I had carried the year before [1894-1895]. I added a course [in 1895-1896] in anthropology and one in sociology to my offering.

Teaching at Harvard
(Carver joined the faculty 1900-01)

[p. 132] There was no Department of Sociology at Harvard, but Edward Cummings had given a course on principles of sociology in the Department of Economics. Since I had been giving a course in that subject at Oberlin it was suggested that I continue it at Harvard. [1901-02; 1902-03 (taught by Ripley  and Carver); 1903-04] In addition I gave a course on economic theory and a half course on methods of economic investigation.

[p. 172] The course on the principles of sociology developed into a study of the Darwinian theory as applied to social groups. Variation among the forms of social organization and of moral systems, and the selection or survival of those systems and forms that make for group strength, were considered to constitute the method of social evolution.

The Harvard Illustrated, a student publication, at that time conducted a poll of the senior class, asking the students to name the best courses they had taken. For a number of

years Professor Palmer’s course in ethics ranked highest. My course on principles of sociology began to climb until it finally achieved first place. Then the poll was discontinued.

[pp. 210-212] I have mentioned several times the courses which I had developed at Harvard: principles of agricultural economics, principles of sociology, methods of social reform, and the distribution of wealth. I was, all those years, covering more ground than any other member of the department…
…Up to this time there had been no department of sociology at Harvard. There was a Department of Anthropology and a Department of Social Ethics, but the only course in sociological principles was the one which I gave in the Department of Economics. At one of the meetings of the American Sociological Society I heard Sorokin of the University of Minnesota read a paper. I was impressed by his prodigious learning and general sanity. I began to cultivate his acquaintance and finally was instrumental in bringing him to Harvard….The Department of Economics, on my motion, invited him to give a course of three lectures at Harvard. While he was in Cambridge, I introduced him to President Lowell. Later, on my motion, the department voted to recommend to the Corporation that Sorokin be offered a professorship in the Department of Economics to give courses in sociology at Harvard. The offer was made, he accepted, and a beginning was made toward starting a department of sociology.

Source: Thomas Nixon Carver. Recollections of an Unplanned Life. Los Angeles: Ward Ritchie Press, 1949.

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Course Enrollment

Economics 3. Professor Carver and Mr. J. A. Field. — Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress.

Total 47: 10 Graduates, 7 Seniors, 18 Juniors, 7 Sophomores, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1904-1905, p. 74.

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ECONOMICS 3
Prescribed Reading and Collateral References. 1904-05

TO BE READ IN FULL

1. Herbert Spencer. Principles of Sociology.
2. Walter Bagehot. Physics and Politics.
3. Benjamin Kidd. Social Evolution.
4. F. H. Giddings. Principles of Sociology.

COLLATERAL READING. STARRED REFERENCES ARE ESPECIALLY RECOMMENDED

I. SCOPE AND METHOD OF SOCIOLOGY

1. Auguste Comte. Positive Philosophy. Book VI. Chs.2-4.
2. Herbert Spencer. Classification of the Sciences, in Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative. Vol. II.
3. *Herbert Spencer. The Study of Sociology. Chs. 1-3.
4. J. S. Mill. System of Logic. Book VI.
5. W. S. Jevons. Principles of Science. Ch. 31. Sec. 11.
6. Lester F. Ward. Outlines of Sociology. I.
7. W. H. Stuckenberg. Introduction to the Study of Sociology. Chs. 2 and 3.
8. Émile Durkheim. Les Regles de la Méthode Sociologique.
9. Guillaume de Greef. Les Lois Sociologiques.
10. Arthur Fairbanks. Introduction to Sociology. Introduction.

Il. THE FACTORS OF SOCIAL PROGRESS

A. Physical and Biological Factors

1. Herbert Spencer. The Factors of Organic Evolution, in Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative. Vol. I.
2. Herbert Spencer. Progress, its Law and Cause, in Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative. Vol. I.
3. Auguste Comte. Positive Philosophy. Book VI. Ch. 6.
4. Lester F. Ward. Dynamical Sociology. Ch. 7.
5. Simon N. Patten. The Theory of Social Forces. Ch. 1.
6. Geddes and Thompson. The Evolution of Sex. Chs. 1, 2, 19, 21.
7. Robert Mackintosh. From Comte to Benjamin Kidd.
8. *G. de LaPouge. Les Sélections Sociales. Chs. 1-6.
9. August Weismann. The Germ Plasm: a Theory of Heredity.
10. George Job Romanes. An Examination of Weismannism.
11. Alfred Russell Wallace. Studies: Scientific and Social.
12. *R. L. Dugdale. The Jukes.
13. Oscar C. McCulloh. The Tribe of Ishmael.
14. *Francis Galton. Hereditary Genius.
15. Arthur Fairbanks. Introduction to Sociology. Pt. III.
16. H. W. Conn. The Method of Evolution.

B. Psychic

1. Auguste Comte. Positive Philosophy. Book VI. Ch. 5.
2. *Jeremy Bentham. Principles of Morals and Legislation. Chs. 1 and 2.
3. Lester F. Ward. The Psychic Factors of Civilization.
4. Tarde. Social Laws.
5. [G. Tarde]. The Laws of Imitation.
6. [G. Tarde]. La Logique Sociale.
7. Gustar Le Bon. The Crowd.
8. The Psychology of Peoples.
9. Mark Baldwin. Social and Ethical Interpretations.
10. [J. Mark Baldwin]. Mental Development in the Child and the Race.
11. John Fisk. The Destiny of Man.
12. Henry Drummond. The Ascent of Man.
13. Simon N. Patten. The Theory of Social Forces. Chs. 2-5.
14. *E. A. Ross. Social Control.

C. Social and Economic

1. Lester F. Ward. Outlines of Sociology. Pt. II.
2. *[Lester F. Ward]. Dynamical Sociology. Ch. 10.
3. Brooks Adams. The Law of Civilization and Decay.
4. D. G. Ritchie. Darwinism and Politics.
5. *A. G. Warner. American Charities. Pt. I. Ch. 5.
6. *G. de LaPouge. Les Sélections Sociales. Chs. 7-15.
7. T. R. Malthus. Principle of Population.
8. H. Bosanquet. The Standard of Life.
9. W. H. Mallock. Aristocracy and Evolution.
10. T. V. Veblen. The Theory of the Leisure Class.
11. W. S. Jevons. Methods of Social Reform.
12. Jane Addams and Others. Philanthropy and Social Progress.
13. Demolins. Anglo-Saxon Superiority.
14. *Thomas H. Huxley. Evolution and Ethics.
15. Georg Simmel. Ueber Sociale Differencierung.
16. Émile Durkheim. De la Division du Travail social.
17. J. H. W. Stuckenberg. Introduction to the Study of Sociology. Ch. 6.
18. Achille Loria. The Economic Foundations of Society.
19. [Achille Loria]. Problems Sociaux Contemporains. Ch. 6.
20. William Z. Ripley. The Races of Europe.

D. Political and Legal

1. Jeremy Bentham. Principles of Morals and Legislation. Chs. 12-17.
2. F. M. Taylor. The Right of the State to Be.
3. *W. W. Willoughby. Social Justice. Chs. 5-9.
4. *D. G. Ritchie. Principles of State Interference.
5. W. S. Jevons. The State in Relation to Labor.
6. Henry C. Adams. The Relation of the State to Industrial Action, in Publications Am. Econ. Assoc. Vol. I. No. 6.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and readings in economics, 1895-2003. Box 1. Folder “Economics, 1904-1905.”

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ECONOMICS 3
Mid-year Examination, 1904-05

1. What is meant by a rational sanction for conduct? How is it distinguished from the rationalization of religion and law?
2. Has resentment, or the desire for vengeance, any place as a factor in producing social order? Explain your answer.
3. Describe Spencer’s conception of the Industrial Type of Society and give your opinion of its validity.
   (a) as representing an actual stage in social progress;
   (b) as an ideal social type.
4. What accounts for the force of the religious sanction for conduct among primitive peoples? What does Spencer believe will be the place of ethics in the religion of the future, and what are his reasons? Are the two explanations in harmony?
5. Describe the principal forms of the family relation, and the type of society in which each form prevails.
6. Comment briefly but specifically upon any five of the following topics:—
   (a) Exogamy.
   (b) The domestic relations of the Veddahs.
   (c) The domestic relations of the Thibetans.
   (d) The Ynca political system.
   (e) Political organization among the Eskimos.
   (f) The political system of the Dahomans.
   (g) The industrial attainments of the Fuegians.
7. What is Spencer’s explanation of the origin of ceremonial in general; and how does he account for particular forms? According to this theory what does the formality of our social relations indicate concerning the original social or anti-social traits of mankind?
8. By what stages has the medical profession been evolved, and how does it perform the general social function which according to Spencer characterizes the professions?
9. “The salvation of every society, as of every species, depends on the maintenance of an absolute opposition between the regime of the family and the regime of the State.” Spencer, Vol. I, p. 719.
   What opposition is referred to? Does it appear more conspicuously in the militant or in the industrial type of society?
10. “From war has been gained all that it has to give.” Spencer, Vol. II, p. 664.
    What has war done to develop society? Why is its work done? Why, if war is now intolerable, is it improper to check the conflicts of classes and individuals within the state?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1904-05.

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ECONOMICS 3
Year-end Examination, 1904-05

Omit one question.

1. “Can we then allege special connexions between the different types of family and the different social types classed as militant and industrial?” (Spencer, Principles of Sociology, I, p. 675.) Explain.
2. In what particulars is society fundamentally unlike a biological organism?
3. Can you define social progress in terms of human well-being and at the same time make it consistent with a general theory of evolution? Explain.
4. What is meant by the storing of social energy and what are the agencies by which it is accomplished?
5. What is meant by the power of idealization and how does it affect social progress?
6. Under what conditions and on what grounds would you justify the interference of the state with the liberty of the individual?
7. Give the titles and authors of such books as you have read of sociological topics, including those prescribed in the course, and write your impression of one which is not prescribed.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05;  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1905), p. 24.

Image Source: “Thomas Nixon Carver, 1865-1961” link at the History of Economic Thought Website. “Portrait of Carver (as a young man)“.
Detail in the Oberlin College Yearbook 1901 Hi-o-hi (no. 16)