Concentration in Sociology gives one the opportunity of selecting courses in a broader range of related departments than does concentration in any other field. From the standpoint of the prospective concentrator, especially if he be somewhat timid and doubtful about the finality of his decision, this relative freedom to browse in sundry delectable fields of his own choice is a strong practical advantage. Most of the Older departments, like English, Classics, Mathematics, Music, the Natural Sciences, Fine Arts--are more thoroughly self-contained than the younger Social Sciences. History and, Anthropology, Government and Economics, Psychology and Literature, Philosophy and History--all these subjects that study different aspects of habits and thoughts of men and women in every age and clime are essentially interconnected. He who would study Sociology must of necessity be acquainted with these other related fields which jointly furnish so many of its problems.

Social Sciences New

Such special social sciences are one of them much more than 100 years old, and Sociology depends upon them for many of its data. Although Confucius, Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Ibn-Khaldun, Macchiavelli, Montesquieu, and many other great thinkers had written on man and society from a general standpoint, it was not until about the time the French Revolution stirred European civilization to its roots that thinkers began to study various special aspects of human social relations. One group began to specialize on the development of our great social institutions like the State and the Church; another group concentrated on the motives and incentives that induce men to work; another sought to discover the secret of political power; still another, an offspring like the rest of the old Philosophy, attempted to trace the laws of human thought. Now one of the results of this great modern tendency toward specialization has been, in regard to the Social Sciences, the creation as special educational disciplines of History, Economics, Government, and Psychology--these four--and a fifth, which aims at surveying society as a whole: Sociology. This last is not so ambitious as to attempt the work of all the special social sciences and more besides; it too, specializes on certain fundamental traits of all social phenomena seen, as it were, in cross-section. But this is no place for watertight definitions.

Sociology Not Exclusive

The practical advantage is that concentration in Sociology may be rally a less exclusive concentration than in most other fields. If you have any uncertainties about your ultimate haven, you could scarcely find a more delightful abiding-place. On the other hand there is ample room for work in any of the special division of the Department itself, on such subjects as the laws of social organization or of social change, country as compared with city civilizations, influence of over-population, history and problems of the family, and several others. After graduation, if you should leave the field of Sociology proper, you might settle for study either on some one of the special "social problems" such as war, marriage and divorce, eugenics and birth-control, modern religion, international relations, revolutionary movements, tendencies in art and literature, and so on--or in one of the correlated fields: Cultural History, Anthropology, Social Psychology, Economics, and others. As preparation for non-academic careers Sociology is as good as the other disciplines in fact somewhat better, because of its broadness.

The courses for next year are described in the now pamphlet which will appear about April 27th. An idea of the subjects covered can be gained by a glance at the books on the reserved shelves in the Widener Reading Room.

The Department is fortunate in-being headed by Professor Sorokin, one of the most stimulating men at Harvard. The opportunity for a course with this is spiring teacher and scholar is one no man should miss. As to the other men I have known in this new Department. I have thoroughly enjoyed my work under their guidance--and that goes for three years. Verbum sapienti satis.