Category: Sociology

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Exam Questions Harvard Social Insurance Social Work Sociology

Harvard. Social Ethics Courses. Enrollments and Final Exams. Peabody et al., 1912-1913

Room 2 of Harvard's Social Museum (1911)

 

Social Ethics 1-7
1912-13

Social Ethics 1. Social Problems in the Light of Ethical Theory
Social Ethics 2. Practical Problems of Social Service
Social Ethics 3. Criminology and Penology [omitted 1911-12]
Social Ethics 4. Social Problems of Immigration and Race
Social Ethics 5. The Housing Problem
Social Ethics 6. Social Amelioration in Europe
Social Ethics 7. Rural Social Development

The courses in this group are designed to apply philosophical principles to the modern problems of philanthropy, industry, and social life. They begin with a general introduction to Social Ethics and proceed to methods of applied ethics which approach those of a professional school. Students should have already elected courses both in Philosophy and in Economics, and should regard the courses in Social Ethics as concerned with the transition from academic to practical life.

Previously posted course material for social ethics at Harvard.

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Social Ethics Instructors
1911-12

Jeffrey Richardson Brackett
Robert Franz Foerster
James Ford
Francis Greenwood Peabody

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Social Ethics 1.
Poor-Relief, the Family, Temperance and the Labor Question

[Social Ethics] 1. The Problems of Poor -Relief, The Family, Temperance, and various phases of the Labor Question, in the light of Ethical Theory. Lectures, special researches, and prescribed reading. Tu., Th., Sat., at 10. Professor [Francis Greenwood] PEABODY, Dr. [James] FORD, and Dr. [Robert Franz] FOERSTER.

This course is an application of ethical theory to the social problems of the present day. It is to be distinguished from economic courses dealing with similar subjects by the emphasis laid on the moral aspects of the social situation and on the philosophy of society involved. In addition to lectures and required reading a special and detailed report is made by each student, based as far as possible on personal research and observation of scientific methods in industrial reform. These researches are arranged in consultation with the instructors; and an important feature of the course is the suggestion and direction of such personal investigation and the provision to each student of special literature and opportunities for observation. Students are advised, before beginning the study of Social Ethics, to take courses both in Economics and Philosophy; and must have taken a course, or the equivalent of a course, in one of these subjects.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. IX, No. 16 (May 10, 1912). Division of History, Government and Economics, 1912-13, p. 69.

Course Enrollment

[Social Ethics] 1. Professor [Francis Greenwood] PEABODY, Dr. [James] FORD, and Dr. [Robert Franz] FOERSTER. — Social Problems in the light of Ethical Theory. Poor relief, the family, temperance, and the labor question.

Total 75: 16 Seniors, 25 Juniors, 13 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 19 Others.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1912-1913, p. 62.

Year-end Examination
SOCIAL ETHICS 1

So allot your time that you may answer all questions

  1. What advantages would be secured by each of the devices described by Seager for dealing with unemployment?
  2. Describe the method employed for dealing with industrial disputes in (a) England, (b) New Zealand. What are the respective advantages and disadvantages of these methods?
  3. Compare and contrast the Victorian and the Massachusetts Minimum Wage Laws.
  4. What was the case of Priestley vs. Fowler? What were its consequences? What are the provisions of the present British law by which the problem in question is dealt with?
  5. What are the difficulties and dangers in the application of “welfare work “? Under what conditions, if any, should “welfare work” be undertaken by employers? (Treat specifically (a) “welfare work within the factory; (b) provision of facilities for recreation.)
  6. Define industrial partnership, copartnership, workers ‘ cooperative production. Show in how far these terms overlap.
  7. Criticize the following:–
    1. “Co-operation is incapable of raising wages and shortening hours.”
    2. “The aim of co-operation is to abolish utterly the wage system.”
  8. “Syndicalism asks that each industrial group of workers should control the instruments of production which it uses the railway — men, the railways; the miners, the mines; and so on. “Is this a practicable program? Give argument and evidence in detail.
  9. Outline the history, aim, structure, and methods of the British Co-operative Union.

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers set for final examinations in history, history of science, government, economics, philosophy, social ethics, education, fine arts, music in Harvard College(June 1913), pp. 71-72.

 

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Social Ethics 2.
Practical Problems of Social Service

* 2 2hf. Practical Problems of Social Service: Public Aid, Charity, and Neighborhood Work. Lectures, prescribed reading, and observation of work under skilled direction. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., at 2.30. Dr. [Jeffrey Richardson] BRACKETT.

This course is for advanced students, especially for those who plan, as ministers, teachers, or as citizens, whatever their vocation, to be actively interested in charity, correction, or any form of social work. It is also an introduction to Social Ethics 20c, the School for Social Workers. It is a study of tendencies in Social Service, of law and custom, especially in England and the United States, bearing directly on such topics as neighborhood improvement, forms and sources of relief, modification of charitable trusts, treatment of special types of the needy, organization of charity, financial management, supervision of work by public and private agencies.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. IX, No. 16 (May 10, 1912). Division of History, Government and Economics, 1912-13, pp. 69-70.

Course Enrollment

[Social Ethics] 2 2hf. Dr. [Jeffrey Richardson] BRACKETT. — Practical Problems of Social Service: public aid, charity, and neighborhood work.

Total 23: 3 Graduates, 7 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1912-1913, p. 62.

Year-End Examination
SOCIAL ETHICS 2
  1. “At the beginning of the study of the causes of poverty, the personal causes, as we have seen, were chiefly emphasized.”
    Explain this statement.
    What is the present tendency in weighing causes of poverty and misery?
    What is your judgment as to tendencies?
  2. You are asked what a social settlement is for. What is your answer?
  3. What are the places in modern philanthropy:–
    1. Of “volunteer” or unpaid workers, usually giving part time, as compared with
    2. The professional workers who are usually paid for full time service?
  4. Illustrate your view of the meaning of social work by the treatment of two of the following types of need:–
    1. The feeble-minded.
    2. The blind.
    3. Offenders.
    4. Dependent children.
  5. What should be the chief results of a well used confidential bureau for exchange of information of needy families?
  6. What arguments do you give
    1. For,
    2. Against, the use of public money for private charity?
  7. What are the chief lessons of value which you have learned from the field work which has been accepted as practice work for this course?

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers set for final examinations in history, history of science, government, economics, philosophy, social ethics, education, fine arts, music in Harvard College(June 1913), pp. 72-73.

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Social Ethics 3.
Criminology and Penology

[* 3 1hf. Criminology and Penology. — Lectures, prescribed reading, and reports. Half-course (first half-year).]

Omitted in 1912-13.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. IX, No. 16 (May 10, 1912). Division of History, Government and Economics, 1912-13, p. 70.

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Social Ethics 4.
Social Problems of Immigration and Race

* 4 1hf. Social Problems of Immigration and Race. — Lectures, prescribed reading, and a research. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Dr. [Robert Franz] FOERSTER.

This course deals principally with immigration into the United States, in its international aspects and as an internal problem; secondarily with the American negro problem. Emigration from foreign countries is first studied — in its causes, its historical course, and its consequences for the countries from which it proceeds. Next are considered the history and changes of immigration into the United States; the condition of immigrants in this country; and the effects, transitory and permanent, upon the United States, under social, industrial, and racial aspects. Questions of American internal policy (contact, utilization, assimilation) and the question of national policy (restriction, non-restriction, selection, protection) are studied, partly in relation to emigration and immigration legislation of other countries. To the negro problem less time is devoted; yet the rural and urban populations, their economic and social changes in the post-slavery period, and the broad questions of public and private policy will be considered.

The method of the course will be as far as possible analytical rather than historical or descriptive. Special emphasis will be laid on the thesis and from time to time research conferences will be substituted for lectures.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. IX, No. 16 (May 10, 1912). Division of History, Government and Economics, 1912-13, pp. 70-71.

Course Enrollment

[Social Ethics] 4 1hf. Dr. [Robert Franz] FOERSTER. — Social Problems of Immigration and Race.

Total 20: 6 Graduates, 8 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 3 Others.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1912-1913, p. 62.

Mid-year Examination
SOCIAL ETHICS 4

So allot your time that you may answer all questions. Carefully indicate the reasons for your conclusions.

  1. Is there an instinct of migration? Are there other peculiarly psychological causes of emigration? What psychological factor is of noteworthy consequence after arrival of immigrants in this country?
  2. Show the connection of immigration with the problem of insanity in the United States. What is our present legislation in regard to insane aliens?
  3. “Recent immigration has not reduced the rates of wages, nor has it prevented an increase in the rates of wages; it has pushed the native and older immigrant wage-earners upward on the scale of occupations.” Discuss both of these propositions, giving in some detail reasons for the position you take.
  4. A Massachusetts congressman recently said: “The literacy test, as I have repeatedly shown, discriminates strongly against the class of laborers who are most needed in the United States.” By what argument would that position be supported? Indicate the grounds of your agreement or disagreement with the argument.
  5. Compare the occupational position of the negro in the rural South with that in New York City. Upon what grounds are the differences to be explained? What is Murphy’s solution of the occupational problem?
  6. What can be said of the effects of (a) race mixture, (b) environment, upon the future race stock of the United States?
  7. What are the effects of emigration upon Greece?

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers set for final examinations in history, history of science, government, economics, philosophy, social ethics, education, fine arts, music in Harvard College(June 1913), pp. 73-74.

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Social Ethics 5.
The Housing Problem

* 5 1hf. The Housing Problem. — Lectures, prescribed reading, and research. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 10. Dr. [James] FORD.

Primarily a course in social research. Each student is required to make an intensive original survey of housing conditions in a selected district, or to undertake detailed field work in some phase of the subject. The lectures and prescribed reading will deal with methods and results of existing housing surveys. Examination will be made of the causes and remedies of lot and room congestion, problems of construction, sanitation, and maintenance of tenements, lodging houses, and cottages. The agencies of improved construction of dwellings — philanthropic, coöperative and governmental — will be treated, together with methods of residential and industrial decentralization. The function of health and building codes, taxation, land reform, city planning, in the regulation and improvement of housing conditions, will be examined in detail.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. IX, No. 16 (May 10, 1912). Division of History, Government and Economics, 1912-13, p. 71.

Course Enrollment

[Social Ethics] 5 1hf. Dr. [James] FORD. — The Housing Problem.

Total 6: 1 Graduate, 3 Seniors, 1 Sophomore, 1 Other.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1912-1913, p. 62.

Mid-year Examination
SOCIAL ETHICS 5
  1. State the arguments for and against the construction by philanthropic corporations of improved dwellings for the working classes. Under what conditions is the philanthropic construction of model tenements of net social advantage?
  2. State the present provisions in the New York Tenement House Act designed to prevent lot congestion. Show in detail how these provisions are socially justifiable.
  3. What do New York statistics show to be the most frequent places of origin of tenement house fires? How do such fires spread?
    State the provisions (a) of the New York Tenement Act, (b) of the Massachusetts Tenement House Act for towns, which are designed to prevent such fires.
  4. What are the sources of the gross business profits of British Copartnership Garden Suburbs? How are net profits distributed to tenant members?
  5. What social advantage is there in the construction of homes for employees by employers of labor? What are the disadvantages of such a plan to the employer? To the employee? How can each disadvantage be obviated?
  6. A criticism of Howard’s “Garden Cities of Tomorrow” :—
    1. What parts of the scheme are impracticable?
    2. What suggestions are practicable and of value?
  7. Could housing conditions in American cities be improved by the application of local zone systems? What principles should govern the determination of zone boundaries?
  8. What size and shape of lot would you advocate for the construction of suburban homes for wage-earners? Why?

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers set for final examinations in history, history of science, government, economics, philosophy, social ethics, education, fine arts, music in Harvard College(June 1913), p. 74.

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Social Ethics 6.
Social Amelioration in Europe

* 6 2hf. Social Amelioration in Europe. — Lectures and prescribed reading. Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 11. Dr. [Robert Franz] FOERSTER.

This course is mainly concerned with schemes of social amelioration that have so far been little considered in the United States. Remedial methods of dealing with poverty will be treated only incidentally. Chiefly the course will make a comparative study of the preventive and constructive measures, public and private, of several countries. After a brief consideration of the place of thrift institutions, unemployment and the important recent efforts to meet it will be discussed at some length. The experience of several countries in providing for the indigent in case of accident, sickness, invalidity, and old age will, in turn, be examined. The course will close with a study of recent developments of legislation governing conditions of labor.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. IX, No. 16 (May 10, 1912). Division of History, Government and Economics, 1912-13, p. 71.

Course Enrollment

[Social Ethics] 6 2hf. Dr. [Robert Franz] FOERSTER. — Social Amelioration in Europe.

Total 11: 3 Graduates, 4 Seniors, 1 Junior, 1 Sophomore, 2 Others.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1912-1913, p. 62.

Year-end Examination
SOCIAL ETHICS 6

So allot your time that you may answer all questions

  1. Suppose that in a country of 250,000 workmen the number of unemployed persons has been, over a long period of years, never less than 10,000. How far could the amount of unemployment be reduced by the following remedies (applied individually)?
    1. The erection of an industrial establishment by state authority, permitting the employment of 10,000 persons.
    2. Such a reduction of the hours of labor by law as would result in an undiminished output, if 10,000 more persons were to be employed.
  2. Point out the differences of the St. Gall and English schemes of unemployment insurance. Do these differences make for a difference of result?
  3. Describe the German system of sickness insurance in its present form in respect of:
    1. Source of financial support;
    2. Organization and administration;
    3. “Benefits” provided;
    4. Arrangements with physicians.
  4. What measures have the insurance authorities of Germany taken to reduce the extent of disease?
  5. How far is the workmen’s insurance of Germany a burden upon industry and how far is it not?
  6. “In Germany and other countries in which the system has been wholly or partly established, they [the socialists] work for the elimination of the workingmen’s contributions to the insurance funds on the theory that it is the duty of the state to insure the life and existence of the worker, without curtailing his wages for that purpose.” (Hillquit, “Socialism in theory and practice.”) What are the grounds of your own agreement or disagreement with the attitude of the socialists? How far does your knowledge of the instincts, as they are described by McDougall, affect your answer?
  7. What system of labor exchanges do you regard as the best? Why?

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers set for final examinations in history, history of science, government, economics, philosophy, social ethics, education, fine arts, music in Harvard College(June 1913), p. 75.

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Social Ethics 7.
Rural Social Development

* 7 2hf. Rural Social Development. — Lectures, prescribed reading, and thesis. Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 10. Dr. [James] FORD.

This course will study the methods and results of rural social research. It will treat the social problems of rural communities — race composition, poverty, housing, health, recreation, labor, etc. The means of development of country life from without through “Back-to-the-Land” and other movements; and rural reconstruction from within through adaptation of existing local institutions, coöperative movements, and State activities will be considered.
The third hour of each week will be devoted to the discussion of prescribed reading or to direction of research.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. IX, No. 16 (May 10, 1912). Division of History, Government and Economics, 1912-13, p. 72.

Course Enrollment

[Social Ethics] 7 2hf. Dr. [James] FORD. — Rural Social Development.

Total 15: 1 Graduate, 10 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 1 Other.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1912-1913, p. 62.

Year-End Examination
SOCIAL ETHICS 7
  1. State in detail the possible sources of data for an exhaustive social survey of a New England rural township.
  2. Outline (a) the causes, (b) the local results of the rural exodus. State carefully in how far the causes can be eliminated by conscious social policy?
  3. Summarize the findings of the U. S. Immigration Commission with reference to the (a) economic status, (b) rapidity of assimilation, (c) contribution to community development, of immigrant farmers in the United States.
  4. Discuss:
    1. The conditions and results of marriage selection among the Hill Folk.
    2. The value of early placing-out of children as a means of meeting the social problem of a degenerate community (illustrate from the Hill Folk).
  5. What diseases may be transmitted through the farm water supply? State how each of the following may be contaminated: shallow wells; driven wells; cisterns. (Lipman “Bacteria,” and Ogden “Rural Hygiene.”)
  6. What powers for health control in rural communities reside in the best equipped State Boards of Health? Should any of these powers be left with local health officials and not with the State? Give reasons. (Fairlie and Lectures.)
  7. Name and classify the agencies of adult education in rural communities. Show the form and methods of university extension in rural communities, employed by State colleges of agriculture (especial reference to Massachusetts).
  8. State in detail the (a) organization, (b) business methods, of co-operative associations for disposal of eggs. What specifically is the importance of such associations in the betterment of rural social conditions? (Wolff and Lectures.)

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers set for final examinations in history, history of science, government, economics, philosophy, social ethics, education, fine arts, music in Harvard College(June 1913), p. 76.

Image Source: Room 2 of the Harvard’s Social Museum. Francis G. Peabody, The Social Museum as an Instrument of University Teaching. Publications of the Department of Social Ethics in Harvard University, Number 4 (Cambridge, MA: 1911).

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Social Ethics à la Peabody
1888/89—1911/12

A short history of Harvard’s Department of Social Ethics through 1920.

Exam questions for late 19th century versions of Francis Greenwood Peabody’s course on the Ethics of Social Reform have been transcribed and posted:

1888-1889; 1889-1890; 1890-1891; 1892-1893; 1893-1894; 1894-1895; 1895-1896.

Earlier 20th century course material:

1902-03. Listed as Philosophy 5. Taught by Peabody and Ireland.
1904-05. Listed as Philosophy 5 and Ethics 1. Taught by Peabody and Rogers.
1906-07. Taught by Peabody and Rogers.
1907-08. Taught by Peabody and Rogers.
1908-09. Taught by Peabody, McConnell, Ford and Foerster.
1909-10. Taught by Peabody, McConnell, Ford, and Foerster.
1910-11. Taught by Peabody, McConnell, Ford, Foerster, and Brackett. [complete set of social ethics exams]
1911-12. Taught by Peabody, McConnell, Ford, Foerster, and Brackett. [complete set of social ethics exams]

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Sociology

Harvard. Principles of Sociology. Course description, enrollment, final exams. Carver, 1912-1913

Mary Boyle O'Reilly. Not Carver's type of sociology.

I confess to being rather tired of re-using portraits of Professor Thomas Nixon Carver so I decided to look for another face of sociology for this post. The portrait above is one of the Boston social reformer and later journalist, Mary Boyle O’Reilly, identified as a “writer, lecturer on sociology” by the Library of Congress prints and photographs division. For my money, she led a more interesting life than Carver…but I digress…

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About the course teaching assistant, Lucius Moody Bristol (Harvard PhD 1913).

Carver lists sixteen items in his chapter on sociology in A guide to reading in social ethics and allied subjects (1910), by Francis G. Peabody et al.

In 1905 Carver published a book of 35 readings: Sociology and Social Progress: A Handbook for Students of Sociology.

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Previously taught
courses in sociology

Links to earlier course material for principles of sociology at Harvard, 1892-93 through 1911-12.

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Economics 8
Course Description
1912-13

[Economics] 8 (formerly 3). Principles of Sociology. — Theories of Social Progress. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 10. Professor Carver, assisted by Mr. ——.

An analytical study of social life and of the factors and forces which hold society together and give it an orderly development. The leading social institutions will also be studied with a view to finding out their relation to social well-being and progress.

The reading will be selected from various writers who have treated the problems of human progress and social adjustment.

Course 8 is open only to students who have passed in Economics 1.

Source: Harvard University. Division of History, Government, and Economics, Courses of Instruction, 1912–13, pp.62-63.

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Economics 8
Course Enrollment
1912-13

Economics 8. Principles of Sociology. Professor Carver.

Total 147: 10 Graduates, 41 Seniors, 74 Juniors, 18 Sophomores, 4 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College, 1912-13, p. 57.

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ECONOMICS 8
Mid-year Examination
1912-13

  1. Describe the four leading forms of adaptation.
  2. What is the relation of economic scarcity to the problems of adaptation?
  3. Have modern developments of biological theory tended to increase or to decrease the importance of selection as a factor in race improvement? Explain.
  4. Discuss warfare as a means of selection.
  5. Discuss charity as a factor in selection.
  6. What is the distinction between economic competition and the primordial struggle for existence? Where does the latter show itself in human affairs?
  7. What is meant by the statement that morality and religion are as truly weapons for waging the struggle for existence as are teeth and claws, horns and hoofs?
  8. Discuss the economic test of fitness for survival (a) as to its validity, (b) as to its practicability.
  9. Compare the views of Buckle and Kidd as to the importance of religion as a factor in social progress.
  10. How, according to Fiske, does the prolongation of infancy affect the character and stability of the family?
  11. How do variation and selection show themselves as factors in the improvement of morals? Is there any parallelism between the processes of moral and biological evolution?
  12. “The mores are always right.” What is meant by the word ” right” in this quotation?

Source: Harvard University. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 9, bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1912-13.

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ECONOMICS 8
Year-end Examination
1912-13

  1. What, in your opinion, is the ultimate test of progress? Give your reasons.
  2. Compare the views of Buckle and Peschel as to the influence of geographical surroundings on religion.
  3. What is the relation between the institution of the family and the institution of property?
  4. What place has the genius in social progress? Give your own opinion and state the views on this question of authors whom you have read.
  5. Outline the leading forms of waste labor and of waste land, giving briefly the reasons why each form of waste exists at the present time.
  6. Compare the views of Mill and Ross as to the limits of social control.
  7. What, according to Ross, is the relation of resentment to social order?
  8. What are the reasons for the existence of the ballot? How far would these reasons justify the extension of the ballot?

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers set for final examinations in history, history of science, government, economics, philosophy, social ethics, education, fine arts, music in Harvard College (June 1913), pp. 47-48.

Image Source: Mary Boyle O’Reilly, writer, lecturer on sociology (1913). From the Harris & Ewing photograph collection  at the ibrary of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

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Sociology exams from earlier years.

1892-93 (taught by E. Cummings)
1893-94 (taught by E. Cummings)
1894-95 (taught by E. Cummings)
1895-96 (taught by E. Cummings)
1896-97 (taught by E. Cummings)
1897-98 (taught by E. Cummings)
1898-99 (taught by E. Cummings)
1899-1900 (taught by E. Cummings)
1901-02 (taught by T. N. Carver)
1902-03 (taught by T. N. Carver and W. Z. Ripley)
1903-04 (taught by T. N. Carver)
1904-05 (taught by T. N. Carver and J. A. Field) Includes the reading list for the course and additional biographical information.
1905-06 (taught by T. N. Carver)
1906-07 (taught by J. A. Field)
1907-08 (taught by T. N. Carver)
1908-09 (taught by T. N. Carver and C. W. Thompson)
1909-10 (taught by T. N. Carver and J. S. Davis)
1910-11 (taught by T. N. Carver and L. M. Bristol)
1911-12 (taught by T. N. Carver and L. M. Bristol)

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Sociology

Harvard. Principles of Sociology. Course description, enrollment, final exam. Carver, 1911-1912

Economics professor Thomas Nixon Carver was assisted by Lucius Moody Bristol whose Ph.D. thesis Social Adaptation: A Study in the Development of the Doctrine of Adaptation as a Theory of Social Progress (1913) was awarded the David A. Wells Prize for 1914-15 and published by Harvard University Press in 1915. 

Lucius Moody Bristol was born in Castle Creek, New York, May 21, 1872. He studied at Wesleyan University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Boston University School of Theology, and Harvard University. At Harvard he studied under Thomas Nixon Carver. His dissertation, Social Adaptation (published in 1915) was, in part, a critique of Carver’s views on Social Darwinism.

Bristol taught at Tufts College, Brown University, and the University of West Virginia and was active in social welfare work. In 1920, he came to the University of Florida to head the Department of Sociology and Economics. In 1926, after the creation of the College of Commerce and Journalism, the department was reorganized as the Department of Sociology. He served as head of the department until his full retirement in 1945. He was a charter member and first vice-president of the Southern Sociological Association.

During his years in Florida, Bristol was active in various social and health programs including the Tuberculosis and Health Association, State Conference of Social Work, and the Florida chapter of the National Society for Crippled Children and Adults [now known as the Easterseals]. He died May 9, 1953.

Source: Lucius Moody Bristol Papers, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

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Carver lists sixteen items in his chapter on sociology in A guide to reading in social ethics and allied subjects (1910), by Francis G. Peabody et al.

In 1905 Carver published a book of 35 readings:Sociology and Social Progress: A Handbook for Students of Sociology.

Note: For the academic year 1911-12 I have been unable to find a mid-year examination for Carver’s Principles of Sociology course.

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Sociology exams from earlier years.

1892-93 (taught by E. Cummings)
1893-94 (taught by E. Cummings)
1894-95 (taught by E. Cummings)
1895-96 (taught by E. Cummings)
1896-97 (taught by E. Cummings)
1897-98 (taught by E. Cummings)
1898-99 (taught by E. Cummings)
1899-1900 (taught by E. Cummings)
1901-02 (taught by T. N. Carver)
1902-03 (taught by T. N. Carver and W. Z. Ripley)
1903-04 (taught by T. N. Carver)
1904-05 (taught by T. N. Carver and J. A. Field) Includes the reading list for the course and additional biographical information.
1905-06 (taught by T. N. Carver)
1906-07 (taught by J. A. Field)
1907-08 (taught by T. N. Carver)
1908-09 (taught by T. N. Carver and C. W. Thompson)
1909-10 (taught by T. N. Carver and J. S. Davis)
1910-11 (taught by T. N. Carver and L. M. Bristol)

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Course Announcement and Description
1911-12

Economics 3. Principles of Sociology.—Theories of Social Progress. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 1.30. Professor Carver, assisted by ——.

An analytical study of social life and of the factors and forces which hold society together and give it an orderly development. The leading social institutions will also be studied with a view to finding out their relation to social well-being and progress.

Spencer’s Principles of Sociology and Carver’s Sociology and Social Progress will be read in full. Students are expected to take part in the discussion of the books read and of the lectures delivered.

Course 3 is open only to students who have passed in Economics 1.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911), p. 68.

Course Enrollment
1911-12

Economics 3. Professor Carver, assisted by Mr. [Lucius Moody] Bristol — Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress.

Total 90: 13 Graduates, 24 Seniors, 35 Juniors, 8 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 8 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1911-1912, p. 65.

ECONOMICS 3
Year-end Examination, 1911-12

  1. What is meant by the balance of nature? Give illustrations.
  2. Who are the leading modern writers in the field of eugenics? Describe the contribution to the theory made by one of these writers.
  3. Discuss the question: Is marriage a device for controlling the birth rate?
  4. What is the relation of the institution of private property to the storing of social energy?
  5. Discuss the question: Is morality a factor in man’s struggle for existence?
  6. Summarize Nordau’s views as to the symptoms and causes of degeneration.
  7. Discuss the question: Is democracy possible without the ballot?
  8. Why does the status of women improve with the transition from the militant to the industrial type of society?
  9. Which do you consider more important in social progress, imitation or struggle and survival? Give reasons for your answer.
  10. How is recent German history used by Spencer to illustrate certain laws of social evolution?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University — Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1912. Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set For Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics […], pp. 47-48.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Sociology

Harvard. Enrollment, course description, semester exams in sociology. Carver and Bristol, 1910-1911

Carver lists sixteen items in his chapter on sociology in A guide to reading in social ethics and allied subjects (1910), by Francis G. Peabody et al.

An obituary for Carver’s assistant for the course, Lucius Moody Bristol (Harvard PhD in Social Ethics, 1913), was published in Social Forces Vol. 32, Issue 1 (October 1953), p. 90.

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Sociology exams from earlier years.

1892-93 (taught by E. Cummings)
1893-94 (taught by E. Cummings)
1894-95 (taught by E. Cummings)
1895-96 (taught by E. Cummings)
1896-97 (taught by E. Cummings)
1897-98 (taught by E. Cummings)
1898-99 (taught by E. Cummings)
1899-1900 (taught by E. Cummings)
1901-02 (taught by T. N. Carver)
1902-03 (taught by T. N. Carver and W. Z. Ripley)
1903-04 (taught by T. N. Carver)
1904-05 (taught by T. N. Carver and J. A. Field) Includes the reading list for the course and additional biographical information.
1905-06 (taught by T. N. Carver)
1906-07 (taught by J. A. Field)
1907-08 (taught by T. N. Carver)
1908-09 (taught by T. N. Carver and C. W. Thompson)
1909-10 (taught by T. N. Carver and J. S. Davis)

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Course Announcement and Description
1910-11

  1. Principles of Sociology. — Theories of Social Progress. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 1.30. Professor Carver, and an assistant.

An analytical study of social life and of the factors and forces which hold society together and give it an orderly development. The leading social institutions will also be studied with a view to finding out their true relation to social well-being and progress.

Spencer’s Principles of Sociology [Vol. 1; Vol. II; Vol. III] and Carver’s Sociology and Social Progress will be read in full. Students are expected to take part in the discussion of the books read and of the lectures delivered.

Course 3 is open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1910-11. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VI,I No. 23 (June 21, 1910), p. 63

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Course Enrollment
1910-11

Economics 3. Professor Carver, assisted by Mr.[Lucius Moody] Bristol [Ph.D. 1913] — Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress.

Total 61: 8 Graduates, 9 Seniors, 27 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 12Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1910-1911 p. 50.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3
Mid-year Examination, 1910-11

  1. What is the bearing of Weisman’s theory of heredity upon the problem of the transmissibility of acquired characters?
  2. What is Spencer’s opinion as to the methods of administering charity?
  3. How does the transition from the militant to the industrial type of society affect the liberty of the individual?
  4. What is the relation of our economic concept of wealth to the general problem of adaptation?
  5. How does Spencer explain the origin of the belief in ghosts?
  6. What is meant by the power of idealization, and how does it affect the process of adaptation?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1910-11.

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ECONOMICS 3
Year-end Examination, 1910-11

  1. Comment upon the following: —
    “Already increased facilities for divorce point to the probability that whereas, while permanent monogamy was being evolved, the union by law (originally the act of purchase) was regarded as the essential part of marriage and the union by affection as non essential; and whereas at present the union by law is thought the more important and the union by affection the less important, there will come a time when the union by affection will be held of primary moment and the union by law as of secondary moment: whence reprobation of marital relations in which the union by affection has dissolved.”
  2. Trace the origin, separation, and specialization of the leading professions.
  3. What is the leading idea of the selection entitled “War and Economics”? What do you think of it?
  4. What is the leading idea of the selection entitled “The Prolongation of Infancy”? What do you think of it?
  5. What, according to Nordau, are the symptoms and the causes of increasing degeneration in recent times?
  6. What is the relation of morality to the problem of adaptation?
  7. What are the leading phases of the struggle among the individuals of the social group called the state?
  8. What is meant by the storing of social energy, and by what means is it accomplished?
  9. Discuss the question: Is monarchy or democracy the more highly evolved form of government?
  10. What do you regard as the most important thing you have learned in this course?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11 (HUC 7000.25) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1911), pp. 41-42.

Image Source: Thomas Nixon Carver from Harvard Class Album 1913 (colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror).

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Sociology

Harvard. Enrollment and exams for Principles of Sociology. Carver, 1909-1910

Thomas Nixon Carver taught or co-taught sociology in the Harvard economics department eight times in the first decade of the twentieth century. Carver lists sixteen items in his chapter on sociology in A guide to reading in social ethics and allied subjects (1910), by Francis G. Peabody et al.

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Carver’s teaching assistant was J. S. Davis [Ph.D., 1913] whose obituary, “Joseph Stancliffe Davis, (1885-1975)” , was written by Joseph H. Willits. It was published in The American Statistician 30, no. 4 (1976), p. 199.

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Sociology exams from earlier years

1901-02 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1902-03 (taught by T. N. Carver and W. Z. Ripley)

1903-04 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1904-05 (taught by T. N. Carver and J. A. Field) Includes the reading list for the course and additional biographical information.

1905-06 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1906-07 (taught by J. A. Field)

1907-08 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1908-09 (taught by T. N. Carver and C. W. Thompson)

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Course Announcement and Description
1909-10

  1. Principles of Sociology. — Theories of Social Progress. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 1.30. Professor Carver, and an assistant.

The purpose of this course will be to make an analytical study of social life in order to discover the elementary factors and forces which hold society together and give it an orderly development. The development of social institutions, such as the family, the state, religion, property, and contract, will also be studied with a view to finding out their true relation to social well-being and progress.

Reading in connection with the lectures will be assigned in such works as Spencer’s Principles of Sociology, Bagehot’s Physics and Politics, Kidd’s Social Evolution, and in Carver’s Sociology and Social Progress. Students are expected to take part in the discussion of the books read and of the lectures delivered.

Course 3 is open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1909-10. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VI, No. 29 (July 23, 1909).

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Course Enrollment
1909-10

Economics 3. Professor Carver, assisted by Mr. [Joseph Stancliffe] Davis [Ph.D., 1913]. — Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress.

Total 70: 12 Graduates, 12 Seniors, 26 Juniors, 9 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 9 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 45.

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ECONOMICS 3
Mid-year Examination, 1909-10

Do not try to write too much. Think out your answers and express yourself clearly.

  1. How would you define Sociology, and into what departments would you divide it?
  2. How does the problem of the transmissibility of acquired characters affect the problem of race improvement?
  3. Do geographical conditions exercise as powerful an influence upon mental and social life in advanced stages of civilization as in the lower stages? Explain your position.
  4. How is the form of social organization affected when the social group is compelled to wage its chief struggle against other social groups? How is it affected when the group must wage its chief struggle against the forces of nature?
  5. Compare the views of Buckle and Kidd as to the relative importance of intellectual and moral development.
  6. What is meant by the standard of living, how is it maintained, and how does its maintenance affect the general problem of adaptation?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1909-10.

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ECONOMICS 3
Year-end Examination, 1909-10

  1. What, according to Spencer, are the original external and the original internal factors of sociology?
  2. What professions have developed from the priesthood, and how has the development taken place?
  3. What are the points of resemblance between the mediaeval prince and the modern political boss?
  4. What is Spencer’s opinion as to the development of European society in the near future?
  5. How, according to Buckle, is civilization affected by the “aspects of nature”?
  6. What is meant by the “zone of the founders of religion”?
  7. What is meant by “The Productive Life”?
  8. What is the relation of morality to adaptation?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11 (HUC 7000.25) Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), pp. 39-40.

Image Source: Portraits of Thomas Nixon Carver and Joseph Stancliffe Davis from the Harvard Class Album 1916.

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Sociology

Harvard. Enrollment and exams for Principles of Sociology. Carver, 1908-1909

Artifacts from a time when Sociology roomed with Economics…at least at Harvard. But make no mistake, economics was paying the rent back in that day.

The teaching assistant for the course was Carl William Thompson (1879-1920). After receiving an A.M. from the University of South Dakota in 1903, he added a Harvard A.M. in 1904 where he had an appointment as Assistant in Elocution. He re-entered Harvard graduate school in 1908 as a professor of economics and sociology and director of the School of Commerce at the University of South Dakota, Vermillion. He passed his general exam on June 2, 1909. In his application for candidacy for the Ph.D. he wrote “Am teaching a course in General Sociology this year, based on Carver’s ‘Sociology & Social Progress’, Ward, Spencer etc.” [Source: Harvard University Archives. Division of History, Government & Economics Division Archives. PhD. Material, Box 3, Folder “Ph.D. (illegible)”]. There is no indication that he completed the other requirements for the Ph.D. in his file. From Harvard Thompson was the director of the bureau of research in agricultural economics and associate professor of economics at the University of Minnesota. In May 1913 he accepted a position in the rural organization service of the U.S. department of agriculture. He died of influenza in 1920.

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Sociology exams from earlier years.

1901-02 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1902-03 (taught by T. N. Carver and W. Z. Ripley)

1903-04 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1904-05 (taught by T. N. Carver and J. A. Field) Includes the reading list for the course and additional biographical information.

1905-06 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1906-07 (taught by J. A. Field)

1907-08 (taught by T. N. Carver)

__________________________

Course Enrollment
1908-09

Economics 3. Professor Carver, assisted by Mr. Thompson. — Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress.

Total 42: 7 Graduates, 4 Seniors, 21 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1908-1909, p. 68.

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Course Announcement and Description
1908-09

SOCIOLOGY
For Undergraduates and Graduates

[Economics] 3. Principles of Sociology. — Theories of Social Progress. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 1.30. Professor Carver.

The purpose of this course will be to make an analytical study of social life in order to discover the elementary factors and forces which hold society together and give it an orderly development. The development of social institutions, such as the family, the state, religion, property, and contract, will also be studied with a view to finding out their true relation to social well-being and progress.

Reading in connection with the lectures will be assigned in such works as Spencer’s Principles of Sociology [Vol. I, Vol. II, Vol. III], Bagehot’s Physics and Politics, Kidd’s Social Evolution, and in Carver’s Sociology and Social Progress. Students are expected to take part in the discussion of the books read and of the lectures delivered.

Course 3 is open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. V, No. 19 (1 June 1908). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1908-09, p. 58.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3

Mid-year Examination, 1908-09
  1. Can social progress be defined in terms of human well-being and, at the same time, in terms of the universal evolutionary process? Explain.
  2. Are human interests harmonious as antagonistic, and what is the relation of this question to the problem of evil?
  3. How does military life, in different stages of social development, operate as a factor in human selection.
  4. What are some of the leading factors tending toward, (a) race improvement, (b) race deterioration, at the present time in the United States?
  5. Discuss the probable future of ceremonial institutions as described by Spencer.
  6. How does the transition from the militant to the industrial type of society affect the status of women?
  7. Trace briefly the historical relationship among the leading professions, as set forth by Spencer.
  8. Discuss briefly, territory, race, creed, and occupation, as bases of group consciousness, together with some of the results of each special form of group consciousness.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1908-09.

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ECONOMICS 3
Year-end Examination, 1908-09

  1. What, according to Spencer, is the relation between the development of domestic institutions and the economizing of individual life?
  2. How do you distinguish between passive and active adaptation? Give illustrations.
  3. Discuss the views of Galton and Pearson on the social aspects of biological selection.
  4. What, according to Tarde, is the place of imitation as a social factor?
  5. Compare Kidd and Buckle on the relation of religion to progress.
  6. State, in brief, and criticize Spencer’s sociological theory of morals.
  7. State the democratic and republican theories of representation and the application of each to the conditions of modern government.
  8. Would you draw any line between those industries which are suitable for government enterprise and those which are not? If so, where? If not, why not?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1908-09; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1909), p. 34.

Image Source: Thomas Nixon Carver. The World’s Work. Vol. XXVI (May-October 1913) p. 127. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Sociology

Harvard. Exam questions for principles of sociology. Carver, 1907-1908

Thomas Nixon Carver was back at the lectern in 1907-08 following his European sabbatical year. His teaching portfolio was pretty broad and it included the field of sociology which had not yet escaped the gravitational pull of the economics department.  

One presumes the course text was Thomas Nixon Carver’s book of course readings (over 800 pages!): Sociology and Social Progress: A Handbook for Students of Sociology. Boston: Ginn & Company, 1905.

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Sociology exams from earlier years.

1901-02 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1902-03 (taught by T. N. Carver and W. Z. Ripley)

1903-04 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1904-05 (taught by T. N. Carver and J. A. Field)

1905-06 (taught by T. N. Carver)

1906-07 (taught by J. A. Field)

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Course Enrollment
1907-08

Economics 3. Professor Carver. — Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress.

Total 49: 8 Graduates, 12 Seniors, 17 Juniors, 10 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1907-1908, p. 66.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3
Mid-year Examination, 1907-08

  1. Discuss the relation of sociology to economics.
  2. Describe the development of ancestor worship according to Spencer, and show the influence of a system of ancestor worship upon political organization.
  3. What does Spencer mean by “industrialism”?
  4. Can education effect any progressive improvement in the innate physical and mental capacities of a race?
  5. Explain the term “eugenics,” and discuss the obstacles to the practical application of eugenic principles.
  6. How does Kidd define religion? What is the function of religion thus defined?
  7. Explain and criticise Stuckenberg’s theory of “Sociation.”
  8. In what sense can interests be said to be harmonious, and in what sense are they antagonistic?
  9. What is meant by “consciousness of kind,” and how is it related to sympathy?
  10. Discuss the question, Is work a blessing?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1907-08.

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ECONOMICS 3
Year-end Examination, 1907-08

  1. Comment upon the following passage: “Every great historical epoch and every variety of social organization must be explained on the basis of factors and forces now at work, and which the student may study at first hand.”
  2. Can you, consistently with modern evolutionary philosophy, define social progress in terms of well-being? Explain.
  3. Comment upon the following passage:—
    “So that as law differentiates from personal commands, and as morality differentiates from religious in junctions, so politeness differentiates from ceremonial observance. To which I may add, so does rational usage differentiate from fashion.”
  4. Comment upon the following passage: “The fundamental fact in history is the law of decreasing returns.”
  5. Compare Gidding’s conception of the “ultimate social fact” with that of Adam Smith.
  6. Describe some of the agencies for the storing of social energy.
  7. What is meant by “animated moderation” and how is it developed.
  8. Compare the mediaeval prince and the modern political boss.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1908-09; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1908), p. 29.

Image Source: Thomas Nixon Carver. The World’s Work. Vol. XXVI (May-October 1913) p. 127. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Sociology

Harvard. Enrollment and exam questions for principles of sociology. J.A. Field, 1906-1907

 

Thomas Nixon Carver was on a European sabbatical with his wife and three children during the academic year 1906-07 so substitutes were needed to cover his courses on sociology, agriculture and income distribution. The graduate student James A. Field took over the principles of sociology course in Carver’s absence.

Note: Materials from some courses have already been transcribed and posted. Whenever that is the case, I’ll just add a link to the relevant post. Falling between Economics 1 and Economics 3 was Frank W. Taussig’s course, Economics 2 (“Principles of Economics–Second Course”). It was the “advanced” economic theory course in the curriculum.

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Previous Posts about James A. Field

Chicago. Decennial Harvard Class Report of associate professor of political economy James A. Field, ABD, 1913.

Harvard. Economics Graduate School Records of James Alfred Field, ABD. 1903-1911.

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Course Enrollment
1906-07

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

Total 44: 4 Graduates, 9 Seniors, 16 Juniors, 11 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 70.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3

Mid-year Examination, 1906-07

I.

  1. [Elective reading(s)]
    1. Name the author and the title of the book which you chose for elective reading (or of each of the books, if your reading involved more than one).
    2. Indicate and briefly describe that which seems to you the central thought or the most interesting thought in the book (or in each of the books) thus read.
    3. Criticise the book (or one of the books) with regard to both merits and defects, giving special attention to the part you have described in your answer to question (b) above.

II
Omit one question of this group.

  1. What do you consider to be the true conception of social progress?
    To what extent does social progress in this sense promote the welfare of individuals?
  2. What is an acquired character?
    Assuming that acquired characters are not inherited, in what ways is that fact advantageous for society?
    Does this assumed non-inheritance of acquired characters become more advantageous or less advantageous as civilization advances?
  3. Describe the three stages traced by Comte in the progress of human society.
    Is Comte’s scheme in harmony with Kidd’s belief regarding the conditions of progress?
  4. What is meant by social heredity?
    Show the relation between social heredity and the theories of Baldwin, Fiske, and Tarde which have been considered in this course.

III
Omit one question of this group.

  1. What is Buckle’s conclusion as to the relative importance or moral and the intellectual factors of progress, and on what reasons is his conclusion based?
    Do you accept his conclusion and his reasoning as correct?
  2. How may self-interest act as a socializing influence?
  3. In what sense can a social mind be said to exist?
    How is it related to the individual minds of the members of society?
  4. What is religion, according to Kidd?
    How much has it in common with “the struggle for the life others”? How much has it in common with Idealization?
    Would Kidd agree that the function of all religions is to reconcile us to the inevitable?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1906-07.

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ECONOMICS 3

Year-end Examination, 1906-07

[Omit one question.]

  1. Briefly explain:
    1. Exogamy.
    2. Anthropomorphism.
    3. Refraction of Imitation.
    4. Vicarious Leisure.
    5. General Social Sanction.
  2. What are the functions which are organized in the institution of the family?
    Describe the Religious-Proprietary Family.
  3. Criticise Spencer’s antithesis of the militant and industrial types of society and compare it with Robinson’s theory of the relation between war and economics.
  4. What is the Standard of Living?
    For what reasons, and under what conditions, is a high standard of living desirable?
  5. Compare economic competition with the biological struggle for existence.
  6. What are the relations of cause and effect which connect competition, specialization and capitalism?
  7. Explain and criticise Veblen’s theory of the Instinct of Workmanship.
  8. Discuss the relation of women to the competitive process, to conservatism and reform, to religion and to the institution of the leisure class.
    How do you explain the psychic differences between men and women which this discussion suggests? To what extent do you regard these differences as merely the result of social conventions?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07 (HUC 7000.25), pp. 27-28.

Image Source: Original black-and-white image from the Special Diplomatic Passport Application by James Alfred Field (January 1918). Cropped and colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. (Note: left third of the image is slightly distorted because of a transparent plastic strip used to hold pages in the imaging process)

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Sociology

Harvard. Final exam questions for principles of sociology. Carver, 1905-1906

Thomas Nixon Carver

 

Excerpts from Thomas Nixon Carvers’s autobiography dealing with sociology, his course reading list and a “thick” course description from the 1904-05 academic year have been transcribed and posted earlier.

Image today having a question like “What are the chief factors tending to promote the improvement of the race, and what are the chief factors tending to deteriorate it?” standing between you and your final grade in a course.

I wonder when such a question was first able to elicit a consensus cringe among social scientists. 

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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Course Enrollment

Economics 3. Professor Carver. — Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress.

Total 60: 9 Graduates, 11 Seniors, 23 Juniors, 13 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

  1. State and explain briefly, —
    1. Spencer’s position as to the possibility of a science of society.
    2. Bagehot’s conclusion as to verifiable progress.
    3. Kidd’s theory as to the function of religious beliefs in the development of society.
    4. Kidd’s prediction as to the future relation of European races to tropical regions.
  2. What are the chief factors tending to promote the improvement of the race, and what are the chief factors tending to deteriorate it?
  3. Discuss briefly the following topics in their relation to social development:
    1. “The consciousness of kind.”
    2. Imitation
    3. Resentment.
    4. The power of idealization.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06.

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ECONOMICS 3
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

  1. Discuss Kidd’s view that the real drift of society is toward greater equality and that this is accompanied by keener competition.
  2. Can social progress be defined in terms of human well being? Explain.
  3. What is meant by the transition from a pain to a pleasure economy? What corresponding transition does Comte describe?
  4. If we grant that war is primarily due to economic reasons, does the conclusion follow that it is permanent?
  5. What importance attaches to the prolongation of infancy in the human species?
  6. Compare the views of Kidd and Buckle as to the relative importance of the moral and the intellectual factors in social development.
  7. What is meant by the storing of social energy, and what are some of the chief agencies by which it is accomplished?
  8. Compare the prince, as described by Machiavelli, with the modern political boss.
  9. What is meant by the distinction between the repressive and the directive activities of the State? What are the main conditions which justify the latter?
  10. What general principle determines the obligation of the State in the imposition of taxes?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), p. 30.

Image Source: Portrait of Thomas Nixon Carver, colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror, from the Harvard Class Album 1906.

Categories
Agricultural Economics Exam Questions Fields Harvard History of Economics Industrial Organization Money and Banking Public Finance Sociology Theory Undergraduate

Harvard. Division Exams for A.B., General and Economics, 1921

The Harvard Economics department was once one of three in its Division in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The Departments of History and Government shared a general division exam with the Department of Economics and also contributed their own specific exams for their respective departmental fields. This post provides the questions for the common, i.e. general, divisional exam, the general economics exam, and all the specific exams at the end of the academic year 1920-21 for those fields falling within the perview of the economics department.

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Previously posted
Division A.B. Exams

Division Exams 1916
Division Exams, January 1917
Division Exams, April 1918
Division Exams, May 1919
Division Exams, April/May 1920

Division Exams 1931

Special Exam for Money and Government Finance, 1939
Special Exam Economic History Since 1750, 1939
Special Exam for Economic Theory, 1939
Special Exam for Labor and Social Reform, 1939

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DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT AND ECONOMICS

EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DEGREE OF A.B.
1920-21

DIVISION GENERAL EXAMINATION

PART I

The treatment of one of the following questions will be regarded as equivalent to one-half of this examination and should therefore occupy one hour. Write on one question only. Insert before your answer to this question a sketch of your plan of treatment.

  1. Discuss the relations of civilization to climate.
  2. Does history show that the periods of a nation’s political and literary greatness tend to coincide?
  3. Was America’s entrance into the World War a consequence or a violation of her policies and traditions?
  4. Discuss the following: “One of the great difficulties, as well as one of the great fascinations of history is the constantly changing point of view; but we should beware of interpreting the past in the light of the present.”
  5. What have been and what should be the limitations upon the application of the principle of self-determination in national relations?
  6. Contrast Roman provincial, and nineteenth-century colonial relations.
  7. What should be the limits of nationalization of essential industries?
  8. What have been the marked characteristics of three great states at the time of their greatest power?
  9. “Society has departed very widely from the strict rule of non-interference with industry by the State; indeed, the policy of non-interference was never carried out logically by any State.” Comment.
  10. Discuss: “The patriotism of nations ought to be selfish.”
  11. What are the standards of social justice?

PART II

The treatment of four of the following questions in Part II is required and will be regarded as equivalent to one-half of this examination, and should therefore occupy one hour. The four questions are to be taken from the Departments in which the student is NOT CONCENTRATING; two questions from each of the two Departments.

A. HISTORY

  1. Briefly characterize, with approximate dates, five of the following: Alexander, Aristotle, Augustus, Francis Bacon, Frederick Barbarossa, Bolivar, Calvin, Chatham, Franklin, Richelieu.
  2. Give a short account of the rise of the Christian Church down to the period of the Crusades.
  3. Estimate the importance of the Netherlands in the development of Europe.
  4. Discuss the relations of England and the United States during the past one hundred years.
  5. Write a brief historical account of slavery in the Western Hemisphere.

B. GOVERNMENT

  1. Discuss: “Not independence but interdependence is the hope of nations.”
  2. Explain the evolution and significance of trial by jury.
  3. What is the significance of the following headlines in March, 1921?
    1. “Austria in dangerous unrest.”
    2. “Briand voted confidence on reparations.”
    3. “Crown prince is plotting.”
    4. “Lenin knows his Italian friends.”
  4. What are the limits of uniform state legislation?
  5. What political unities can best control:
    1. police,
    2. water supply,
    3. roads?

C. ECONOMICS

  1. “The fundamental fact in history is the law of decreasing returns. It is the cause of the origin and development of civilization. . . . It is equally, and for the same reason, the source of poverty and war.”
    State, explain, and indicate the significance of the law of decreasing (diminishing) returns.
  2. What are the fundamental features of the organization of modern industrial society?
  3. Discuss one of the following statements:
    1. “Employees have the right to contract for their services in a collective capacity, but any contract that contains a stipulation that employment should be denied to men not parties to the contract is an invasion of the constitutional rights of the American workmen, is against public policy, and is in violation of the conspiracy laws.”
    2. “In the old days, America outsailed the world. . . . I want to acclaim the day when America is the most eminent of shipping nations. . . . A big navy and a big mercantile marine are necessary to the future of the country.”
  4. Why should there be a labor party in England and not in the United States?
  5. What are the economic essentials of socialism?

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GENERAL EXAMINATION
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

I

The treatment of two of the following questions will be regarded as equivalent to one-half of the examination and should therefore occupy one hour. Write on two questions only.

  1. Give the author, approximate date, and general character of five of the following works:
    1. National System of Political Economy.
    2. Essays in Political Arithmetick.
    3. England’s Treasure by Forraign Trade.
    4. Essay on the Principle of Population
    5. Principles of Political Economy.
    6. The Wealth of Nations.
    7. Das Kapital.
    8. Lombard Street.
    9. Capital and Interest.
  2. Explain four of the following terms:
    Abstinence; Manchester School; stationary state; iron law of wages; produit net; non-competing groups; Scholasticism; Utilitarianism.
  3. Locate on an outline map:
    1. The world’s principal sources of five of the following raw materials: cotton; copper; sugar; silk; wheat; tin; rice; nitrate; petroleum; gold.
    2. The more important routes of overseas transportation.
    3. The world’s chief regions of manufacture.

II

The treatment of three of the following questions will be regarded as equivalent to one-half of the examination and should therefore occupy one hour. Write on three questions only. Be concise.

  1. Define “thrift” and discuss its social significance.
  2. Analyze the determination of normal value under competitive conditions of joint cost.
  3. What is meant by “monetary inflation”? How is it to be measured and what is its importance?
  4. What has been the course of the interest rate in modern times? What probably will be the course of the rate during the next few years? Why?
  5. What are the purposes and limits of progressive taxation?
  6. Discuss the future of public utilities in the United States.
  7. To what extent and in what respects, if at all, is labor legislation of the times a corrective of the more serious defects of the existing social order?
  8. Discuss: “Perpetual prosperity would be a national calamity.”

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SPECIAL EXAMINATION
ECONOMIC THEORY

Answer six questions

A

Take from this group at least two and not more than four

  1. What is the concept of “justice” in the theory of the distribution of wealth?
  2. Comment on the validity and significance of the following contention: “Labor is the source of all wealth.”
  3. “Whether capital is productive depends simply on the question: Are tools useful? It matters not how much or how little tools add to the product — if they add something, capital is productive.” Do you agree? Explain.
  4. “The forces which make for Increasing Return are not of the same order as those that make for Diminishing Return. . . . The two ‘laws’ are in no sense coordinate. . . . The two ‘laws’ hold united, not divided, sway over industry.” Comment critically.
  5. What relations exist between the accounting and economic concepts of “cost of production”?
  6. “The differences in the productive powers of men due to their heredity or social position give to certain individuals the same kind of an advantage over others that the owner of a corner lot in the center of a city has over one in the suburbs. If the income from a corner lot is a surplus and can therefore be described as unearned, the income of a man of better heredity, education or opportunity must also be regarded as a surplus income and therefore unearned.”
    Discuss this statement with reference to your general theory of distribution.

B

Take from this group at least one and not more than wto

  1. Give a brief historical account of the theory of population.
  2. Trace the development of the theory of international trade.
  3. In what ways have the following influenced the history of economic thought: Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Malthus, Ricardo, J.S. Mill, Marx?
  4. Outline the evolution of the theory of economic rent.

C

Take from this group at least one and not more than two

  1. “The profits of speculation on the Stock Exchange are just as unearned as the increment in the value of urban building sites; unlike the profits of speculation in produce, they represent no service to society.” Do you agree? Why, or why not?
  2. “There is a point beyond which advertising outlay is extravagant.” Explain.
  3. “I do not see how we can retain our home markets, upon which American good fortune must be founded, and at the same time maintain American standards of production and American standards of living unless we make other peoples with lower standards pay for the privilege of trading in the American markets.” Discuss.
  4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the closed shop?

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DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
ECONOMIC HISTORY

Answer six questions 

A

Take from this group at least one and not more than two

  1. “The opening of the Erie Canal affected both intensive and extensive agriculture in the United States.” Explain. Have there been analogous changes in later periods?
  2. Discuss the following statement: “The enactment of corporation laws by the various states is the most important step made during the past century in the development of American manufactures.”
  3. Analyze the important economic after-effects of the World War.
  4. Briefly explain the most satisfactory methods for separating the different types of variation in time series.

B

Take from this group at least two and not more than four

  1. Write a brief account of one of the early English trading companies.
  2. Sketch the rise of the modern factory system.
  3. Compare changes in farm ownership and tenancy during the nineteenth century in England and the United States.
  4. Outline the history of banking in the United States from 1830 to 1860.
  5. Write a brief narrative of the early development of the railroad.
  6. Give the history of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act.
  7. Trace the evolution of the middle class and forecast its future.

C

Take from this group at least one and not more than two

  1. Give a critical account of the policy of the Federal Government in its regulation of industrial combinations.
  2. Discuss the history and consequences of immigration into the United States since 1840.
  3. Review the development of German foreign trade before the War with special reference to the methods of trade promotion.
  4. Analyze the causes, extent, and consequences of changes in the price level in the United States since 1914.

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DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
PUBLIC FINANCE

Answer six questions

A

Take from this group at least one and not more than two

  1. A law of 1691 authorizes the municipal corporations of New York “to impose any reasonable tax upon all houses within said city, in proportion to the benefit they shall receive thereby.” How far is this a correct principle of taxation and how far has it continued to be applied?
  2. Present a classification of Federal expenditures for a national budget system.
  3. Give a brief account of the financial statistics issued currently by the Federal Government.
  4. Discuss the proposal for the cancellation of all inter-allied debts.

B

Take from this group at least one and not more than two

  1. How has the Federal Constitution influenced national and state tax systems in the United States?
  2. Trace the history of an important fiscal monopoly.
  3. Give a brief account of the financial history of one of the American states.
  4. What connections have existed between currency systems and government finance? Illustrate fully.

C

Take from this group at least two and not more than four

  1. Compare the total expenditures in the United States in normal times for (a) national, (b) state, and (c) municipal purposes. What changes, if any, in the proportions are to be expected?
  2. To what extent is it desirable to separate state and local revenues in the United States?
  3. Indicate the nature and significance of the “grant in aid” in British public finance.
  4. What arguments have been used in European countries for and against a capital levy?
  5. Should the poll tax be abolished? Why, or why not?
  6. Discuss critically the present condition of the public debt of the United States.

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DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
MONEY AND BANKING

Answer six questions

A

Take from this group at least one and not more than two

  1. What part, if any, do commercial banks play in (a) the process of investment; (b) the increase of capital; (c) the course of industrial development; (d) leadership in the business world? In what respects, if at all, may the influence of commercial banks be economically inexpedient?
  2. Discuss the desirability of uniform bank accounting in the United States.
  3. Describe critically the more important sources of statistics of currency and credit in the United States.
  4. Analyze the successive phases of the business cycle. What are the causes of financial panics; industrial crises?

B

Take from this group at least one and not more than two

  1. Give a brief account of the life and work of John Law.
  2. Trace the history of usury laws.
  3. Outline the political background of American monetary history from 1870 to 1900.
  4. Give a brief history of the Reichsbank.

C

Take from this group at least two and not more than four

  1. “It is quite clear that the money question no longer survives as a political issue.” Do you agree? Why, or why not?
  2. To what extent has the status of the gold standard been affected by the World War?
  3. “This little neutral country [Switzerland], surrounded by four great continental belligerents, and bordering on the two principal battle-fronts of Europe, possesses at present, curiously enough, an exceptional purchasing power. This is the consequence of the high level of Swiss currency, which is 250 per cent above the usual parity with the currency of the neighbor in the east, Austria-Hungary; 100 per cent higher than that of the neighbor in the north, Germany; 90 per cent higher than that of the neighbor in the south, Italy; and 20 per cent higher than that of the western neighbor, France. Even in overseas countries, Swiss currency has a higher buying power than the English sovereign or the American dollar.” Explain fully.
  4. What changes have been made in the original Federal Reserve System? What have been the purposes and effects of the changes? What further changes, if any, seem desirable?
  5. Compare the provisions for agricultural credit in two important countries.
  6. Comment upon the following statement: “Prosperity continued through the war, and gave the nation such a tremendous start in business activity that we would still be rejoicing in a period of great prosperity had it not been for the death-dealing blow of deflation of credit given by Mr. Wilson’s Federal Reserve Board.”

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DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
CORPORATE ORGANIZATION, INCLUDING RAILROADS

Answer six questions

 A

Take from this group at least one and not more than two

  1. State the theory of value under conditions of monopoly. In what ways, if at all, is monopoly price affected by (a) cost of production per unit; (b) potential competition; (c) an elastic demand for the product; (d) the existence of satisfactory substitutes for the product; (e) hostile public opinion?
  2. Formulate a statistical classification of business organizations in the United States.
  3. Discuss the apportionment of railway operating expenses between freight and passenger service.
  4. Analyze the valuation of corporate assets from the standpoint of the principles of accounting.

B

Take from this group at least one and not more than two

  1. Compare the history of business corporations in England and the United States.
  2. Trace connections between railroad construction in the United States and related political and economic events.
  3. Give a brief narrative of the trust dissolutions of the Federal Government.
  4. What provisions of the Federal Constitution have been most important in determining policies of government regulation of public utilities?

C

Take from this group at least two and not more than four

  1. Discuss the following statement: “The enactment of corporation laws by the various states is the most important step made during the past century in the development of American manufactures.”
  2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of non-par stock?
  3. Discuss the probable consequences of the Supreme Court decision that stock dividends are not income under the income tax law.
  4. What is the nature and importance of good-will in corporation finance?
  5. To what extent may there be differences in the fair valuation of public utilities for the purposes of rate-making, condemnation, taxation, and capitalization?
  6. Did the Government act wisely in returning the railroads March 1, 1920 to their corporate owners for operation? Why, or why not?

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DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
ECONOMICS OF AGRICULTURE

Answer six questions 

A

Take from this group at least one and not more than two

  1. Analyze the doctrine of economic rent from agricultural land.
  2. What are the functions of organized speculation in staple agricultural products?
  3. Describe the methods to be employed in making an annual farm inventory.
  4. What subjects are covered by the decennial Federal census of agriculture? What is the statistical value of the results of the several inquiries?

B

Take from this group at least one and not more than two

  1. Trace the history of the relations between landlords and tenants in England.
  2. What have been the most important changes in American agriculture since 1890?
  3. Give a critical account of the land policies of the Federal Government.
  4. Outline the development of the beet sugar industry in Europe.

C

Take from this group at least two and not more than four

  1. What factors determine the most efficient size of farms?
  2. What are the advantages of diversification of crops?
  3. Discuss the future of the meat supply of the United States.
  4. Describe and estimate the advantages and disadvantages of the different methods of marketing farm produce.
  5. State and defend a forest conservation policy for the United States.
  6. Compare the provisions for agricultural credit in two important countries.
  7. What are the principal problems of rural community life in the United States?

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DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
LABOR PROBLEMS

Answer six questions

 A

Take from this group at least one and not more than two

  1. Discuss the proposal to restrict immigration into the United States by limiting the number of each nationality admitted each year to 3 per cent of the foreign-born of that nationality resident in this country in 1910.
  2. Describe the technique of statistical measurement of the high cost of living.
  3. What are the principal difficulties encountered in the collection of wage statistics?
  4. Analyze the relations between high money wages and high commodity prices.

B

Take from this group at least one and not more than two

  1. Describe the early development of the factory system.
  2. Trace the origins of trade-unionism in the United States.
  3. Write a brief narrative of the movement for a shorter working day.
  4. Review the relations between organized labor and the steel industry in the United States.

C

Take from this group at least two and not more than four

  1. What is “the labor problem”?
  2. Compare American and British labor leadership. How do you account for the differences?
  3. “Employers must be free to employ their work people at wages mutually satisfactory, without interference or dictation on the part of individuals or organizations not directly parties to such contracts.” Comment.
  4. Discuss a proposed law providing that “in the establishment of salaries for school teachers in the city of—, there shall be no discrimination based on sex or otherwise, but teachers and principals rendering the same service shall receive equal pay.”
  5. “The principle that each industry shall support its own unemployed is one that must be established if a real solution of unemployment is to be made.” Do you agree? Why, or why not?
  6. Discuss the relation of shop committees to trade-unionism.

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DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY

Answer six questions

A

Take from this group at least one and not more than two

  1. Discuss the following contention: “The landlord is a parasite since he consumes without producing.”
  2. What is the meaning of “over-population”?
  3. “Hitherto it is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day’s toil of any human being.” Comment critically.
  4. What are the interactions of human instincts and modern factory labor?
  5. Discuss the nature and bases of economic prosperity.

B

Take from this group at least one and not more than two

  1. Describe the evolution of language.
  2. Trace the history of the middle class and forecast its future.
  3. Give a brief historical account of the status of women.
  4. What have been the chief cultural consequences of the machine process?

C

Take from this group at least two and not more than four

  1. What is the province of sociology?
  2. Discuss the family as a necessary social unit.
  3. Describe the leading forms of conflict and their effect upon group life. Why are some forms to be preferred to others? What are the factors which determine the forms actually prevailing at any time?
  4. Analyze the sources of prestige and influence in modern society.
  5. “From the standpoint of progress, the value of the individual depends on the excess of his production over his consumption.” Discuss.
  6. What are the criteria and causes of racial superiority?

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Examinations not transcribed for this post

History:

General Examination
Special Examinations: Mediaeval History; English History; Modern European History to 1789; Modern History since 1789; American History

Government:

General Examination
Special Examinations: American Government; Municipal Government; Political Theory; International Law

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Source: Harvard University Archives. Divisional and general examinations, 1915-1975 (HUC 7000.18). Box 6, Bound Volume (stamped “Private Library Arthur H. Cole”) “Divisional Examinations 1916-1927”.