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

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…

________________________

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.

________________________

Previously taught
courses in sociology

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

_________________________

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.

_______________________

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.

_______________________

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.

_______________________

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.

________________________

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)