Harvard. Principles of Sociology, Syllabus and Exams. Carver and Ripley, 1902

 

The discipline of sociology was only a subfield of economics at Harvard long after the University of Chicago had  established an independent department of sociology upon the founding of that university in 1892. William Z. Ripley and Thomas N. Carver were jointly teaching the course at Harvard at the turn of the twentieth century. This course was taught for nearly three decades by Carver, e.g. an earlier post with materials for Economics 8, Principles of Sociology taught by Thomas Nixon Carver in 1917-18.

Note: Updated 31 Jan 2023 with links to all the items on the reading list along with the semester examination questions. Colorized portraits of Carver and Ripley have also been added.

Cf. A few years later Thomas Nixon Carver compiled a 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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Course Announcement and Description

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

The work of the first term will consist of an outline of the structure and development of social and political institutions, based upon a comparative study of primitive, barbarous, and civilized peoples. Among the topics considered will be the following, viz.: the physical and environmental factors in mental and social evolution, the racial elements in nationality and other social phenomena, with a discussion of modern racial problems in the United States and Europe, the interaction of mental and social evolution, the history and development of the family, and of religious, legal, and political institutions, and the relation of custom to religion and law. The principal authors discussed will be Tylor, Maine, Westermarck, and Spencer. The treatment will in the main be historical and comparative; aiming to afford data for the analytical and critical work of the second term.

In the second term this is followed by an analysis of the factors and forces which have produced modifications of the social structure and secured a greater degree of adaptation between man and his physical and social surroundings. The relation of property, the family, the competitive system, religion, and legal control to social well-being and progress are studied with reference to the problem of social improvement. Bagehot’s Physics and Politics, Ward’s Dynamical Sociology, Giddings’s Principles of Sociology, Patten’s Theory of Social Forces, and Kidd’s Social Evolution are each read in part. Lectures are given at intervals, and students are expected to take part in the discussion of the authors read and the lectures delivered.

Course 3 is open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1 [Outlines of Economics].

 

Source:  Harvard University, The University Publications (New Series, No 55). Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1902-03 (June 14, 1902), p. 41.

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Course enrollment

[Economics] Professors CARVER and RIPLEY. — Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress.

Total 44: 8 Graduates, 17 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 5 Special.

 

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President 1902-03, p. 67.

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Economics 3

To be read in full

1. Herbert Spencer. Principles of Sociology. [3 vols., 3rd rev. ed., 1898]
2. Walter Bagehot. Physics and Politics.
3. Benjamin Kidd. Social Evolution.
4. F. H. Giddings. Principles of Sociology.

Collateral Reading.
Starred references are prescribed.

I. Scope and Method of Sociology

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

II. The Factors of Social Progress

A. Physical and Biological Factors

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

B. Psychic

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

C. Social and Economic

1. Lester F. Ward. Outlines of Sociology. Pt. II.
2. _______*. Dynamical Sociology. Ch. 10.
3. Brooks Adams. The Law of Civilization and Decay.
4. D. G. Ritchie. Darwinism and Politics.
5. A. G. Warner*. American Charities. Pt. I. Ch. 5.
6. G. de LaPouge. Les Sélections Sociales. Chs. 7—15.
7. T. R. Malthus. Principle of Population.
8. Bosanquet. The Standard of Life.
9. W. H. Mallock. Aristocracy and Evolution.
10. T. V. Veblen. The Theory of the Leisure Class.
11. W. S. Jevons. Methods of Social Reform.
12. Jane Addams and Others. Philanthropy and Social Progress.
13. E. Demolins. Anglo-Saxon Superiority.
14. Thomas H. Huxley. Evolution and Ethics.
15. Georg Simmel. Ueber Sociale Differencierung.
16. Émile Durkheim. De la Division du Travail Social.
17. J. H. W. Stuckenberg. Introduction to the Study of Sociology. Ch. 6.
18. Achille Loria. The Economic Foundations of Society.
19. _______. Problems Sociaux Contemporains. Ch. 6. [English translation (1911)]
20. E. A. Ross. Social Control.

D. Political and Legal

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

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003.Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1902-1903”.

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Economics 3
Mid-Year Examination
1902-1903

1. Contrast the status of marriage in the later Roman period, with that in the United States at present, distinguishing causes, direct and indirect results.
2. What is the primary end of primitive law, and why?
3. Criticise Spencer’s statement that “political organization is to be understood as that part of social organization which consciously carries on directive and restraining functions for public ends.”
4. What is the significance of ceremonial in social life? Illustrate by a concrete example.
5. Need customs be reasonable or logical to be necessarily defensible? Why?
6. How does Giddings account for the change from metronymic to patronymic societies?
7. What was the character of Morgan’s contribution to the study of domestic origins? What were its limitations?
8. Discuss, with illustrations, some of the connections of religious belief and ceremonial with primitive society.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year Examinations 1852-1943. Box 6. Papers (in the bound volume Examination Papers Mid-years 1902-1903).

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Economics 3
Year-End Examination
1902-1903

Discuss eight of the following topics: –

1. The forms of primitive marriage.
2. Spencer’s contrast of the industrial with the militant type of society.
3. Gidding’s elementary social fact.
4. Kidd’s position as to the function of religion in social development.
5. The antagonism of interests among the members of society.
6. Density of population as a condition of a high state of civilization.
7. The sanctions for conduct.
8. Social stratification.
9. The storing of the surplus energy of society.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).

Image Source: Thomas Nixon Carver (left). The World’s Work. Vol. XXVI (May-October 1913) p. 127.  William Z. Ripley (right) Harvard Library, Hollis Images. Portrait of William Z. Ripley, ca. 1920. Both images have been colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.