The Training of a Sociologist

Abstract

AMONG the various kinds of people in the world, certainly the most interesting are those who have tried to understand the meaning and purpose of human life, and express their conclusions in word and deed. It is rather astonishing to reflect how few these are, and how diverse their results. The complexities of human behaviour are such that most investigators appear to belong in some measure to the kingdom of the blind, finding only the tail or trunk of their elephant instead of the whole beast. Mrs. Webb is not without limitations, but the extent of her knowledge and the breadth of her comprehension place her among the foremost living sociologists, the more to be admired on account of the practical results of her activities. Becoming a sociologist, she also became a socialist, but of a plastic opportunist type rather than a rigid Marxian.

My Apprenticeship.

By Beatrice Webb. Pp. xiv + 459 + 12 plates. (London: Longmans, Green and Co., Ltd., 1926.) 21s. net.