SOCIAL SCIENCES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27541, 8 November 1950, Page 2

SOCIAL SCIENCES

A Thoughtful Survey The Proper Study of Mankind. By Stuart Chase. Phoenix House. 16s. Stuart Chase usually has something constructive to offer, and in this book he has written what is perhaps his most thoughtful contribution to the advancement of man’s knowledge. It. is an effort to convey, in simple language, the magnitude of the problem which must be solved by the social sciences if man is to be saved from his own creations; an attempt to rationalise human relations in an age of machines. It is his contention that the social sciences—anthropology, psychology, economics, political science, and sociology—have produced an accumulation of knowledge from which the course of human affairs can be predicted with confidence, and human responses in any set situation can be calculated in advance. By the proper application of this knowledge and further research on the same lines, outstanding problems of labour-manage-ment relations, unemployment, and racial prejudice can be approached without fear. His book covers many aspects of the study of social science, and he gives many positive examples of the manner in which social scientists have already done much to apply logical thought and the lessons of thoughtful research to the task of creating a better understanding between all classes of men. His is a timely book, forcefully written and eminently readable. It- is certain to have a wide influence on current thought in the social sciences, and if the truths he surveys become more widely 1 understood the whole of mankind will benefit. E. A. A.