Book Reviews and Notices : Democracy, The Threshold of Freedom. BY HAROLD F. GOSNELL. (New York : The Ronald Press Company. Pp. vii, 315. $4.00.)

• Author: Willard F. Barker
• DOI: 10.1177/106591294800100320
• Published date: 01 September 1948
• Date: 01 September 1948
• Subject Matter: Articles

323

be

a

work

enlightening

to

the

educated

layman,

and

I

am

convinced

it

will

not

be

useful

as

a

text

for

beginners.

THOMAS

I.

COOK.

University

of

Washington.

Democracy,

The

Threshold

of

Freedom.

BY

HAROLD

F.

GOSNELL.

(New

York :

The

Ronald

Press

Company.

Pp.

vii,

315.

$4.00.)

Dr.

Gosnell

is

a

confirmed

believer

in

the

democratic

way

of

govern-

ment.

As

professor

of

Political

Science

he

is

in

a

position

to

document

his

faith.

This

he

does,

both

in

the

general

and

in

the

particular.

the

broader

aspects

of

democracy

and

the

ways

in

which

it

is

superior

to

dictatorship,

are

brought

out

in

two

chapters

entitled

&dquo;Consent

and

Performance,&dquo;

and

&dquo;Democracy

and

Values.&dquo;

The

author’s

definition

of

democracy

is

&dquo;a

sys-

tem

for

making

decisions

regarding

the

power

relations

in

society,

a

method

of

securing

political

obedience

with

the

minimum

of

sacrifice

of

the

indi-

vidual’s

freedom.&dquo;

(p.

6)

Ideological

pressures

upon

the

citizen

are

exer-

cised

by

groups

of

fellow

citizens

in

a

democracy,

but

by

the

state

itself,

in

a

dictatorship.

Proceeding

then

to

the

particular,

we

are

told

that

if

democracy

is

the

threshold

to

freedom,

then

suffrage

is

a

long

first

step

towards

democracy.

In

Chapters

two

to

seven

inclusive,

the

author

goes

into

considerable

detail

in

tracing

man’s

and

woman’s

increasing

right

to

vote.

Special

categories

of

citizens,

such

as

Negroes,

have

varieties

of

obstacles

placed

in

their

paths.

Factors

contributing

to

the

hard-won

victory

of

women

suffrage

were

the

growth

of

co-education,

a

liberal

economic

tradition,

feminist

agitation,

and

the

increasing

number

and

importance

of

women

in

business

and

in-

dustry.

On

peace

and

moral

issues

principally,

a

scientific

detection

of

a

difference

between

men’s

and

women’s

votes

can

be

shown;

otherwise

their

votes

are

strikingly

similar.

In

later

chapters

appears

a

comprehensive

discussion

of

the

devices

used

to

obtain

proper

representation

in

legislative

bodies.

Examples

are

cited

from

the

practices

of

American

municipalities

and

states,

as

well

as

from

the

national

legislative

chambers

of

this

and

European

countries.

Professor

Gosnell

next

reviews

the

role

of

the

representative.

Is

he

to

vote

as

he

thinks

best,

or

as

his

constituents

demand?

Can

he

determine

precisely

what

they

want

on

a

complex

bill,

can

he

rely

on

the

opinion

of

a

relatively

uniformed

electorate,

and

how

can

he

distinguish

accurately

between

popular

demand

and

a

well

organized

campaign

of

a

minority

pressure

group?

In

the

section,

&dquo;The

Competence

of

the

Voter,&dquo;

there

are

assessed

the

citizen’s

reactions

to

the

influence

of

the

press,

radio,

and

bizarre

methods

of

electioneering.

Proceeding

to

the

operations

of

legislatures,

under

the

multiple

party

system,

the

author

advances

the

original

thought

that

in

1940

the

French