British Journal of Delinquency, The. The Official Organ of the Institute for the Study and. Treatment of Delinquency. Volume 1, Number 1 (July 1950). Pp. 76. London: Bailliere, Tindall and Cox, 1950. 7s.6d., or annually 27s.6d. or $4.00
| DOI | 10.1177/000271625127400177 |
| Published date | 01 March 1951 |
| Author | George B. Mangold |
| Date | 01 March 1951 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
245
consequences
that
collective
farming
has
in
Russia.&dquo;
One
ceases
to
wonder
when
one
reads
that
&dquo;the
rural
people
of
Russia
compose
83
to
89
per
cent
of
the
popula-
tion,&dquo;
when
the
readily
accesible
census
of
1939
gives
the
figure
as
67
per
cent.
Un-
fortunately
similar
misstatements
of
fact
occur
also
concerning
matters
closer
home.
As
to
the
origins
of
the
evil
&dquo;urban
sys-
tem&dquo;
the
author
mentions
only
the
excess
of
&dquo;linear&dquo;
thought.
The
change
he
seeks
is
apparently
purely
quantitative:
people
should
live
in
small
settlements
instead
of
in
big
ones.
He
fails
to
see
that-other
things
being
equal-there
is
far
more
stabil-
ity
for
the
wage
earner
in
the
metropolis
than
in
the
small
town,
because
in
the
former
loss
of
a
job
means
pulling
up
stakes
or
going
on
relief,
while
in
the
latter
he
may
find
another
job
and
retain
his
home,
his
neighborhood,
and
the
school
of
his
children.
There
is
similar
blindness
to
the
fact
that
decentralization-such
as
the
work
of
the
TVA
which
the
author
highly
praises-
presupposes
&dquo;the
huge
concentrations
of
financial
and
administrative
power
in
pri-
vate
and
governmental
institutions&dquo;
which
he
condemns.
This
mechanistic
conception
of
the
relation
between
centralization
and
decentralization
is
accompanied
by
all
the
other
mechanistic
fallacies
of
the
decen-
tralist
credo,
such
as
the
identification
of
big
industry
with
the
big-
city
and
of
decentralization
of
plant
with
decentraliza-
tion
of
settlement.
In
more
than
one
respect,
this
book
is
highly
representative
of
the
urban
culture
which
Mr.
Brownell
condemns:
it
is
written
in
an
extremely
obscure
professional
jar-
gon ;
it
is,
as
the
author
wryly
admits,
in-
evitably
a
book
for
college
professors;
it
is,
in
addition-and
evitably-very
largely
a
book
about
college
professors,
a
book
of
opinions
on
other
writers’
opinions.
This
reviewer
desists
from
further
opin-
ing
about
Professor
Brownell’s
opinions,
except
to
say
that
he
has
written
what
might
have
become
a
very
significant
book,
but
instead
turned
into
a
very
scurrilous
one.
&dquo;Du
sublime
au
ridicule
il
n’y
a
qu’un
pas. »
HANS
BLUMENFELD
Philadelphia
City
Planning
Commission
BECKER,
HOWARD.
Through
Values
to
Social
Interpretation.
Pp.
xviii,
341.
Durham,
N.
C.:
Duke
University,
1950.
$4.50.
This
book,
with
its
intriguing
title,
un-
fortunately
does not
contain
a
systematic
and
unified
development
of
a
theme.
It
turns
out
to
be
a
collection
of
incidental
articles
and
chapters
contributed
to
sym-
posia
which
have
been
published
previously.
Originally
these
essays
were
fragmentary,
and
they
remain
so
in
their
present
form.
This
is
a
pity,
in
a
way,
because
at
least
one
of
them
dealing
with
the
problem
of
constructive
typology
in
the
social
sci-
ences
is
worthy
of
a
concentrated
effort
on
the
part
of
the
author
and
really
should
have
been
developed
into
a
book.
Becker’s
literary
effort,
which
attempts
to
jump
the
gun
on
the
undoubtedly
more
critical
and
discriminating
selection
of
some
future
editor
of
his
posthumous
work,
is
disap-
pointing
in
much
the
same
way
as
are
a
number
of
other
books-
that
have
been
published
recently.
The
authors
of
these
books
are
at
the
height
of
their
vigor
and
professional
maturity
and
should
be
capable
of
advancing
sociology
by
making
an
effort
to
produce
a
thoroughly
thought
out,
well-
rounded,
and
fully
developed
treatise.
These
scarcely
justifiable
collections
of
es-
says,
which
are
easily
available
.in
their
original
form,
give
the
unfortunate
im-
pression
that
the
authors
have
said
the
final
word
on
their
subjects
although
they
clearly
deal
with
matters
the
depths
of
which
they
have
hardly
touched.
THEODORE
ABEL
Columbia
University
British
Journal
of
Delinquency,
The.
The
Official
Organ
of
the
Institute
for
the
Study
and. Treatment
of
Delinquency.
Volume
1,
Number
1
(July
1950).
Pp.
76.
London:
Bailliere,
Tindall
and
Cox,
1950.
7s.6d.,
or
annually
27s.6d.
or
$4.00.
This
is
the
first
number
of
a
special
journal
dealing
with
the
problem
of
delin-
quency.
An
attempt
will
be
made
to
pre-
sent
a
wider
range
of
topics
than
that
previously
featured
by
the
Institute.
The
medical
and
psychiatric
aspects
of
delin-
quency
will
be
supplemented
with
material
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