DASS, BANESVAR (Ed.). The Social and Economic Ideas of Benoy Sarkar. 2nd Ed. Pp. xix, 664. Calcutta: Chucker vertty Chatterjee & Co., Ltd., 1940. Rs. 12

• Author: Maurice T. Price
• Published date: 01 May 1942
• Date: 01 May 1942
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/000271624222100174
• Subject Matter: Articles

232

to

determine

the

dimensions

of

love.

This

and

other

ventures

might

be

vulnerable

to

sneers

and

satirization

from

hostile

meth-

odological

camps,

but

to

the

reviewer

a

certain

sociometric

wistfulness

implied

in

the

discussion

is

a

commendable

blend

of

humility

and

optimism.

The

book

has

many

virtues

to

record

on

the

positive

side

of

the

ledger.

The

scholar-

ship

is

really

impressive;

scores

of

studies

bearing

on

some

point

are

accurately

sum-

marized

and

then

further

epitomized

in

tables.

The

approach

is

eclectic

rather

than

doctrinaire,

and

the

findings

from

various

fields

in

general

are

lucidly

interwoven.

The

attitude

shown

toward

the

work

of

other

researchers

is

critical

yet

tolerant,

kindly,

and

free

from

cultism.

There

is

plenty

of

good

hard

original

thinking

in

the

book,

and

old

materials

are

shaped

into

new

structures

with

insight

and

wisdom.

This

style

is

admirably

crisp

and

clear.

On

the

negative

side

of

the

ledger,

only

a

few

comments

need be

made.

Occasion-

ally

statistical

material

is

cited

which

seems

petty

or

irrelevant.

Due

to

limitations

of

purpose

and

space,

material

is

now

and

then

used

without

full

exposition

of

its

weak-

nesses.

Legal

surveys

sometimes

do

not

clearly

account

for

all

states.

Perhaps

the

greatest

defect

in

the

book

is

a

rather

evasive

handling

of

the

nature-nurture

con-

troversy.

The

author

seems

to

try

to

avoid

the

problem,

cannot

quite

escape,

and

then

inclines

to

an

environmentalist

position

without

a

systematic

justification

of

her

stand.

In

particular,

more

weight

should

have

been

given

to

Goodenough’s

criticism

of

the

Iowa

findings.

Again,

in

discussing

home

environment

the

author

seems

a

bit

baffled

by

conflicting

evidence,

and

is

in-

clined

to

evade

Shaw’s

findings

concerning

the

effects

of

broken

homes

(p.

372).

In

general,

the

inconsistency

revealed

be-

tween

the

findings

of

empirical

studies

does

not

quite

support

the

author’s

claim

in

re-

gard

to

the

implications

of

the

scientific

method

(p.

xiii).

A

research

foundation

might

well

spend

large

sums

investigating

in

broad

terms

why

studies

in

the

social

sci-

ence

field

do

not

yield

closer

agreement.

Yet

science

is

not

built

in

a

day.

Jessie

Bernard

is

doing

her

part,

and

students

who

read

her

book

will

find

the

disorganizing

effect

of

objective

and

relativistic

analysis

tempered

by

scientific

optimism.

CLIFFORD

KIRKPATRICK

University

of

Minnesota

DASS,

BANESVAR

(Ed.).

The

Social

and

Economic

Ideas

of

Benoy

Sarkar.

2nd

Ed.

Pp.

xix,

664.

Calcutta:

Chucker-

vertty

Chatterjee

&

Co.,

Ltd.,

1940.

Rs.

12.

An

embodiment

of

the

almost

legendary

versatility

of

the

Bengali

intellectual,

Pro-

fessor

Benoy

Kumar

Sarkar

ranges

over

fields

not

only

in

economics

and

sociology,

as

the

title

indicates,

but

also

in

political

science,

philosophy,

religion,

art,

history,

and

education,

not

to

speak

of

his

inspira-

tional

homilies

to

Indian

youth

and

his

polemics

on

provincial,

national,

and

inter-

national

policies.

In

the

present

fat

volume

fourteen

of

Sarkar’s

adherents

and

admirers

assemble

the

bibliography

of

&dquo;Sarkarism&dquo;

and

attempts

to

summarize

its

exponent’s

contentions

and

activities,

and

even

the

notices

of

him

and

his

work

in

Occidental

publications.

&dquo;An

important

aspect

of

Sarkar’s

philo-

sophical

outfit

is

...

the

constant

assimila-

tion

of

viswha-shakti

(world-forces)

...

...

virtually

every

contribution

of

Sarkar

is

based

on

comparative

surveys

and

inter-

national

investigations

[i.e.,

his

own

travels

abroad],

Sarkarism

automatically

introduces

everybody

to

the

thoughts

and

activities

of

scholars

all

the

world

over

and

move-

ments

prominent

in

countries

outside

India.

Further,

Sarkar

has

sought ...

to

trans-

late,

paraphrase,

summarize

or

refer

to

the

economists,

culture-historians,

sociologists,

as

well

as

moral

and

political

writers

and

jurists

with

the

object

of

furnishing

infor-

mation

or

educating

the

cultured

public&dquo;

(p.

307).

Another

claim

to

repute

is,

Sarkar’s

al-

leged

refutation

of

many

world

scholars.

(The

reader

should

here

realize

that

any-

one

rooted

in

an

Oriental

culture,

or

under

the

political

control

of

a

Western

power,

will

be

apt

to react

to

Western

ideas,

insti-

tutions,

and

activities,

differently

from

Westerners.)

To

illustrate:

Since

(Euro-

pean)

&dquo;Orientalists&dquo;

and

&dquo;Imperialists&dquo;

have

emphasized

the

mystical

and

meta-

physical

achievements

of

East

Indians,

to

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