HARRIS, SEYMOUR EDWIN. Economics of Social. Security. Pp. xxvi, 455. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1941. $5.00

• Published date: 01 May 1942
• DOI: 10.1177/000271624222100177
• Date: 01 May 1942
• Author: Alfred Manes
• Subject Matter: Articles

235

of

status

groupings

that

were

otherwise

de-

termined.

To

the

authors,

class

means

so-

cial

hierarchy,

a

ranking

of

individuals

in

socially

superior

and

inferior

positions,

al-

most

in

the

&dquo;social

register&dquo;

sense.

The

six

classes-upper

upper,

lower

upper,

upper

middle,

lower

middle,

upper

lower,

and

lower

lower-in

which

the

people

of

Yankee

City

were

placed,

were

&dquo;discovered&dquo;

’by

interview,

that

is,

through

the

evaluations

of

the

people

themselves

(it

is

not

recorded

that

any

thought

of

themselves

as

lower

class),

and

checked

by

their

membership

in

associations

and

cliques.

&dquo;In

the

final

analysis,

however,

individuals

were

placed

by

the

evaluations

of

the

members

of

Yankee

City

itself,

e.g.,

by

such

explicit

statements

as

’she

does

not

belong’

or

’they

belong

to

our

club.’ &dquo;

How

people

think

of

themselves

with

reference

to

others

is

admittedly

an

important

factor

in

human

relations,

but

it

is

hardly

an

objective,

ac-

cessible,

and

useful

index

of

social

class,

and

at

best

is

only

one

factor

among

many.

The

authors

would

have

done

better

had

they

taken

income,

occupation,

religion,

and

similar

factors

as

the

basis

for

studying

groups

and

social

relations.

Certainly

most

of the

social

characteristics

they

describe

are

functions

of

such

factors,

and

not

of

class.

For

example,

the

conclusion

that

&dquo;the

upper

classes

get

the

good

houses

and

the

lower

classes

get

the

bad

ones&dquo;

rests

fundamentally

on

the

question

of

income.

&dquo;Class&dquo;

status

does

not

pay

the

rent.

There

is

one

readable

chapter

in

the

book,

called

&dquo;Profiles

from

Yankee

City,&dquo;

a

com-

posite

or

fictitious

picture

of

people

and

incidents

designed

to

illustrate

the

several

social

classes

and

mobility

between

them.

It

is

as

interesting

as

gossip,

which

pattern

it

follows.

The

authors

contribute

much

to

the

terminological

confusion

in

social

science

by

coining

many

new

terms,

for

example,

&dquo;ethnics&dquo;

(also

&dquo;ethnicity&dquo;),

referring

to

ethnic

or

nationality

groups.

Furthermore,

foreign-born

English-speaking

peoples

are

classified

as

natives

or

Yankees,

because

they

freely

participate

in

Yankee

society.

This

leads

to

such

confusing

expressions

as

&dquo;the

foreign-born

natives,&dquo;

and

precludes

comparisons

with

other

studies

of

ethnic

groups.

Though

it

has

little

bearing

on

the

main

theme

of

the

book,

the

analysis

of

the

for-

mal

associations

in

the

community

is

a

distinct

contribution

to

the

literature

in

this

field.

It

suggests

the

wealth

of

raw

mate-

rial

gathered

by

the

investigation,

and

the

valuable

uses

to

which

it

might

be

put

if

analyzed

by

specialists

in

the

modern

com-

munity.

MAURICE

R.

DAVIE

Yale

University

HARRIS,

SEYMOUR

EDWIN.

Economics

of

Social.

Security.

Pp.

xxvi,

455.

New

York:

McGraw-Hill

Book

Co.,

1941.

$5.00.

It

is

not

without

good

reason

that

the

author

has

dedicated

his

thoroughly

well-

grounded

work

to

J.

M.

Keynes.

In

fact,

the

contributions

of

this

outstanding

Eng-

lish

scholar

are

prerequisites

to

Harris’

ex-

planations,

a

large

part

of

which

will

hardly

be

understandable

to

readers

not

adequately

trained

in

mathematics.

Many

chapters

of

the

book

throw

a

bridge

between

economists

on

one

side,

who

sometimes

inadequately

treat

social

and

private

insurance;

and

insurance

specialists

on

the

other

side,

who

often

neglect

or

ig-

nore

economics.

The

author’s

careful

and

systematic

mind

can

readily

be

seen

from

the

narrowly

printed

eighteen

pages

of

the

Table

of

Contents.

How

does

social

se-

curity

influence

money,

interest,

savings,

investments,

public

debt,

and

unemploy-

ment,

and

vice

versa?

What

about

the

burden

of

insurance

costs

and

its

shifting?

Such

are

the

leading

problems

to

be

an-

swered

by

the

author.

I

do

not

know

of

another

book

in

any

language

which

treats

these

and

similar

matters

in

most

of

their

manifold

aspects

with

more

ingenuity.

Probably

each

book

and

article

on

the

sub-

ject

has

been

considered

by

the

author

as

far

as

they

have

been

written

in

English.

It

is

to

be

regretted

that

the

literature

in

all

other

languages

has

been

completely

ig-

nored.

In

an

epoch

such

as

ours,

in

which

almost

all

scientific

activity

abroad

is

laid

in

ruins,

it

seems

to

me

more

than

ever

be-

fore

the

duty

of

American

scholars

to

con-

serve

the

valuable

publications

of

the

past

times

of

European

civilization.

One

of

the

most

interesting

chapters

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