POLLARD, FRANCIS E., BEATRICE E. POLLARD, and ROBERT S. W. POLLARD. Democracy and the Quaker Method. Pp. 160. New York: Philosophical Library, 1950. $3.00

• Published date: 01 March 1951
• Author: Alfred Haines Cope
• DOI: 10.1177/000271625127400149
• Date: 01 March 1951
• Subject Matter: Articles

223

mary.

Emphasis

is

placed

upon

theory

and

generalization.

There

is

a

marked

absence

of

illustration.

The

style

is

lucid,

but

so

lacking

in

vividness

and

incisiveness

as

to

blunt

interest.

Sources

are

for the

most

part

secondary,

and

there

is

little

that

is

new

or

arresting

in

the

volume

as

a

whole.

For

beginning

students

the

much

earlier

volume

of

Odegard,

The

American

Public

Mind,

which

covers

much

the

same

ground,

is

far

more

exciting

and

challenging.

For

advanced

students

Ogle’s

presentation

is

too

elementary.

In

scope

this

little

volume

follows

the

traditional

pattern

with

chapters

on

democ-

racy

and

public

opinion,

the

meaning

of

public

opinion,

social

and

psychological

de-

terminants,

the

family,

church,

and

schools,

propaganda,

press,

radio

and

motion

pic-

tures,

and

public

opinion

measurement.

The

author

devotes

more

than

the

usual

amount

of

attention

to

the

role

of

myth,

with

particular

reference

to

the

theories

of

democracy,

communism,

and

fascism.

The

most

serious

omission,

at

least

from

the

point

of

view

of

the

political

scientist,

is

the

absence

of

chapters

on

government

and

public

opinion

and

of

adequate

treatment

of

current

problems

of

public

opinion

faced

by

the

United

States

on

both

the

domestic

and

international

fronts.

Notwithstanding

their

brevity,

the

chapters

on

&dquo;The

Mean-

ing

of Public

Opinion,&dquo;

&dquo;Propaganda,&dquo;

and

&dquo;Measurement

of

Public

Opinion&dquo;

are

help-

ful.

The

text

cites

few

references,

but

con-

tains

an

appended

list

of

some

125

selected

readings.

The

annotations,

however,

are

far

from

satisfactory,

and

in

some

cases

misleading.

For

example,

Lasswell

was

not

the

author

of

Propaganda

and

Dictatorship

(see

p.

343),

and

the

annotation

gives

a

wholly

eroneous

idea

of the

contents

of that

book.

HARWOOD

L.

CHILDS

Princeton

University

POLLARD,

FRANCIS

E.,

BEATRICE

E.

POL-

LARD,

and

ROBERT

S.

W.

POLLARD.

De-

mocracy

and

the

Quaker

Method.

Pp.

160.

New

York:

Philosophical

Library,

1950.

$3.00.

This

book

has

as

its

thesis

the

acceptable

proposition

that

democracy,

particularly

in

phases

of

decision

making,

is

not

now

a

completely

finished

and

satisfying

process.

It

is

the

further

belief

of

the

British

au-

thors,

who

gather

data

from

the

procedures

of

the

Friends-called

Quakers-that

the

Quaker

processes

of

self-government

can

show

the

ways

to

&dquo;get

agreement

on

issues

which

may

stormily

divide

a

meeting,

and

how,

in

fact,

the

synthesis

of

opinion

may

produce

something

better

than

would

result

from

victory

for

one

side

or

the

other.&dquo;

The

book

is

divided

fairly

evenly

be-

tween

a

discussion

of

the

theory

supporting

the

Quaker

attitude

on

reaching

religious

and

business

consensus

and

some

case

his-

tories

illustrating

how

serious factional

differences

were

resolved

into

harmony.

There

are

also

appendixes,

discussing

the

psychological

aspects

of

the

Quaker

method.

To

one

nurtured

in

a

sincere,

moralistic,

but

intellectually

cautious

Quaker

commu-

nity,

this

book

is

at

once

a

pleasure,

a

record

of

disappointment,

and

a

welcome

reopening

of

an

old

but

neglected

prob-

lem.

It

is

a

pleasure

to

see

how

a

religious

fellowship

has.

recognized

quite

inductively

and

experimentally

the

need

for

a

theory

of

&dquo;consensus.&dquo;

It

is

valuable

to

see

how

often

and

well

the

theory

has

become

prac-

tice,

how

its

characteristics

have

been

given

documentation,

and

how

mutual

consent

without

formal

vote

has

been

accomplished.

It

is

disappointing

not

only

to

remember

that

the

Quaker

method

has

failed

on

oc-

casions,

but

to

conclude

that

the

authors

do

not

consider

fully

limitations

upon

their

theory

imposed

by

human

frailty,

size

of

organization,

and

the

traditions

of

political

constituencies.

The

authors,

too,

under-

estimate

the

useful

devices

which

each

current

democracy

affords

minorities

and

individuals

for

their

protection.

This

book,

nevertheless,

reopens

an

im-

portant

issue.

It

is

quite

applicable

to

the

thousands

of

comparatively

small,

often

nongovernmental,

organizations

which

exist

in’

a

democracy.

These

govern

our

lives

in

a

majority

of

ways;

they

give

lip

service

to

democracy,

but

they

often

have

little

of

democracy

within

themselves.

Aside

from

the

interest

it

would

have

to

anyone

wishing

to

refine

democratic

process,

this