W. LLOYD WARNER AND JAMES C. ABEGGLEN. Occupational Mobility in American Business and Industry, 1928-1952. Pp. xxi, 315. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1955. $5.50

• Date: 01 March 1956
• Author: Gladys L. Palmer
• DOI: 10.1177/000271625630400138
• Published date: 01 March 1956
• Subject Matter: Articles

161

mental

control

was

inescapable.

More

im-

portant

than

the

Interstate

Commerce

Act

itself,

however,

was

the

emergence

of

the

principle

that

there

were

areas

in

which

governmental

&dquo;interference&dquo;

with

private

industry

was

necessary

to

alter

the

track

of

what

Commodore

Vanderbilt

liked

to

refer

to

as

&dquo;natural

competition.&dquo;

That

the

concept

was

an

expanding

one

became

obvious

three

years

later

with

the

passage

of

the

Sherman

Anti-Trust

Act.

WILLIAM

KUNSTLER

New

York,

N.

Y.

FRED

COTTRELL.

Energy

and

Society:

The

Relation

Between

Energy,

Social

Change,

and

Economic

Development.

Pp.

xix,

330.

New

York;

Toronto;

London:

Mc-

Graw-Hill

Book

Company,

1955.

$6.00.

The

purpose

of

this

book

is

to

show

the

influence

of

the

various

sources

of

energy

on

social,

economic,

and

political

develop-

ment.

Though

low-energy

sources

are

ade-

quately

discussed,

the

emphasis

is

on

the

high-energy

sources,

such

as

power

grids,

diesel

engines,

automobiles,

trucks,

and

tractors.

These

complicated

high-energy

converters

have

effected,

and

will

continue

to

effect,

many

changes

in

man’s

way

of

life.

They

require

the

use

of

large

production

units,

whether

under

a

capitalistic

or

a

commu-

nistic

society;

a

high

degree

of

concentra-

tion

of

control

over

productive

operations;

widely

scattered

ownership

of

shares

in

the

converters;

a

tremendous

increase

in

the

specialization

of

labor;

an

expansion

of

the

powers

of

the

state,

and

an

increase

in

the

&dquo;judicial&dquo;

functions

of

the

state

to

handle

the

growing

number

of

conflicts

that

will

arise

because

of

the

necessary

evolution

of

new

codes

of

conduct.

In

short,

high-

energy

technology

&dquo;requires

a

continuous

modification

of

the

habits,

training,

and

oc-

cupation

of

enormous

numbers

of

people.&dquo;

Despite

the

undoubted

advantages

of

high-energy

technology

in

areas

suited

to

it,

no

rapid

expansion

of

industrial

converters

throughout

the

entire

world

is

to

be

antici-

pated.

If

this

technology

is

to

be

adopted

and

to

survive

there

must

be

a

mixture

in

the

right

proportions

of

energy

resources,

climate,

population,

geography,

and

scien-

tific

ideology;

but

in

many

areas

there

will

be

resistance of

long-established

customs

and

ideologies

to

the

changes

required

by

high-energy

technology.

What

seems

probable

in

the

short

run

is

the

emergence

of

three

geographically

well-

defined

systems

employing

high-energy

tech-

nology.

North

America

will

be

the

base

for

one;

England

and

Germany

for

an-

other ;

and

Russia

for

the

third.

Inciden-

tally,

the

author

makes

a

number

of

in-

teresting

comments,

at

scattered

points

throughout

the

book,

about

the

Russian

experiment.

What

will

be

the

course

of

civilization

in

the

long

run

the

author

is

unwilling

to

predict;

there

are

too

many

variables

in-

volved.

He

suggests,

therefore,

that

the

chief

contribution

of

his

essay

is

its

em-

phasis

on

the

large

areas

of

ignorance

that

need

exploration

as

a

preliminary

to

fore-

casting

the

future

development

of

human

society.

This

is

a

thoughtful,

stimulating,

and

important

work.

It

constitutes

a

signifi-

cant

approach

to

the

dynamics

of

social

change.

It

should

prove

of

interest

to

sociologists,

anthropologists,

geographers,

historians,

economists,

political

scientists,

engineers,

and

biologists.

It

is,

in

fact,

a

praiseworthy

illustration

of

&dquo;interdiscipli-

nary

orientation.&dquo;

ELIOT

JONES

University

of

Santa

Clara

W.

LLOYD

WARNER

AND

JAMES

C.

ABEG-

GLEN.

Occupational

Mobility

in

Ameri-

can

Business

and

Industry,

1928-1952.

Pp.

xxi,

315.

Minneapolis:

University

of

Minnesota

Press,

1955.

$5.50.

This

book

describes

the

methodology

and

findings

of

a

study

of

vertical

occupational

mobility

among

some

8,300

representatives

of

&dquo;top

management&dquo;

in

a

variety

of

Amer-

ican

business

enterprises

in

1952.

It

repli-

cates

a

well-known

study

made

by

Taussig

and

Jocelyn

in

1928

to

provide

comparisons

of

the

experience

of

two

generations

of

business

leaders

and

it

adds

additional

in-

formation.

The

findings

are

based

on

re-

turns

from

a

mail

schedule

sent

to

17,500

persons

listed

in

Poor’s

Register

of

Direc-

tors

and

Executives.

The

most

impressive

finding

of

the

study

controverts

the

pessimistic

forecast

of

in-