Introductory Sociology

The present volume concentrates the reader’s attention upon man in his dual character – as an individual and as a member of society. There are a great number of general texts on introductory sociology; but very few of them give any heed to such basic, Christian truths as original sin, the redemption, and the supernatural life. The authors believe that these truths are basic to a proper understanding of man. They have boldly stated them- not because they have any desire to transgress in a field where they have no special competence, but rather because they are convinced that sociology must not be divorced from theology. It is not sufficient, in their opinion, to analyze contemporary society without a thought about man’s past and without a concept of man’s future destiny. While they have devoted considerable space to such timely topics as birth control, mercy killing, strikes, dictators, socialized medicine, the co-operative movement and anti-Semitism, they have neither neglected to estimate man’s attempts to solve the problem of associated living in the past nor have they ignored the highly important subject of the direction which society should take in order to achieve temporal and eternal happiness. Their effort throughout has been to collate the fundamental tenets of Christianity with the most recent findings of modern sociological research. The text begins with a brief discussion of contemporary society and a digest of the various devices employed in sociological methodology. At the very outset, attention is focused upon man as a rational animal, composed of body and soul, and possessing a supernatural destiny. Subsequent chapters develop the concept of the good society, analyze man’s group life, his culture, his societal processes, his social controls, and his past and present solutions of the social problem.