American Opinion on World Affairs. by Leonard S. Cottrell,; Sylvia EberhartReview by: Lee M. BrooksSocial Forces, Vol. 27, No. 4 (May, 1949), pp. 449-450Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2572513 .

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LIBRARY AND WORKSHOP 449

And, if it is not an answer, there can be no answer, according to his position, to the question whether there are answers to questions of fact and law. Hence, if he considers a postulate an answer, he has rejected the position he is defending; if it is not an answer, he has not escaped skepticism, which is also a rejection of his position since his position asserts that there are answers to at least some questions of fact and some of law.

Not only is experimentalism a circular theory of inquiry, but Churchman employs the experi- mental method to establish experimentalism. Ex- perimentalism claims that the answer to any question must be determied by the experimental method. But how do we know that experimental- ism is the proper method of answering questions? The answer given is that we digcover it to be so by the experimental method.

The experimental method is a generalization of the method of statistical inference, which requires, for the answering of any question, that (1) a formal theory of probability and (2) a set of observations be given; (3) that alternative hypotheses be con- structed in terms of the question asked; and (4) that there be a method "formulated for 'selecting' one of the alternatives on the basis of the prob- ability theory and the observations" (p. 28).

Applying this method to the question: "What is the proper method of answering questions?" Churchman constructs, by means of the experi- mental method, alternative hypotheses-ration- alism, naive empiricism, statistical empiricism, criticism, relativism, and experimentalism-and selects experimentalism by means of experimental method as the best of the alternatives. If experi- mentalism is presupposed in this way in "verify- ing" experimentalism, has experimentalism been "verified?" Perhaps there are principles which we have to presuppose in any attempt to establish the principle in question, but this does not seem to be the case with any principle which has a con- ceivable alternative. Churchman considers five alternatives of experimentalism to be logically possible.

Churchman's defense of experimentalism, in the sense here defined, clearly does not make its case. It fails at the crucial points. This does not mean that experimentalism is not defensible, but grave doubts arise about any theory of knowledge which attempts to get along without an a priori element, however defined.

E. MAYNARD ADAMS

University of North Carolina

AMERICAN OPIMON ON WORLD AFFAIRS. By Leonard S. Cottrell, Jr. and Sylvia Eberhart. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1948. 152 pp. $2.50.

Intensive and extensive surveys conducted in the summer of 1946, on the recommendation of the Committee on the Social Aspects of Atomic Energy of the Social Science Research Council, have resulted in some provocative findings. The "frame of mind"-a better term than "opinion" according to the authors-of the American people is mostly frame.

One third of the people live in a world that gives little thought to international problems. Two thirds expect another war within 25 years and that atomic bombs will be used against the United States. More than half (55%) believe that an effective defense against the atomic bomb will be worked out, an opinion quite contrary to that of responsible scientists. Public awareness of atomic energy apart from the bomb seems negli- gible; few people think of international control as something that would facilitate constructive uses of atomic energy. At a time when the Secretary of State was prominently in the international news, more than half of the people (57%) could not give his name. Many more examples of this sort might be taken from the 60 pages of discussion and the 90 pages of Appendix material, the latter featur- ing illustrative interviews and tabulations.

It would seem that we Americans are in consider- able danger because of our uncritical comfort in our moral superiority. We are not as other people; we are doing pretty well; we can't recall mistakes in dealing with other countries since the end of the war; we are generous; we are doing the best we can. True it is that we are concerned, even worried somewhat about the international situa- tion, but yet we are going to let the government do most of the worrying. All this leads the authors to emphasize that there is great psychological dis- tance between the people and the world issues that concern their government. "We can elicit opin- ions in surveys by asking people direct questions, but on re-examination we find that many of these are not questions the people are asking themselves. As with the problem of what to do about the atomic bomb, the people are apparently letting the government do the worrying. And they ap- pear to accept as a matter of course that, if the government errs, unlike other governments (italics the reviewer's) it will not err in the direction of too great self-interest" (p. 52). In other words, we are pretty well satisfied with ourselves. Much

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450 SOCIAL FORCES

of this same satisfaction was found in another connection in the November, 1948, Ladies Home Journal, findings about God and the American people: ". . .a profound gulf lies between what Americans think they do and what they do do."

The picture seems to be one of little depth, flat complacency, and puffy generalities of goodwill and cooperation which later tend to shrink or disappear when specific opportunities for dynamic action are presented. Today's interdependent world demands "a much more adequate grasp of the situation than most Americans now have in their minds."

LEE M. BROOKS

University of North Carolina

TIE NEGRO FAMILY IN THE UNITED STATES. By E. Franklin Frazier. Revised and abridged edition. New York: The Dryden Press, 1948. 368 pp. $3.75.

This volume is a revised and abbreviated edi- tion of an earlier publication by the same author in the University of Chicago Sociological Series in 1939. The principal changes are (a) greater readability due to the elimination of much detailed data, (b) more complete and valid data due to the addition of the effects of World War II upon the Negro family, (c) increased present day importance due to the substitution of 1940 census data for many 1930 figures, (d) a definite attempt to in- crease reader appeal by providing more attractive titles and considerable elimination of routine information.

The professional values of this book are many. Chiefly, however, they lie in two areas. The pioneer value of this type of work cannot be overlooked. Possibly not since Thomas and Znaniecki's The Polish Peasant in Europe and America have we had such an inclusive and com- plete study of the family culture of a group. Work of this type may well point the way for others to follow using many of the proven pro- cedures and methods. A second professional value would be that of providing proof to those who doubt the possibility of such large scale studies in social relations. From such studies as this of minority cultural groups perhaps we can secure some insight into the social adjustments of majority cultural groups and will be encouraged to attempt to perform organized research in these fields.

Many lay readers will enjoy this revised volume

and will develop valuable social insight. The free use of brief cases as examples and explanations of important points should have lay reader appeal.

Historians will enjoy this unusually interesting record of Negro development from African back- grounds to middle 20th century culture. Crimi- nologists will find an explanation for the illegal acts of some members of the Negro race through better understanding of Negro personality in light of tremendous cultural change. Those especially interested in a sociological study of the family and its members will enjoy the logical explan- ations of the unusual position of the wife and mother in the Negro family. The political scientists will take note of the trends in processes of assimilation and acculturation as significant in determining the consideration given Negroes in our governmental organizations in the future.

By summarizing most of the results of the re- search and emphasizing the dear and interesting presentation of these facts the author stands to contribute more directly to the lay readers of our country. This is a task which many professional people would like to accomplish and which Mr. Frazier has done to great advantage in this volume.

LESTER S. PEARL

Florida State University

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH AND THE NEGRO. By

Frank Loescher. New York: Association Press, 1948. 159 pp. $3.00.

There are approximately 8,000,000 Protestant Negroes in the United States of whom 7,500,000 are in separate Negro denominations. Of the half million Negroes in predominantly "white" denominations only 8,000 worship in local "white" churches. "That is the over-all picture, a picture which hardly reveals the Protestant Church as a dynamic agency in the integration of the American Negro into American life," states Dr. Loescher.

As research worker for the Commission on the Church and Minority Peoples of the Federal Council of Churches, Dr. Loescher has developed a broad, super-denominational outlook on the question of the Negro and his relation to the various Protestant Churches. In this objective study of the interracial practices and policies of seventeen of the major Protestant denominations in the United States he gives a critical but non- condemnatory analysis of how these churches stand, in attitudes and in actions, in relation to racial segregation.

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