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The writers of this book are both New Yorkers, one a professor of anthropology, the other a psycho-analyst noted for his contributions to the analysis of cultural factors in personality development. They have set out to provide students and other interested readers with an introduction to the development of two independent branches of inquiry, namely the formal study of society and the still contending theories of human personality development in order to demonstrate their final triumphant synthesis in the work of the senior author.
Their contributions are clearly divided. Professor Preble employs the first 213 pages to present brief sketches of the life, work, and personality (and the major theoretical contributions) of some of the key figures in the short history of cultural anthropology: Darwin, Herbert Spencer, Tyler, Frazer, Durkheim, Boas, Malinowski, Kroeber, Ruth Benedict. As can be seen, the list is a somewhat arbitrary one. It is interesting to compare it with the group chosen by John Madge in his recent book The Origins of Scientific Sociology (London: Tavistock, 1963). Madge's team consisted of Durkheim, Thomas and Znaniecki, R. E. Park, the Lynds, Roethlisberger and Dickson, Whyte, Myrdal, Kinsey, Adorno, Bales, Festinger, and Kelley. In selecting them, Madge used three criteria; the works to be considered must have made significant contributions in three areas: of investigational technique, of ideas, and of the understanding and control of social problems. The authors of the present work are a little less precise. They regard their chosen subjects as 'the few great innovators in the development of a science of man', and they admit frankly that others may disagree with their subjective judgment.
The chapters devoted to each of the chosen innovators include a thumbnail biography and a concise presentation of their work and their theoretical position. This smacks perhaps of a Readers' Digest approach to the study of man; but it must be said that