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This brief book is a masterly work of condensation. It is prepared in association with Ruskin College, Oxford, and is the work of a
former Czech scholar who is psychoanalytically oriented. (Friedman has published Broadcasting For Democracy and The Break-Up of Czech Democracy.) The recent spate of textbooks on social psychology enables one to appreciate by contrast the keen judgment which Friedman has exercised at every step. The four divisions of the book are progressive: the motives of the individual; social interaction; the psychology of groups; the essentials of rational action in society. The last section is usually neglected in the United States where policy thinking is less prevalent among textmakers.
The reading list is sound and the reference utility of the volume is greatly enhanced by an index of subjects and a glossary. Even in a short book of this kind I think that a brief résumé of the history of social psychology would be a useful addition. This is particularly true since many of the citations are from recent literature.