A Vision of Social Efficiency

The less numerous of the two prominent British schools of sociology cherishes the proposition that the business of sociology is to construct social ideals. There is no evidence to show whether or not that view would be adopted by the American Sociological Society. I should certainly not accept it as a definition of the functions of Sociology. On the other hand, I have scant respect for any sociological technique which does not at last contribute to credible forecasts of better things in the future, and thus at least indirectly to foreshadowings of improved society in general, along with partial revelations of ways and means of achieving those improvements.