Encyclopedia Of Social Sciences Research Articles

Doing Monetary Economics in the South: Subercaseaux on Paper Money

In 1912 Guillermo Subercaseaux (1872-1959), a professor of economics at the University of Chile, published El Papel Moneda, translated into French in 1920 as Le Papier-Monnaie. Subercaseaux’s book was reviewed in North-American and European economic journals, and was regarded by Knut Wicksell and other influential economists at the beginning of the 20th century as the most comprehensive investigation in the history and theory of paper-money. The readership commanded by his book would grant Subercaseaux an invitation to contribute the entry on 'paper-money' to the Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences, edited by E.R. Seligman in the early 1930s. Moreover, he published a number of articles on the topic in international journals. Our paper provides a full treatment of Subercaseaux’s interpretation of the working of paper-money economies, including his approach to the determination of the exchange rate of depreciated currencies and his views about the problem posed by the existence of a positive value of inconvertible paper-money. We investigate how his framework was related to classic contributions by Adolph Wagner (1868), Carlo Ferraris (1879) and Wesley C. Mitchell (1903, 1908) on Russian, Austrian/Italian and North-American paper-money experiences respectively. Subercaseaux’s interest on the topic was not purely theoretical. He acted as minister of finance and president of the Central Bank of Chile on different occasions. In this regard, we also deal with the background formed by the South-American debates between 'papeleros' and 'oreros' (paper-money and gold-standard supporters, respectively) at the time. From a broad perspective, our paper offers an investigation of an aspect of the international transmission of economic ideas, this time from the periphery to the centre.

Education for librarianship in Bangladesh

Education is a social process by which a society and a nation impart and transmit knowledge on life and society. According to the International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences “instruction is a basic activity of mankind” and “education can be viewed as including all communicating of knowledge and shaping of values”.1 Formal education is acquired by organized study and instruction at educational institutions. The objectives of such education are to acquire skills, knowledge, habits and attitudes. As society is gradually transformed by modernization balanced emphasis is given both to liberal as well as specialized education. One very important branch of this specialized education is the professional education which prepares a particular human being for specific profession or job. The rapid and unprecedented expansion of knowledge in the modern technological society has produced a heavy demand on the organizer and disseminator of knowledge who are popularly known as librarians and information scientists. The expertise of librarianship can be only achieved through a methodical and systematic professional education of administration, planning, selection, procurement, preservation, storing, disseminating and interpreting the means of human communication. “Libraries have been the store-house of man’s boldest thoughts, his highest aspirations, his wisdom, knowledge and art since the time of the earliest civilization. The book whether made of clay, papyrus, parchment or paper has always kept thought alive, kindling new ideas even in periods of apparent cultural stagnation.“2 In other words, “the basic responsibility of libraries has been to

1. Citation of Sociological Entries in the International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences: Prospects for Comparative Analysis

1. Citation of Sociological Entries in the International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences: Prospects for Comparative Analysis

Regression analysis with dichotomous attributes

In recent years sociologists have become interested in mathematical models which are based on systems of recursive linear equations between a set of variables. The movement started with an article by Herbert Simon (1954) who translated certain findings of dichotomous algebra into quantitative terms. The idea was then extended by Hubert Blalock (1964). Raymond Boudon (1965) pointed out that path analysis introduced 40 years earlier by the biometrician Wright was really representing the same approach. Following his lead Otis Duncan (1967) then published a series of examples where path analysis was applied to social data. Path analysis has considerable attraction for for social scientists because its ideas can be graphically represented by the now well-known arrow scheme and because its algebra can be extended to any number of variables. But like any linear system it cannot reproduce conditional relations. 1 1 See e.g., this author's entry on Analysis of Attribute Data in the Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, Vol. 15, p. 419 ff. In many cases the advantage of dealing economically with many variates outweighs the loss of higher level information. For this reason Coleman (1964) developed a formalism by which we can translate the idea of linearity into dichotomous terms. In 1968 Boudon (1958) simplified considerably the computational aspect of his approach. The following paper recasts the Coleman-Boudon model in terms of dichotomous algebra. Leaving the main ideas of the two authors unchanged the present approach seems to provide further simplification. The paper is part of a larger presentation which shows that its theorems can be extended to apply the idea of path analysis to dichotomous systems. This generalization will be found in the proceedings of the 1970 UNESCO Seminar on mathematical social sciences (in preparation).

Wilson D. Wallis 1886-1970

Wilson D. Wallis 1886-1970

Some Comments on "The Empirical Classification of Formal Groups"

but not even the authors of Toward a General Theory of Action identified this bias with scientific procedure in general. third question to which the volumes under review fail to give a satisfactory answer is perhaps the most serious one. Behavioralists are prone to talk very much more about their discipline, and about the encyclopaedia of social sciences than they are to deal with specific problems. clearest illustration of this shift of interest is provided by Professor Kirkpatrick's somewhat pompous essay on The Impact of the Behavioral Approach on Traditional Political Science (Ranney, pp. 1 ff.). But are disciplines and their interrelations really so important? Is it not much more important to get down to particular problems, explain puzzling observations, without worrying about the nationality of the theories? It is this third question which grows into a suspicion if we survey the 19 essays assembled in the two volumes edited by Marvick and Ranney. Some of these essays are very informative, e.g. those by Dogan and Guttsman in the former, or that by Stein Rokkan in the latter volume. But it is hard to escape the conclusion that they are fruitful because their authors are unconcerned (and, probably, ignorant) of behavioralism and other approaches, but deal with their problems employing all tools, behavioral, institutional, or otherwise, which they find available. This is not to say that deliberate behavioralism cannot lead to useful results. essay by Eulau and others on Career Perspectives of American State Legislators is unusually interesting (although the confessed behavioralist would probably ask whether a competitive party system is a variable). But it seems that the contributions to these volumes are useful to the extent to which they abstain from either programmatic declarations or a deliberate restriction to what is acceptable to the behavioral school. Much could be said about the essays in these volumes in their substantive context. Thus, Marvick's volume, while it has stimulated the study of political elites, stops short of some of the more difficult questions of elite circulation, or of the relation of elites to their social mother groups. In general, the volume edited by Marvick is by far the more useful of the two. But if we confine ourselves here to the merits of the behavioral approach, one final remark must be made. Politics is one of the most exciting subjects of study for the social scientist. It would be a great shame indeed, if by an undue concern with methods of limited applicability we managed to dampen this excitement for our students, our public, and for ourselves.

The Place of Finance Committees in Non‐Labor Politics, 1910–1930

[The] enumeration of the different 'external organizations which may bring about the creation of a political party would not be complete without mention of the action of industrial and commercial groups: banks, big companies, industrial combines, employers federations, and so on. Unfortunately here it is extremely difficult to pass beyond the bounds of generalizations and hypotheses, for such action is always cloaked in great discretion. In the Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences, E. H. Underhill demonstrates the part played in the birth of the Canadian Conservative party in 1864 by the Bank of Montreal, the Grand Trunk Railway, and by Montreal 'big business generally. Similar influences could no doubt be discovered at work in the formation of almost all right‐wing parties; but on this point we have for the most part at our disposal only presumptions (well‐founded, it is true) but not evidence: very tactful investigations would be required to make clear the forms and degrees of influence exerted by capitalist groups on the genesis of political parties.

The Protestant Church and Recreation--An Example of Social Change

RECREATION has become one of major activities of our modern culture. Increased leisure which machine has given us, combined with our changing patterns of life, has resulted in accentuation of man's play. a very real sense recreation has forged to front as one of compelling interests in human life.' Steiner2 estimated that people of United States spent $10,165,857,000 annually in recreational pursuits during prosperous years prior to last depression. Weinberger asserts that from 1909 to 1935 there has been a gradual and steady increase in proportion of national income spent for recreation. Of national income in 1909 only 3.8 percent went for recreation, 4.89 percent in 1919, 7.71 percent in 1929, 7.38 percent in 1933, and 8.12 percent in 1935.3 has become so much a component part of our organized social system that training courses for recreation leaders are at present offered by over 400 educational institutions.4 The President's Research Committee on Social Trends concluded that the movement by American public toward more adequate recreational facilities is one of significant social trends of recent times.5 Only within last few decades have recreation and play been accepted as integral parts of our social system, available to nearly all. In 19th century sports and amusements were primarily for privileged few and were seldom enjoyed by rank and file of people except on holidays and special occasions.6 Two main factors have been closely associated with this significant social change, viz., increased amount of leisure as a result of technological advances, and changing attitude of church toward play. This paper will emphasize latter and will include a presentation of modification of attitude of church, as a social institution, toward recreation. Pangburn's definition of recreation is used as basis for this study: Recreation is leisure activity engaged in for its own sake. It includes outdoor and indoor games and sports, swimming, camping, hiking, nature games, dancing, picnics, drama, singing, playing instruments, parties, arts and crafts, travel, discussions and many other activities.7 Our social structure is constantly changing. It is dynamic not static. Particularly during last century changes have been made in patterns of group behavior. Further social changes are inevitable. Our social institutions have been in a constant state of flux in their relative control over man. A hundred years ago family and church were nearly all-powerful. Today state and industry have gained in hegemony an potency. The church of last century stressed spiritual life. The church of modern era advocates social as well as spiritual values. And with this change in social institution of church a preponderance of recreation and play facilities has come forth. Thus, here is a significant social change of last few decades-the adoption of recreation in religious program. Since play and recreation are so much a part of our present social behavior pattern, it seems advisable for more research and study to be done in this field. The sociologist is becoming deeply interested because he recognizes that most recreational pursuits are group affairs. Man seldom plays alone. Thus many social phenomena arise. The field of recreation is one of least explored social areas, and undoubtedly it provides ample opportunities for sociological research. It is interesting to note number of academic degrees in sociology awarded in 1939, in part for research on recreational problems. Of total of 58 doctor's degrees granted, 3 of theses were centered on recreational problems. Of 177 1 J. F. Steiner, Americans at Play (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1933), p. ix. 2Ibid., p. 183. Julius Weinberger, Economic Aspects of Harvard Business Review, XV: 459 (1937). 4L. F. Hanmer, Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, XIII, p. 179. 5Recent Social Trends in United States (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1933), p. 912. 6 J. F. Steiner, op. cit., p. 10. 7 W. W. Pangburn, Recreation, A Major Community Problem (New York: National Association, 1936), p. 5.