Civics: as Applied Sociology by Patrick Geddes
page 46 of 142 (32%)
page 46 of 142 (32%)
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reference in "Civics" to a "rationalised census of the present condition
of the people." [Page: 135] No one, however, who has studied the concluding portion of "The Evolution of Sex" can accuse Prof. Geddes of ignoring questions of _population_; and his eulogium, written ten years ago, of "Mr. Charles Booth as one of our own latest and best Economists," is familiar to all readers of "Education for Economics and Citizenship." In that extremely suggestive treatise, Prof. Geddes further points out that population must have a primary place in consideration, and that "our studies of the characteristic occupation of region by region are the essential material of a study of its whole civilisation." Accepting Mr. Branford's definition of _occupation_ as "any and every form of human endeavour, past, present, and future," we see that occupation must have a large place in the description, explanation, and forecasting of the evolution of cities--such as Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee--in the scheme of survey outlined so sweepingly in "Civics." "Life and Labour of the People in London" contains several general observations almost equally applicable to our largest Scottish cities, with the demographic conditions of which my official duties give me special opportunities for becoming familiar and for regional survey. In the concluding volume of that great contribution to sociology Mr. Booth (page 23) remarks:-- "Many influences conspire to cause the poor to multiply almost in proportion to their poverty, and operate in the other direction in the case of the better off, almost in proportion to their wealth. But," says |
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