MCDOUGALL, WILLIAM. Group mind. *$5 Putnam 301
20–13131
“A sketch of the principles of collective psychology with some attempt to apply them to the interpretation of national life and character.” (Sub-title) The author holds that “a society, when it enjoys a long life and becomes highly organized, acquires a structure and qualities which are largely independent of the qualities of the individuals who enter into its composition and take part for a brief time in its life.” Thus a collective mental life is not merely the sum of the mental lives of its units but is a “collective mind” or, if one prefers, “a collective soul.” The book is a sequel to the author’s “Introduction to social psychology” and assumes the reader’s acquaintance with it. The contents fall into three parts: General principles of collective psychology; The national mind and character; The development of national mind and character. There is an index.
“Soundly empirical as his methods are, Mr McDougall may well fail to convince the ardent humanitarian of the error of his ways.... Nevertheless, the problem of a national eugenics must be faced and solved, not simply burked on sentimental grounds. Meanwhile, whatever moral be drawn from them, the facts must first be reviewed impartially; and Mr McDougall’s book is the model of a treatment conceived and executed in the dispassionate spirit of science.” R. R. M.
+ Ath p834 Je 25 ’20 1000w
“The rule which prevents a physician from operating upon a member of his own family because his emotion would interfere with his judgment is one that no scientist can afford to ignore. Mr McDougall has ignored it. That is to say he has not searched his heart to free himself from his own group affiliations sufficiently to approach his subject with a clean and clear mind.” Walter Lippmann
− New Repub 25:82 D 15 ’20 1600w
“There are one or two of Mr McDougall’s statements to which we might take exception; but they are few in number and of no importance to his main argument. He is invariably impartial, lucid, and candid, making use of no theory, however plausible, unless it will bear the strictest scrutiny, and advancing no conclusions as proved so long as any reasonable doubt may be entertained of their soundness.”
+ Spec 125:214 Ag 14 ’20 1050w