Talk:William Graham Sumner

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Photo from 1911, a year after his death? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.141.208.208 (talk) 19:57, 6 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

source

What's the source for this quote, by the way? - Nat Kraus e 04:15, 18 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I added a link. If the quote is fake, folks will know. There are two at least versions of the Forgotten Man essay. The shorter one is linked. The longer one, which I have permission to post and translate, is in Sumner Today (1946) translator 20:27, 29 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I have been looking at s:Author:William Graham Sumner, where it is claimed The Forgotten Man is a version of What Social Classes Owe to Each Other but does not cite who says so, and the relation is not obvious from a superficial examination of the texts. Is What Social Classes Owe to Each Other what you call an earlier, longer version of The Forgotten Man? It would be good to see the Wikisource claim better documented somewhere. Bob Burkhardt (talk) 17:10, 10 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Is anyone familiar enough with Sumner's work addressing Marx's critique of Capitalism? Capitalism has the tendency to create disparity of wealth, creating a revolutionary proletariat. Therefore, it is governments job to stay small, but encourage unionization, a minimum wage, a maximum work day, and (this is mostly inferred and probably projected since the modern versions of the corporation didn't exist at his time) limit corporate power and monopolization. Maintaining a somewhat leveled playing field in America's capitalist economy by keeping the land/man ratio high enough for a stable system were important to his ideology. Wordsofglass 00:03, 29 Mar 2007 (EST)

Comprehensive?

This page almost seems a stub except it has a good summary as it doesn't mention a lot of the other work he did (Stuff with Social darwinism for example). I would imagine at least a works addition would be good (a list here, another here) but I'm not especially sure how to do it myself and don't have the time to right now. LwoodY2K 10:10, 17 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I would agree that a works section should be added. Probably one of his most known works was 'What Social Class Owe to Each Other' which is mainly dealing with his views on Social Darwinism. As soon as I get some time I'll take a look at what I could add to the article. CRobey 21:32, 6 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Please note that Sumner never used the term "Social Darwinism." His views are better described as Lamarckian. The term, "Social Darwinism," was not even coined until 1944 (by someone who was extremely unsympathetic to Sumner's views).

130.160.214.237 21:04, 19 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

That would have been Richard Hofstadter. A rebuke (or repudiation if you want) can be found in Bannister and James Allen Rogers. Intangible 00:35, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Mencken

Why were the references to H.L. Mencken removed? Mencken's advocacy of Sumner carried his legacy to a new generation.Atthom (talk) 22:09, 19 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

GA status

I've looked this article over, and think that it might meet qualifications to be considered as a Class B, Class A, or even a GA. IIRC, one of the requirements for GA is that the wikiprojects associated have it rated as such. Would one of the associated wikiprojects please review this article and determine if this may be the case. Thank you. Technical 13 (talk) 18:06, 28 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

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Promising draft in the making

If anyone is interested in helping out in a charitable manner: Draft:Folkways: A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals. Biohistorian15 (talk) 15:06, 20 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Interesting! What do you think about Wikipedia's No original research core policy? As drafted currently, to me it seems to contain a lot of original thinking/synthesizing (e.g., the article mostly only cites the Folkways book itself). Would it be better (and more likely to not be frowned upon by senior editors) to find other published "reliable secondary works" that comment on this Folkways book?

Starr's biography.
The preface to Sumner and Keller's Science of Society that briefly speaks to the genesis of Folkways.
I have a copy of A.G. Keller's Reminiscences of Williams Graham Sumner that I think has some relevant material.

If you think that's a valid way forward on this draft, I could try to contribute some things! But I'm curious what you think first. Cheers. Brad606 (talk) 19:32, 26 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Brad606, sorry for forgetting about you. Yes, of course, focusing on these would be ideal. The draft's author will likely come back at some point and finish the summary. Until then: would you be interested in writing a "Reception" section based on the sources you provided? Biohistorian15 (talk) 03:07, 5 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Biohistorian15 Great idea, thanks. I’ll see what I can come up with for a reception section. Brad606 (talk) 20:12, 6 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for linking my draft! I started it last year, lost it after six month of desuetude, and recently recovered it. I should be getting back to work on it sometime this month. SpicyMemes123 (talk) 00:28, 6 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]