Cambridge University Press. 45s. Reviewed by Robert M. Young Social man came to be seen as subservient to the laws of nature by a very circuitous route, and the hiatus which remains between the biological and social sciences reflects continuing uncertainties about man's place in nature. In the late nineteenth century a facade was erected which made it appear that the theory of evolution provided the necessary conceptual framework for a biological science of man. Evolutionary social theory appeared to provide a new basis for believing in the essential unity of mankind and for retaining the troublesome normative aspects of conjectural history and philosophic radicalism while abandoning choice and artificial sanctions. In short, by the end of the century evolution was seen as equivalent to progress, and social theory could again be unified with moral and political theory.
Burrow shows in detail how much the development of the former owed to the latter.
There are two historical issues here. First, recent developments in the social sciences have led to a reinterpretation of the histories of modern sociology and anthropology. The evolutionary tradition has been repudiated and the organic analogy has largely been abandoned. Since the history of science is the most Whiggish history there is, the social scientists have dutifully set about rewriting their historical textbooks. More recently still, functionalism itself has come under fire.