WeRead Powered by ReaderPub
Human Work cover

Human Work

Chapter 34: XVII: THE TRUE POSITION Summary
By Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

Sociology

About This Book

A systematic examination of social and economic life that treats familiar facts as outcomes of underlying processes, arguing that widespread suffering, ignorance, and inefficient institutions persist despite material advances. The work analyzes social evolution, concepts and conduct, and exposes false assumptions while mapping the social soul and body. It traces economic processes — labor, specialization, production, distribution, and consumption — and contends that many hardships are socially produced and therefore preventable. The author advocates a scientific social physiology to diagnose social pathologies and recommends reorganization and enlightened policy as remedies.

XVII: THE TRUE POSITION
Summary

Duty of improvement for individual and race. Effect of Ego concept. Collective nature of Christianity—“‘our’ daily bread.” Unity of man. “Kingdom of Heaven.” First human duty to assume right functional relation to Society. Right social relation tends to develop all virtues, to eliminate all sins. Want Theory and theft corollary. Normal distribution prevents abnormal acquisition. Sins against property and person. Thieving produced by clot of wealth. Right organic relation. End of “the wolf,” of “our” sins, of unnecessary diseases. Twofold duty—to change concepts and conditions. Public school and library. Social debt to the worker. Malthusian doctrine. True law of increase in population. Natural selection among individuals. Difference in organic development. Artificial selection. Stirpiculture. Superior methods of social improvement. Poverty increases number of births, but decreases quality. “Individuation is in inverse proportion to reproduction.” Splendid opportunities. Two roads to health. Right condition—right action. General cause of local evil. The home, effect on social consciousness. Better housing. Way to growth. Human nature. Happiness.