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| Transcriber's Note: Alternative spellings of some wordshave been retained as they were used in the original book. |
WILLIAM GRAHAM SUMNER (1902)
FOLKWAYS
A STUDY OF THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE
OF USAGES, MANNERS, CUSTOMS,
MORES, AND MORALS
BY
WILLIAM GRAHAM SUMNER
Professor of Political and Social Sciencein Yale University
Thus it is clearly seen that use, rather thanreason, has power to introduce new things amongst us, and to doaway with old things.—Castiglione, Il libro delCortegiano, I, § 1.
What custom wills, in all things should wedo't.
Coriolanus, II, 3.
GINN AND COMPANY
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Entered at Stationers' Hall
Copyright, 1906, by
WILLIAM GRAHAM SUMNER
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PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
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PREFACE
In 1899 I began to write out a text-book of sociology frommaterial which I had used in lectures during the previous ten orfifteen years. At a certain point in that undertaking I found thatI wanted to introduce my own treatment of the "mores." I could notrefer to it anywhere in print, and I could not do justice to it ina chapter of another book. I therefore turned aside to write atreatise on the "Folkways," which I now offer. For definitions of"folkways" and "mores" see secs. 1, 2, 34, 39, 43, and 66. I formedthe word "folkways" on the analogy of words already in use insociology. I also took up again the Latin word "mores" as the bestI could find for my purpose. I mean by it the popular usages andtraditions, when they include a judgment that they are conducive tosocietal welfare, and when they exert a coercion on the individualto conform to them, although they are not coördinated by anyauthority (cf. sec. 42). I have also tried to bring the word"Ethos" into familiarity again (secs. 76, 79). "Ethica," or"Ethology," or "The Mores" seemed good titles for the book (secs.42, 43), but Ethics is already employed otherwise, and the otherwords were very unfamiliar. Perhaps "folkways" is not lessunfamiliar, but its meaning is more obvious. I must add that if anyone is liable to be shocked by any folkways, he ought not toread about folkways at all. "Nature her custom holds, let shame saywhat it will" (Hamlet, IV, 7, ad fin.). I have triedto treat all folkways, including thos