THE SECOND ANNUAL MEETINGS OF THE SECTION ON SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL WORK OF THE AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL SOCIETY: A CRITICAL REVIEW.

A number of major considerations emerged fairly clearly from meetings held in 1928 of the section on Sociology and Social Work. The more important of them may perhaps be indicated in terms of the following questions, are the social research and social work attitudes compatible?, and more specifically, should social workers be expected to subject their own processes of work, such as come into play in the interview, for instance, to objective analysis and investigation?, can social workers so write their case records as to make them more available for sociological research without jeopardizing their value as social work documents? and what definite suggestions and contributions has sociology to make to the treatment of specific social work problems such as family discord. These are complex considerations which cannot be dismissed dogmatically with the formulation of a single point of view and this year's meetings seem to have been definitely planned with a view to throwing additional light op them. There were four meetings of the section this year, devoted respectively to the discussion of the following topics, "Some Contributions of Sociological Theory to Social Work," "A Sociological Analysis of the Contents of 2,000 Social Case Records With Special Reference to the Treatment of Family Discord," "A Study of Social Case Work Interviews," and "Is Prediction Feasible in Social Work? An Inquiry Based Upon a Sociological Study of Parole Records."