SOCIOLOGY IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD OF TODAY AND TOMORROW.

The article focuses on sociology in the contemporary world of today and tomorrow. This paper suggests a number of approaches to the study of the contemporary scene and to the realistic participation in research and social planning which sociology may make in the current era. While these approaches are presented primarily to sociologists and in "theoretical" terms, the conclusions have all grown gradually out of studies of the folk-regional society and the consequent criticisms and revisions which have followed. The main import, therefore, is essentially "practical" and realistic. How important and practical the "theoretical" approach may be is illustrated in the extraordinarily fine examination of more than three hundred "approaches" to world reconstruction, presented in the article, "Regionalism and Plans for Post-War Reconstruction: The First Three Years," published in the journal "Social Forces." The first approach is toward a more adequate definition and comprehensive understanding of the role of the folk in the world of tomorrow. This implies the scientific study of the folk society in all of its organic and evolutionary phases. This is a "must" in any comprehensive program of study and planning. Another is the further development of folk sociology as a general sociology basic to the understanding of all society.