William Graham Sumner

William Graham Sumner
William Graham Sumner (1840–1910) was a prominent American social scientist, professor, and classical liberal intellectual. He is best known for his works on sociology and political economy, where he advocated for laissez-faire economics and social Darwinism. Sumner authored influential books such as "What Social Classes Owe to Each Other" and "Folkways," the latter of which explored the concept of customs and norms shaping societies. His ideas often emphasized individual liberty, limited government, and the belief that social evolution occurs naturally without state intervention.

Author's Books:


PREFACE In 1899 I began to write out a text-book of sociology from material which I had used in lectures during the previous ten or fifteen years. At a certain point in that undertaking I found that I wanted to introduce my own treatment of the "mores." I could not refer to it anywhere in print, and I could not do justice to it in a chapter of another book. I therefore turned aside to write a... more...

INTRODUCTION We are told every day that great social problems stand before us and demand a solution, and we are assailed by oracles, threats, and warnings in reference to those problems. There is a school of writers who are playing quite a rôle as the heralds of the coming duty and the coming woe. They assume to speak for a large, but vague and undefined, constituency, who set the task, exact a... more...