Review of The social problems of an industrial civilization

Abstract

Reviews the book, The social problems of an industrial civilization by Elton Mayo (1945). Social scientists will find this book both interesting and provocative. Much of what Mayo evidently believes to be established fact will appear to the reader as theory, assumption, guess, that needs extensive investigation. Mayo summarizes his book as follows. "First, in industry and in other human situations the administrator is dealing with well-knit human groups and not with a horde of individuals. Wherever...by reason of external circumstance these groups have little opportunity to form, the immediate symptom is labor turn-over, absenteeism, and the like. Man's desire to be continuously associated in work with his fellows is a strong, if not the strongest, human characteristic. Any disregard of it by management or any ill-advised attempt to defeat this human impulse leads instantly to some form of defeat for management itself. (The second conclusion is considered later on )... Third, directly one in an administrative position discards the absurdities of the rabble hypothesis and endeavors to deal directly with the situation that reveals itself on careful study, the results accomplished are astonishing". Mayo bases his conclusions upon four investigations which he briefly reviews. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)