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Sumner was one of the great teachers in the history of American undergraduate education. Teaching was always his first priority. A large man, fastidiously dressed, with a "magnificently bald" head and stern countenance, his "iron voice," and total control of his materials commanded the attention and confidence of generations of students. Starting with common observations anyone could make, he peeled away layer after layer of complexity to reach the core economic and social principles with a freshness and brilliance that went straight to the heart of his subject. he stated the facts in plain and often epigrammatic language. Honest and fearless, indifferent to tradition, he struck hard blows, never glossed over anything, and never spared any feelings. Sumner deplored the prominence given to Greek and Latin at Yale, and lobbied his colleagues to broaden the curriculum, especially by introducing scientific studies into the academic department. When President Noah Porter objected to Sumner's use of [[Herbert Spencer]]'s ''The Study of Sociology'' as a textbook, Sumner won a vigorous fight for academic freedom, which through newspaper reports attracted national attention
Sumner was one of the great teachers in the history of American undergraduate education. Teaching was always his first priority. A large man, fastidiously dressed, with a "magnificently bald" head and stern countenance, his "iron voice," and total control of his materials commanded the attention and confidence of generations of students. Starting with common observations anyone could make, he peeled away layer after layer of complexity to reach the core economic and social principles with a freshness and brilliance that went straight to the heart of his subject. he stated the facts in plain and often epigrammatic language. Honest and fearless, indifferent to tradition, he struck hard blows, never glossed over anything, and never spared any feelings. Sumner deplored the prominence given to Greek and Latin at Yale, and lobbied his colleagues to broaden the curriculum, especially by introducing scientific studies into the academic department. When President Noah Porter objected to Sumner's use of [[Herbert Spencer]]'s ''The Study of Sociology'' as a textbook, Sumner won a vigorous fight for academic freedom, which through newspaper reports attracted national attention
==Political theory==
==Political theory==
===Social Darwinist?===
Sumner played with a Social Darwinist themes borrowed from [[Herbert Spencer]] during the 1880s, but unpublished manuscripts by Sumner discovered in the 1970s show that he came to reject the basic premises of Social Darwinism by 1900.<ref> Bannister (1973); Norman Erik Smith, "William Graham Sumner as an Anti-Social Darwinist." ''Pacific Sociological Review'' 1979 22(3): 332-347. 0030-8919. Sumner’s apparent support for Social Darwinism as stated in ''The Science of Society'' (1927, printed 17 years after Sumner's death) was actually the thought of Albert Galloway Keller, with whom he collaborated. Norman E. Smith and Roscoe C. Hinkle, "Sumner Versus Keller and the Social Evolutionism of Early American Sociology." ''Sociological Inquiry'' 1979 49(1): 41-48. 0038-0245. </ref> Sumner's thought was a synthesis of Scottish Common Sense Realism, classical [[republicanism]], and [[laissez-faire]] economics. His synthesis continues to inform much of modern conservative social thought. Sumner's opposition to the Spanish-American War in 1898 emerged from his fear that imperialism would undermine republican government by strengthening the hand of the plutocracy, "the political power of capital."<ref> Pickens (1987)</ref>
Sumner played with a Social Darwinist themes borrowed from [[Herbert Spencer]] during the 1880s, but unpublished manuscripts by Sumner discovered in the 1970s show that he came to reject the basic premises of Social Darwinism by 1900.<ref> Bannister (1973); Norman Erik Smith, "William Graham Sumner as an Anti-Social Darwinist." ''Pacific Sociological Review'' 1979 22(3): 332-347. 0030-8919. Sumner’s apparent support for Social Darwinism as stated in ''The Science of Society'' (1927, printed 17 years after Sumner's death) was actually the thought of Albert Galloway Keller, with whom he collaborated. Norman E. Smith and Roscoe C. Hinkle, "Sumner Versus Keller and the Social Evolutionism of Early American Sociology." ''Sociological Inquiry'' 1979 49(1): 41-48. 0038-0245. </ref> Sumner's thought was a synthesis of Scottish Common Sense Realism, classical [[republicanism]], and [[laissez-faire]] economics. His synthesis continues to inform much of modern conservative social thought. Sumner's opposition to the Spanish-American War in 1898 emerged from his fear that imperialism would undermine republican government by strengthening the hand of the plutocracy, "the political power of capital."<ref> Pickens (1987)</ref>
Sumner has often been called a dogmatic defender of laissez-faire and of conservative social Darwinism. But an examination of his unpublished essay of 1909, "On the Concentration of Wealth", reveals that he changed his mind. In his 1909 essay he shows his concern for pervasive corporate monopoly as a threat to social equality and democratic government. His analysis was akin to that of a [[Woodrow Wilson|Wilsonian]] Progressive, although his remedies were vague and incomplete. This stand against plutocracy was consistent with his life and consisted of a long defense of a middle-class society against the pressures of greedy self-interest groups and demos, the mob. Earlier he was most concerned with threats from corrupt politicians. Later plutocracy threatened the middle classes through abuses which might have led to class warfare.<ref> Curtis 1969)</ref>
==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==
* Bannister, Robert C. "William Graham Sumner's Social Darwinism: A Reconsideration," ''History of Political Economy'' 1973 5(1):89+ [http://hope.dukejournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/5/1/089 online]
* Bannister, Robert C. "William Graham Sumner's Social Darwinism: A Reconsideration," ''History of Political Economy'' 1973 5(1):89+ [http://hope.dukejournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/5/1/089 online]
* Curtis, Bruce. ''William Graham Sumner.'' (Twayne's United States Authors Series, no. 391.) (1981) 186 pp. on Sumner as a writer
* Curtis, Bruce. ''William Graham Sumner.'' (Twayne's United States Authors Series, no. 391.) (1981) 186 pp. on Sumner as a writer
* Curtis, Bruce. "William Graham Sumner 'On The Concentration Of Wealth.'" ''Journal of American History'' 1969 55(4): 823-832. 0021-8723 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1900155 in JSTOR]
* Marshall, Jonathan. "William Graham Sumner: Critic of Progressive Liberalism." ''Journal of Libertarian Studies'' 1979 3(3): 261-277. 0363-2873
* Marshall, Jonathan. "William Graham Sumner: Critic of Progressive Liberalism." ''Journal of Libertarian Studies'' 1979 3(3): 261-277. 0363-2873
* Pickens, Donald. "William Graham Sumner as a Critic of the Spanish American War." ''Continuity'' 1987 (11): 75-92. 0277-1446, by a conservative scholar.
* Pickens, Donald. "William Graham Sumner as a Critic of the Spanish American War." ''Continuity'' 1987 (11): 75-92. 0277-1446, by a conservative scholar.
* ''The science of society'' , edited by Albert G. Keller, (1927)
* ''The science of society'' , edited by Albert G. Keller, (1927)
* ''Collected Essays in Political and Social Science'' (1885)
* ''Collected Essays in Political and Social Science'' (1885)
* "On the Concentration of Wealth" (1909) published in Curtis (1969) [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1900155 in JSTOR]
* ''War, and other essays'', ed. by , Albert Galloway Keller (1911)
* ''War, and other essays'', ed. by , Albert Galloway Keller (1911)
* ''Earth-hunger and other essays'' , ed. Albert Galloway Keller (1913) [http://books.google.com/books?id=wWJN3l36B_oC&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:william+inauthor:graham+inauthor:sumner&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&num=30&as_brr=1&as_pt=ALLTYPES full text online]
* ''Earth-hunger and other essays'' , ed. Albert Galloway Keller (1913) [http://books.google.com/books?id=wWJN3l36B_oC&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:william+inauthor:graham+inauthor:sumner&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&num=30&as_brr=1&as_pt=ALLTYPES full text online]