Folkways

William Graham Sumner was an influential professor of sociology and politics at Yale College and president of the American Sociological Association from 1908 to 1909, and it was in this early classic textbook of sociology, first published in 1906, that he coined the term folkways, to denote the habits and customs of a society. He fully explores the concept here, examining their influence on:

· the struggle for existence
· labor and wealth
· slavery
· abortion, infanticide, and the killing of the elderly
· cannibalism
· sex and marriage
· blood revenge and primitive justice
· sacral harlotry and child sacrifice
· popular sports and drama
· education and history
· and much more.

American academic and author WILLIAM GRAHAM SUMNER (1840-1910) wrote numerous and varied books including Andrew Jackson as a Public Man (1882) and What Social Classes Owe to Each Other (1883).