Selected Writings

Barbara Wootton (1897-1988) was a leading social scientist, magistrate, academic and public servant, a life peer and the only woman Deputy Speaker in the House of Lords. The author of 15 books, mostly on economic and social issues, she was a member of government committees and four Royal Commissions, a BBC governor, university professor, an honorary alumna of 13 universities and a Companion of Honour.;Most of these writings, spanning 59 years and drawing on considerable academic and practical experience at home and abroad, are relevant today. Wootton analyzes many problems in criminology and law, social welfare and the social sciences, wage determination and income policies, arguing throughout for equality, a rational approach generally and the application of scientific method to problems of the material environment. An iconoclast, Wootton's intellectual scepticism is always leavened by insistence on being constructive. Her lifelong commitment to an egalitarian socialism emerges, accompanied by deep moral and social concern and a hatred of all injustices, hypocrisy and jargon.;Beginning with George Bernard Shaw and ending with Bertrand Russell, this volume is concerned partly with some aspects of economics: the ethics and determination of wages are explored along with strikes and the peculiar problems of arbitration, and incomes policies. The current idea of education for technology-enforced leisure is attacked. Concern with methodology, highlighted in "Social Science and Social Pathology", is applied to language and communication, politics and also teaching.;Much of Wooton's 20 to 30 year-old-criticism and appreciation of the BBC and broadcasting is still relevant today. A 1940s paper is included as a demonstration of the scope and quality of work that can be done in adult education. Philip Bean is also the editor of the Festschrift to Barbara Wootton entitled "Barbara Wootton: Social Services and Public Policy. Essays in Her Honour".