At  some  points  the  discussion  proceeds  on  grounds  of
economic  theory  or  ethnological  generalisation  that  may
be  in  some  degree  unfamiliar.  The  introductory  chap-
ter indicates  the  nature  of  these  theoretical  premises
sufficiently,  it  is  hoped,  to  avoid  obscurity.  A  more
explicit  statement  of  the  theoretical  position  involved
is  made  in  a  series  of  papers  published  in  Volume  IV
of  the  American  Journal  of  Sociology,  on  "The  Instinct
of  Workmanship  and  the  Irksomeness  of  Labour,"  "The
Beginnings  of  Ownership,"  and  "The  Barbarian  Status
of  Women."  But  the  argument  does  not  rest  on  these
—  in  part  novel  —  generalisations  in  such  a  way  that
it  would  altogether  lose  its  possible  value  as  a  detail
of  economic  theory  in  case  these  novel  generalisations
should,  in  the  reader's  apprehension,  fall  away  through
being  insufficiently  backed  by  authority  or  data.
vi  Preface

Partly  for  reasons  of  convenience,  and  partly  because
there  is  less  chance  of  misapprehending  the  sense  of
phenomena  that  are  familiar  to  all  men,  the  data
employed  to  illustrate  or  enforce  the  argument  have
by  preference  been  drawn  from  everyday  life,  by  direct
observation  or  through  common  notoriety,  rather  than
from  more  recondite  sources  at  a  farther  remove.  It  is
hoped  that  no  one  will  find  his  sense  of  literary  or
scientific  fitness  offended  by  this  recourse  to  homely
facts,  or  by  what  may  at  times  appear  to  be  a  callous
freedom  in  handling  vulgar  phenomena  or  phenomena
whose  intimate  place  in  men's  life  has  sometimes
shielded  them  from  the  impact  of  economic  discussion.
