The Social Implications of Business Administration: An Introductory Statement

Let us not think that business men constitute the only class that evokes severe social questions. At different times the clergy, the warriors, the politicians, and the scholars have caused others to sit in judgment on their status and usefulness. Indeed, since these classes have come into existence as specialized contributors to civilization, there has been a swing to or away from one or another. The history of civilization is the history of their rise, mastery, and decline; their hard work and their sloth; their leadership and their loss of dynamic qualities. Indeed, one of the advantages of our evolutionary process is our chance to swing from one group to another for leadership or even control, according to whichever promises best results in action. Of course, this does not mean that the classes in question disappear or that they are not mutually dependent; it means simply that there is a constant shift in leadership, each class always contributing something whether in declining or increasing amount.