Wallas, Graham

Revision as of 17:13, 6 September 2007

Graham Wallas

Graham Wallas (May 31, 1858 - August 9, 1932) was an English socialist, social psychologist, educator, and one of the leaders of the Fabian Society. He is remembered for his contribution to the development of political science, the psychology of politics, and his pioneering work on human creativity. He reasoned that people do not always behave in a rational, calculated way, and that Politicians should, in order to handle these people properly, study psychology. Wallas was also a professor at the LSE institute of Political Science and lectured in prestigious universities such as Harvard University.

Life

Graham Wallas was born in Monkwearmouth, Sunderland, England, the son of Gilbert Innes Wallas, a local minister, and his wife Frances Talbot Peacock. He received a strict religious upbringing, studying later at Shrewsbury School and Corpus Christi College, Oxford (1877–81). He obtained a second class in Literate Humaniores in 1881. It was at Oxford that Wallas abandoned religion and converted to rationalism.

Following his studies, Wallas pursued career in teaching. He held a post at Highgate School until 1890, when he resigned in protest to the requirement of the school to receive communion.

Wallas joined the Fabian Society in April 1886, following his acquaintances with Sidney Webb and George Bernard Shaw. He contributed to the Fabian Essays on Socialism. He also started to teach at the newly founded London School of Economics (LSE) in 1895. He married in 1897 to Ada (also known as Audrey) Radford. Their daughter May was born in 1898. In 1894 he ran as Progressive Party member at the London School Board elections and served on the Board until 1904. He was chairman of its School Management Committee from 1897 - 1904.

Wallas left Fabians in 1904 in protest at their support for Joseph Chamberlain's tariff policy. He became a member of the London County Council, where he served a three-year term. He was also a non-elected member of London County Council's Education Committee from 1908-1910.

In 1914, Wallas became the Professor of Political Science at the LSE, the first such post at the school. He remained on that position until his retirement in 1923. Wallas made several trips to United States, where he lectured at Harvard University.

Wallas was President of the Rationalist Press Association. From 1908-1928, he was a member of Senate of the University of London, and served as a member of Royal Commission on Civil Service, from 1912 to 1915.

He died at Portloe, Cornwall, England, on August 9, 1932.

Work

Wallas remains famous for his work on psychology of politics. He was a famous anti-rationalist, rejecting the Jeremy Bentham's view of human nature as one of rational self-interest. He believed that people do not always behave in a rational way. He held that it was even dangerous for politicians to assume that people behave intelligently and always calculate what to do. In his Human Nature in Politics (1908), he argued that irrational forces like prejudice, custom, and accident inevitably affect political decisions, often much more than rational calculations. He thus warned politicians of the need to study psychology as the means to understand and predict people’s political behavior. He rejected then popular application of Darwinism to social sciences.

Wallas believed that by introducing psychology into political sciences, the way would also open for the study of the government itself. Since political science is based on an assumption that people behave rationally, and since Wallas suggested that people in reality are not rational, he asked a question whether the form of representative government was indeed democratic. He claimed that the problem could be solved if people were more educated, thus casting more educated votes. Wallas also believed that government should be comprised of specially trained persons who would make their choices based on the latest scientific discoveries in the fields of both the natural and social sciences.

Wallas also claimed that because modern societies were becoming increasingly complex, a shift in thinking was needed from individualism to collectivism. Collectivism needed to become a principle of every organization. Collectivism, together with education of the individual mind, according to Wallas, would inevitably lead to a "good" society.

By the end of his career, Wallas turned toward the study of creative thinking. His famous model of thought contains four stages for creative thinking:

Preparation (an individual assesses his desire, creatively using appropriate tools from the appropriate field of study)
Incubation (an individual disengages from the creative process; Wallas believed that detachment from the creative objective, i.e. "taking a break", stimulates thought)
Illumination (the discovery of the idea; according to Wallas, illumination is characterized by the sudden realization of the idea - "Eureka!")
Verification (the successful application of the idea).

Legacy

Wallas work provided useful counterbalance to rationalist utilitarianism. His advocacy of the use of psychology in political science, as well as the need for the study of human beings, contributed toward development of an empirical approach to the study of human behavior. As a member of the inner circle of Fabian Society, he molded not only Fabian socialist taught, but also influenced general British worldview of the early 20th century.

Wallas’s pioneering work on creative thinking paved path for further research on human creativity.

Publications

Wallas, Graham. 1889. Property under Socialism. In Shaw, Bernard, Sidney Webb, et al. Socialism; the Fabian essays. Boston: C.E. Brown. 1894
Wallas, Graham. 1896. What to Read: A List of Books for Social Reformers. Fabian tract, no. 29. London: Fabian Society.
Wallas, Graham. 1914. The Great Society: A Psychological Analysis. New York: Macmillan Co
Wallas, Graham. 1926. The Art of Thought. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company
Wallas, Graham. 1930. Physical and Social Science. London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd.
Wallas, Graham. 1981 (original published in 1908). Human Nature in Politics. New Brunswick: Transaction Books. ISBN 0878554300
Wallas, Graham. 1989 (original published in 1921). Our Social Heritage. Ayer Co Pub. ISBN 0836967534
Wallas, Graham. 2004 (original published in 1898). The Life of Francis Place, 1771-1854. (Dissertation). Kessinger Publishing, LLC. ISBN 1417944307
Wallas, Graham, and May Wallas (ed.). 1940. Men and Ideas: Essays by Graham Wallas. London: G. Allen & Unwin, ltd.
Wallas, Graham, Schulze-Gaevernitz, G. von, and C. M. Wicksteed. 1893. Social Peace: A Study of the Trade Union Movement in England. London: S. Sonnenschein & Co.

Reference

Becker, Erica. 2003. How Can I Know What I Think Till I See What I Say? Graham Wallas, 1858-1932. Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN 0740735519
Bevir, Mark. 1997. Graham Wallas Today. The Political Quarterly. 68(3), 284.
Qualter, Terence H. 1980. Graham Wallas and the Great Society. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0312342136
Schweitzer, Frederick M. 1972. Two Fabians in action: the contributions of Graham Wallas and Sidney Webb to English public education, 1885-1910. Thesis. Columbia University.
Wallas Family Papers. Janus Library Collection on <http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=Webpages/Public>. Retrieved on September 5, 2007 from <http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F2911%2FPP+Wallas>
Wiener, Martin J. 1971. Between two worlds: The political thought of Graham Wallas. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0198271808

External link

Fabian Society – On the history of the Society
Graham Wallas – Biography on Answers.com
Graham Wallas – Biography on BookRags.com
Graham Wallas – Biography on London School of Economics website
Graham Wallas – Biography on Spartacus
Graham Wallas' model in “The Art of Thought” - Notes from "Unleashing the Right Side of the Brain by Robert Williams and John Stockmyer
Human Nature in Politics – Wallas’s work at Project Gutenberg

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

Graham_Wallas ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

History of "Graham Wallas"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 [[Image:Graham Wallas.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Graham Wallas]]
-'''Graham Wallas''' (May 31, 1858 - August 9, 1932) was an [[England|English]] [[Socialism|socialist]], [[social psychology|social psychologist]], [[education|educator]], and one of the leaders of the [[Fabian Society]]. He is remembered for his contribution to the development of [[political science]] and the psychology of politics, and his pioneering work on human [[creativity]].
+'''Graham Wallas''' (May 31, 1858 - August 9, 1932) was an [[England|English]] [[Socialism|socialist]], [[social psychology|social psychologist]], [[education|educator]], and one of the leaders of the [[Fabian Society]]. He is remembered for his contribution to the development of [[political science]], the psychology of politics, and his pioneering work on human [[creativity]]. He reasoned that people do not always behave in a rational, calculated way, and that Politicians should, in order to handle these people properly, study [[psychology]]. Wallas was also a professor at the LSE institute of [[Political Science]] and lectured in prestigious universities such as [[Harvard University]].
 ==Life==
-'''Graham Wallas''' was born in Monkwearmouth, Sunderland, [[England]], the son of Gilbert Innes Wallas, a local minister, and his wife Frances Talbot Peacock. He received a strict religious upbringing, studying later at Shrewsbury School and [[Corpus Christi College]], [[Oxford University|Oxford]] (1877–81). He obtained a second class in Literae Humaniores in 1881. It was at Oxford that Wallas abandoned [[religion]] and converted to [[rationalism]].
+'''Graham Wallas''' was born in Monkwearmouth, Sunderland, [[England]], the son of Gilbert Innes Wallas, a local minister, and his wife Frances Talbot Peacock. He received a strict religious upbringing, studying later at Shrewsbury School and [[Corpus Christi College]], [[Oxford University|Oxford]] (1877–81). He obtained a second class in Literate Humaniores in 1881. It was at Oxford that Wallas abandoned [[religion]] and converted to [[rationalism]].
 Following his studies, Wallas pursued career in teaching. He held a post at [[Highgate School]] until 1890, when he resigned in protest to the requirement of the school to receive [[Eucharist|communion]].
@@ Line 31: / Line 32: @@
 Wallas believed that by introducing [[psychology]] into [[political science]]s, the way would also open for the study of the government itself. Since political science is based on an assumption that people behave rationally, and since Wallas suggested that people in reality are not rational, he asked a question whether the form of representative government was indeed [[democracy|democratic]]. He claimed that the problem could be solved if people were more [[education|educated]], thus casting more educated votes. Wallas also believed that government should be comprised of specially trained persons who would make their choices based on the latest [[science|scientific]] discoveries in the fields of both the [[natural science|natural]] and [[social science]]s.
 Wallas also claimed that because modern societies were becoming increasingly complex, a shift in thinking was needed from [[individualism]] to [[collectivism]]. Collectivism needed to become a principle of every organization. Collectivism, together with education of the individual mind, according to Wallas, would inevitably lead to a "good" society.