202 CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY:A JOURNAL OF REVIEWS be cynical,amused,or altogether unconcerned to public assessment of the diplomatic ser- with anything meaningful.Perhaps not all the vice.For obvious reasons of self-interest the tourists on this bus are pilgrims;some might diplomats tried to fill the vacuum with the be residents and indeed sociologists watching well-tooled image of a gentleman generalist, the watchers. while the consular service pressed for self- Overall MacCannell's book deserves praise. definition and career advancement by tech- It is perceptive rather than pedantic,ironic nical knowledge and skills.It was something (perhaps?)yet a serious commentary.Both of a miracle that the reformers finally did his literary style and theoretical sophistication marry the two services,although the under- are genuine contributions s to sociological lying divergencies in professional perspectives scholarship. remain to this day. Schulzinger tells his story well,but seems unable to break out of the aconceptual nar- The Making of the Diplomatic Mind:The rative exposition characterizing most diplo- Training,Outlook,and Style of United matic history.For the student of professions States Foreign Service Officers,1908-1931, the chief merit of this book is the solid raw by RoBERT D.SCHUI ZINGER.Middletown, material which it provides for sociological Conn.:Wesleyan University Press,1975. analysis.The text occasionally rises to con- 237pp.$15.00 cloth. ceptualization,but for the most part it simply recounts actors,transactions,and the flow of DONALD P.WARWICK events.Nevertheless,I would place it on my Harvard University own short list for the sociology of diplomacy, along with The Professional Diplomat by Though diplomacy is an old profession,and John Ensor Harr and Professional Diplomacy has often been called a subsidiary of the old- in the United States,1779-1939,by Warren est,it has received scant attention from the F.Ilchman sociology of professions.Partly this is because sociology has been remarkably innocent of foreign affairs,and partly because diplomacy Work and Welfare in Britain and the USA, barely meets the sociological specifications by BRUNO STEIN.New York:John Wiley for a profession.This short book (155 pages Sons,1976.112 pp.$10.95 cloth of text)traces the tortuous evolution of the US Foreign Service from the indolent frivolity MARIE WITHERS OSMOND and cookie-pushing of the nineteenth century Florida State University,Tallahassee to the serious careerism ushered in by the Rogers Act of 1924.It is largely the story of The welfare explosion of the 1960s gen- two nondescript and often warring occupa- erated considerable sociological interest tions,diplomats and consuls,trying to fuse which,however,has been expressed largely themselves,with the aid of Congress and in humanitarian and reformist rhetoric.Stein's business interests,into a coherent career comparative study of Britain and America is service. politically neutral and thus offers a much The prime obstacle confronting the pro- needed balance.Stein (an economist)ably fessionalizers,and one which still plagues the documents his major thesis that income main- Foreign Service,is a profound ambiguity tenance policies should not,and indeed can- about diplomacy.The Foreign Service "dif- not,be viewed as separate from a nation's fered from other,more rigorous professions labor resources and employment policies.The in its lack of a persuasive social and intel- results of a one-year (1972-3)study of lectual domain which excluded outsiders from British policies are the focal point of the Foreign Service work"(p.8).Unlike medi- book.These are supplemented with a wealth cine,architecture,and law,it had no single of historical and current information on the body of knowledge to be mastered,no sharply welfare systems of both countries. formulated objectives,and no explicit meth- The author acknowledges that he had ex- ods of procedure,save in the more mechanical pected to find a better developed linkage domains of consular work.The resulting un- between labor and income maintenance poli- certainty spilled over to recruitment,training, cies in Britain than in the USA.His study informal professional socialization,perfor- revealed that,especially for the "hard to em- mance evaluation,and promotion,as well as ploy"population,labor programs are poorly This content downloaded from 130.237.29.138 on Mon,14 Dec 2015 06:46:11 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions202 CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY: A JOURNAL OF REVIEWS be cynical, amused, or altogether unconcerned with anything meaningful. Perhaps not all the tourists on this bus are pilgrims; some might be residents and indeed sociologists watching the watchers. Overall MacCannell's book deserves praise. It is perceptive rather than pedantic, ironic (perhaps?) yet a serious commentary. Both his literary style and theoretical sophistication are genuine contributions to sociological scholarship. The Making of the Diplomatic Mind: The Training, Outlook, and Style of United States Foreign Service Officers, 1908-1931, by ROBERT D. SCHUI ZINGER. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1975. 237 pp. $15.00 cloth. DONALD P. WARWICK Harvard University Though diplomacy is an old profession, and has often been called a subsidiary of the old￾est, it has received scant attention from the sociology of professions. Partly this is because sociology has been remarkably innocent of foreign affairs, and partly because diplomacy barely meets the sociological specifications for a profession. This short book (155 pages of text) traces the tortuous evolution of the US Foreign Service from the indolent frivolity and cookie-pushing of the nineteenth century to the serious careerism ushered in by the Rogers Act of 1924. It is largely the story of two nondescript and often warring occupa￾tions, diplomats and consuls, trying to fuse themselves, with the aid of Congress and business interests, into a coherent career service. The prime obstacle confronting the pro￾fessionalizers, and one which still plagues the Foreign Service, is a profound ambiguity about diplomacy. The Foreign Service "dif￾fered from other, more rigorous professions in its lack of a persuasive social and intel￾lectual domain which excluded outsiders from Foreign Service work" (p. 8). Unlike medi￾cine, architecture, and law, it had no single body of knowledge to be mastered, no sharply formulated objectives, and no explicit meth￾ods of procedure, save in the more mechanical domains of consular work. The resulting un￾certainty spilled over to recruitment, training, informal professional socialization, perfor￾mance evaluation, and promotion, as well as to public assessment of the diplomatic ser￾vice. For obvious reasons of self-interest the diplomats tried to fill the vacuum with the well-tooled image of a gentleman generalist, while the consular service pressed for self￾definition and career advancement by tech￾nical knowledge and skills. It was something of a miracle that the reformers finally did marry the two services, although the under￾lying divergencies in professional perspectives remain to this day. Schulzinger tells his story well, but seems unable to break out of the aconceptual nar￾rative exposition characterizing most diplo￾matic history. For the student of professions the chief merit of this book is the solid raw material which it provides for sociological analysis. The text occasionally rises to con￾ceptualization, but for the most part it simply recounts actors, transactions, and the flow of events. Nevertheless, I would place it on my own short list for the sociology of diplomacy, along with The Professional Diplomat by John Ensor Harr and Professional Diplomacy in the United States, 1779-1939, by Warren F. Ilchman. Work and Welfare in Britain and the USA, by BRUNO STEIN. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1976. 112 pp. $10.95 cloth. MARIE WITHERS OSMOND Florida State University, Tallahassee The welfare explosion of the 1 960s gen￾erated considerable sociological interest which, however, has been expressed largely in humanitarian and reformist rhetoric. Stein's comparative study of Britain and America is politically neutral and thus offers a much needed balance. Stein (an economist) ably documents his major thesis that income main￾tenance policies should not, and indeed can￾not, be viewed as separate from a nation's labor resources and employment policies. The results of a one-year (1972-3) study of British policies are the focal point of the book. These are supplemented with a wealth of historical and current information on the welfare systems of both countries. The author acknowledges that he had ex￾pected to find a better developed linkage between labor and income maintenance poli￾cies in Britain than in the USA. His study revealed that, especially for the "hard to em￾ploy" population, labor programs are poorly This content downloaded from 130.237.29.138 on Mon, 14 Dec 2015 06:46:11 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions