sociology

The Sociology of Life Insurance
by S.S. Huebner (C) 1928

Here’s what I love about the books I collect and put online. The books themselves aren’t historically valuable. Maybe I paid $30 on ebay. But the content – this is very interesting stuff that gives us a snapshot into the mundane details of our lives 100+ years ago. This book is a perfect example of that. Exhaustive details on the sociology of life insurance. I’ve been in the insurance business for almost 25 years and I don’t recall seeing this level of information about this area of the business, ever.

This book is a great example of the myriad of things that have changed so drastically over the last century – AND the myriad of things that haven’t changed at all in well over 100 years. The chapter on women’s status actually sounds like something you would’ve read in the 1950’s, not the early 1900’s. It talks about how much progress women have made, and how a women’s place is no longer in the kitchen (hey, it’s what the book says!). That’s changed dramatically of course. But discussions on the increasing duration of human life? Still happening today.