Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 1.djvu/535

Rh been sifted out, slain by violence, or self-rejected by celibacy. To affirm it, in face of the fact that the growing complexity of the social organization is always making new demands on human nature, is to assert that selection can achieve perfect adaptation of a species to the requirements of a changing environment!

So lies the presumption. But the facts point the same way. Look at the countless clashings between the members of the group. Mark the cases of interference between the desires of the individual and the plain welfare of the community. Note the struggles everywhere going on between law-breakers and the agents of the public. See how complex is the political machinery that must be set up in order to get common interests attended to without betraying society into the hands of rascals. Fathom the flood of blame, invective, appeal, exhortation, command that must be poured forth, in order to stir laggards and self-seekers to social action. Observe these signs of social distrust of the individual, and tell us if all that is needed to socialize men is to give them more light as to their personal interest!

Some there are who admit the existence of unsocial men, but maintain that they are only a handful, and that the mass of the population respond of their own accord to the requirements of social life. The apparatus of control, therefore, while needful to protect the group against the few evil-disposed, does not send its influence very deeply into the life of the community, and is not one of the great systems of social organs. It will be found that those who take this view, understand by "control," merely those restraints imposed by law and public sentiment. Their social units they endow with religious beliefs, moral distinctions, a full-fledged ethical code, a sense of honor and self-respect, various ideals and valuations of conduct, and Heaven knows what besides—all of which, far from being instinctive, are products of education, and by their presence give signal proof that the more delicate devices of control have done their work so well that the cruder and more vigorous machinery need not be put into motion. Rash indeed, would be the man, who, if required to dispense, not only with law and usage, but with all