Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 1.djvu/69

 Rh industrial democracy,—and Christian socialism emphasizes primarily a method,—social or industrial coöperation.

But socialism and Christian socialism are not opposites: the antithesis of both is found in individualism, which differs from the former in its ideal both of method and of status. Competition is the basal principle of individualism as a coöperation is of Christian socialism; private production and distribution is the ideal status of the former as industrial and social democracy is of the latter. It is evident that a circumstantial conception of an ideal status would be much more difficult to formulate than a similarly concrete conception of an ideal procedure. Hence the ideals of Christian socialism are less liable to criticism than the usual socialistic ideals. At the same time it is evident that a theoretic status may be less liable to specific criticisms than an ideal social procedure, for the former may be conceived out of immediate connection with the existing order and yet not be vitiated by logical contradictions. It is not to be assumed that the present order has called forth all human capabilities or developed in true proportion all human motives. A proposed social procedure on the other hand must offer points of connection with present order and in its details must make ample provision for continuity of social evolution. Hence an ideal status is theoretically less liable to criticism than an ideal procedure, yet when rendered concrete the opposite is true, and in each case the liability to error is proportionate to concreteness.

The original school of English Christian socialism was distinctly a coöperative movement. Its origin was partly due to the Owensite movement, from which it differed as to means rather than as to principle or ideal. The friends of this movement distinctly announced that "any one who recognizes the principle of coöperation as a stronger and truer principle than that of competition has a right to the honor or the disgrace of being called a socialist." This expressed their conception of socialism. The Christian Socialist stated its object as follows: "to diffuse the principle of cooperation by the practical application of Christianity