Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/231

 THE NATURE OF THE SOCIAL UNITY 219

relation to the mental process as a whole. The essential character- istic of the psychic unity is that it does have this self-reference, that its processes belong to a conscious individual and derive their meaning from their relation to the mental unity of indi- vidual experience.

The writers of what is here designated as the psychological school of sociologists find the unity of society in some psycho- logical process. I do not include in this group psychologists who take into consideration the fact that individual consciousness is socially conditioned, or sociologists who seek to explain social phenomena by a more adequate analysis of individual psychic processes, but only those writers who expressly or by implication hold that the social unity is a psychic unity. Among such writers may be mentioned Le Bon, Giddings, Vincent, and Elwood. While these writers hold in many respects widely differing views, they are here placed together because they agree in finding the unity of society on the psychic side.

The theory that society is a psychic unity seems to arise out of a confusion of various possible meanings of the term "social consciousness," and so before presenting it for criticism it will be best to analyze this term. In this analysis I follow Dr. Dewey. 8

By " social consciousness " may be meant a single conscious process corresponding on the subjective side to the whole objective social process. This conception would imply a social ego, a social sensorium, a social over-soul, an omniscient social individual.

A second view is that social consciousness is just the common objective content of consciousness of the various individuals in a social group. In a given situation a number of individuals may think about the same thing, may reach similar conclusions, and may experience similar feelings.

Again, the term " social consciousness " may be used to denote a oneness of interest or purpose. The conscious experience of two individuals may differ in certain ways, and this very differ- ence may enable them to work together in such a way as to realize

'Unpublished lectures, autumn of 1902.