Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/79

 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY 67

Bushmen, Fuegians, Andamenes, etc., etc. are little extended, .-UK I their density is small relative to their territory. In the case of hunting peoples, living upon a barren soil, with a scarcity of game, the extent of the territory necessary for the group will necessarily be greater relative to the population than that which is necessary to a population occupying territory where the game is abundant. At least in the latter the population will be more numerous relative to the size of the territory. Take, then, a group in contact with another group which lives in less favorable conditions; the stronger will naturally tend to drive out, or to domineer over, the weaker, especially if the stronger possess, at a given moment, a surplus of population. However, other fac- tors equally social may, under certain circumstances, incline the balance in favor of the group numerically less dense and economi- cally less developed. This is what happens, for example, among certain primitive peoples, where the natural fertility of the soil has created idleness and indolence, and even in highly developed civilization where there is great social inequality and where, as a result, the social bond is very weak. Here again and the historical examples are abundant as well in antiquity as in modern times we see that the capacity for the extension of a group depends upon its composition and its intimate organiza- tion in connection with the exterior groups. The economic factor remains none the less the essential social factor of this equilibration.

Thus, as we come to see it the limit of each social group, at least primitive groups, is a function of population of the habitat, on the one hand, and, in a general way, of the economic condi- tions which from the very first result from the combination of population and habitat; and, on the other hand, of the milieu exterior, to the milieu of the group itself, both physical and social. It goes without saying that between two groups, the social intercourse, conflicts, or differences are the most intense in the frontier regions. There are the sensitive points of each group, in those parts which form the connection with the outside world; there attention is centered continually; there the force of the group is directed for attack, for defense, for protection,