Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/81

 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY 69

roundings has the same importance as that of the internal composition of that group. In fact, outside of the internal con- ditions and organization of each group, the frontier is as much determined by the physical or geographical conditions, perma- nent or transitory, as by the neighboring social groups, the con- ditions of the composition and organization of which enter equally into the establishment of a boundary at the point of equilibrium. That frontier line resulting from an equilibrium of the social forces common to each group may differ because of the various social forces in the group. Thus some societies have a military frontier very plainly marked ; some have economic fron- tiers for that reason, already less determined; some have reli- gious and scientific frontiers which are still farther from the point of being transformed into continuous lines of communication.

Military frontiers are essentially simple; they indicate the value and the equilibrium of the values between social groups in the most brutal and rude manner. However, they are only the result, the expression, of this reciprocal value. What proves this is that they are perpetually unstable. In the most advanced societies, the phenomena, although more complex, are neverthe- less the same as those which we have observed in rudimentary societies. If the limits between these societies limits always provisional, but which have been maintained up to a certain moment in a relation of peaceful equilibrium are exceeded, either because of an excess of population or because of a lack of food which can be produced, this will be under a form of war or a form of peace. In reality, the result will be the same; the process will be only superficially different. I do not see, in fact, any essential difference between the conquest of a country by force of arms and its economic subordination; for example, by a foreign agreement, either of trade or production, the eco- nomic conquest usually leads to political vassalage in the end. Portugal, since the treaty of Methuen, is a remarkable historical example among many others.

The complex phenomena of our time are only the amplifica- tion of the more simple phenomena observed in the case of prim- itive peoples. Thus "among the Khonds," according to Me-