Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/664

 648 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

say that this social self comes in time to consist of moods or sentiments, the generalizations of early concrete social experi- ences. Of course, the extent to which the social self develops must depend upon individual circumstances, and also upon the extent to which the society in which the child lives has developed. But its function in any case is to coerce the individual to act in harmony with social demands, as he understands them; if he does not, this social self will cause more or less serious disturb- ance. Failing to get itself realized, it will create tension, unrest, discontent. One can observe in his children how, as the years pass, the social demands, consolidated more or less completely into feelings of duty, gain ever greater control over primordial impulsions. Out of such experience, as I have indicated, arises very slowly the consciousness of ought or duty; conscience and ethical sentiment grow right out of the child's experiments in social adaptation in his daily life.

What we must strive to accomplish in education, then, is to give the pupil opportunity to get into his consciousness as models or guides many persons who embody in their conduct the highest social ideals. His social self, with its motivations of duty and conscience, will be constructed from the personal copies that are set before him. It should be added that vital, give-and-take rela- tions with persons are essential in order that their characteristics may be apprehended, and that they may be accepted as models. One's hero determines his conduct very largely. Good literature comes next to concrete personality in its influence upon conduct ; it is in a way a substitute for actual social situations. The drama, too, is powerful for good or ill in social training. The question as to whether children should see evil characters exploited on the stage is too complex to be answered categorically ; but in general it may be said that one is benefited if on beholding such types his antagonism toward them is aroused and sustained ; while he will be injured if he approves of their conduct. It should be remem- bered that for the most part evil in modern life represents actions once universally practiced and passed on to the young as instinc- tive tendencies, and it is therefore easy to drop back into them. This it is that makes evil persons so dangerous to youth.