Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/616

 602 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

matter of social interaction and social co-ordination; for the activity of each member of a family group is co-ordinated in very definite and regular ways with the activity of all the other members of his group. Just as every co-ordination in the indi- vidual that persists is termed a habit, so every co-ordination that persists in a social group may be termed a social habit. In those large groups which we term peoples there is, of course, no objec- tion to calling these regular modes of social activity "folkways," as Professor Sumner does.

Of course, there are many other ways in which social co- ordinations express themselves objectively. As we have already repeatedly said, the whole matter of social organization is simply a matter of the types of social co-ordination that persist among the members of a g^ven group, that is, all the forms or modes of association are simply different objective expressions of social co-ordination. All of the objective regularities and uniformities in society, may, therefore, be looked at as so many objective ex- pressions of social co-ordination. A custom, for example, is but a social habit which has persisted long enough in a people to gain a certain prestige, while what we call institutions are but sanc- tioned forms of association, or of social co-ordination.

The analysis of the various types of social co-ordinations has, as yet, only just begun. It is evident, however, that the types of co-ordination between individuals are as complex as human nature itself, and that an analysis of society into its various types of social co-ordination would be practically equivalent to an analysis of social structure as a whole. All possible co-ordinations between individuals exist, and hence, an infinite variety in the forms of human association. The honor of beginning a serious study of the various types of social co-ordination, that is, of the forms of association, belongs to Professor Simmel, of the University of Berlin, but his analysis is very far from satisfying. What he has studied chiefly are the empty forms of association, that is, the forms themselves without definite content, such as equality, superiority, subordination, and the like. He omits, for example, such common forms of social co-ordination as are seen in the family such as husband and wife, parent and child. For a full