Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/256

 242 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

valve, of the pendulum, etc. It is really one principle and underlies the working of every mechanism. But the result is not a loss but a gain; not a diminution but an immense increase of the product of these forces. Such mechanisms are of course the work of intelligent design on the part of man, but the same is true of the purely genetic mechanisms of natural evolution. A plant or an animal is a mechanism in this sense. It is an organic structure and represents a large amount of stored energy. It is a device for bringing a certain class of forces into equilib- rium in order to increase the amount of work that can be accom- plished with the same expenditure of energy. The social struc- tures rest on the same principle. Man accomplishes more in society than out of it. The various organized groups produce more than the same individuals could produce if unorganized. Kverv institution increases the power of society to do work.

The work which any mechanism, whether physical, organic, or social, normally performs constitutes its fu?iction. If it is that which the mechanism was intended or adapted to do it belongs to this class. The function of a cotton mill is to make cotton goods, that of a grist-mill to make flour, etc. The function of a leaf is to transpire, that of an anther to fertilize, that of a pistil to develop seed. In animals the function of legs is to run, of wings to fly, of jaws to bite, of the stomach to digest. The function of an entire individual organism may be said to be that of protecting, nourishing, and preserving itself. That of a sexual pair or group is to reproduce its kind and continue the race. Rising to social structures we find that each has likewise its function the particular work that it was created to per- form. Society itself is organized for the protection at least of its members. Every voluntary association exists for a particular purpose which is its function. Government and the state exist for the good of society. Its protection against anti-social influ- ences is their function. Religion and the church exist for the protection of society from assumed spiritual beings and to pro- pitiate them. From a highly philosophical point of view they have a far deeper and more recondite function, viz., that of