Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/447

 SOCIAL CONTROL. V.

RELIGION.

THE influencing of the will by rewards and punishments legal, social, and supernatural and by social suggestion has been described. We now pass on to that ascendency which soci- J ety gains by working on the feelings of its members.

In this form of social control the feelings of men toward^ objects or experiences are changed in direction or force. In order to lessen anti- social conduct the desire for the ends thereby gained is changed into indifference or aversion, or else interest in rival aims is stimulated. For example, a desolating greed leading to fraud and venality may be controlled by hold- ing riches up to contempt or by fostering interest in sports, scholarship, culture, or public affairs. In order to procure social conduct, indifference or repugnance to the implied ends is changed into liking, or the zest for competing aims is killed. For instance, patriotic sacrifices may be obtained by dwelling on the thrill of battle and the joy of victory, or by deprecia- ting the rewards of peace, such as domestic happiness, comfort, wealth, or fame.

Among the means for the orientation of the feelings of the* individual to the advantage of society, we shall first of all con- sider religion.

The reader is warned that the word is here used in a very restricted sense. Undoubtedly the main trunk of what is called "religion" is an evolution of beliefs taking their rise from ulti- mate questions respecting the nature and meaning of the world and of man, and calling up feelings of fear, wonder, reverence, dependence, gratitude, or love. These beliefs are by no means devoid of social value, 1 but their ethical yield is not such as to

1 Of the mystic Tarde says : " Lc sentiment illusoire ou non de cette co-posses- sion du moi par son non-moi intime, qu'il appelle son Dieu, et re'ciproquement, est la

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