Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/555

 SOCIAL GENESIS 541

of an inferior one and utterly eradicates it does not enslave it and allow it to lead a life of subjugation, much less, as is the more frequent case, partially commingle with it and ultimately absorb it, but destroys it root and branch so that it utterly ceases to exist. This is the method of nature in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and thus is organic evolution brought about. At least such is the tendency and frequent result, but of course the competitors are often so nearly balanced in this monopolistic power that they coexist for long periods or indefinitely.

The expressions natural selection and survival of the fittest give only the positive side of this general law. There is a nega- tive side which brings out the nature of the law even more clearly. Selection implies rejection, and survival suggests extinc- tion. It may be looked at as a process of elimination. The sur- vival of the fit means the failure of the unfit. The selection of the strong is the destruction of the weak. The rejected vastly outnumber the selected. Throughout nature this is the law, and the result is, or has thus far chiefly been, progressive develop- ment or structural perfectionment. Up to a certain point this law must have operated on man as on the animal ; the only men with whom we are now acquainted have gone beyond it, or at least greatly reduced its effects.

As already stated, sociology has nothing to do with struc- tural changes in man, and social development consists in modify- ing the environment. But even here the law of natural evolu- tion may and does apply. Monopolistic tendencies are apparent in all social operations. They assume a great variety of forms. The self-aggrandizement of rulers is one of those forms. One of the principal mistakes of the social philosophy under discus- sion, and one still largely prevalent, is that of assuming that the desire to rule differs in some generic way from other desires, that it is not natural, and does not belong to the class of natural laws. It certainly admits of no such distinction, and must be reckoned with along with other monopolistic tendencies. And it cannot be doubted that the efforts put forth to satisfy this desire have resulted in some of the most effective steps in social evolu-