Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/840

 824 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

fellow feeling already existing. Ideals, I shall sometime show, begin in the propitiation between man and man.

As natural promoters of altruism we may distinguish lan- 'guage, likeness, presence, companionship, imitation, play, social pleasure, mutual aid, community of interests and feelings, com- prehension and intelligence. Of these presence is not the least. There is no doubt that being together is essential to the natural development of interest in and love for others. Contact and dealings favor that power of putting one's self in another's place, that interpenetration of consciousnesses, which is the native soil of good conduct. Sociability is the forerunner of sociality. The enemy is the stranger, the friend is the house- mate, and kindness, as the word itself hints, is the feeling that grows up among kindred. Whatever be the pitch of self-devo- tion that may be reached by the prpud and lonely soul dwelling apart with its ideals, it is certain that early altruism was con- crete, and meant regard for known people, for intimates and fellows.

When the camp or village is the social unit the natural occa- sions of meeting suffice. But when the conditions of getting a living scatter people, or when one society includes many bands or settlements, the meetings will be too few to keep alive the flame of interest or regard. The sense of being knit up in a common life fades when paths lie too much apart. Differentia- tion sets in, local peculiarities spring up, and unlikeness, rather than likeness, prevails. In time estrangement supervenes and the society falls apart into its component clusters. It is to

I avoid this disintegration that institutions of assemblage are developed and maintained in the larger societies.

The value of assemblage in the way of social control is the sense of unity it is able to inspire. In mere contact there is no virtue, for contact is quite as apt to breed antagonism as liking. Nor is social intercourse the main thing. This presupposes lik- ing, and, moreover, cannot operate on so vast a scale as to bring a man into closer relations with some thousands of his fel-
 * lows. The efficacy of assemblage lies in this: that many indi-