Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/138

 124 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

The Psychology of Social Progress. Between psychology and sociology there is no line to he drawn. The latter science is based upon psychological analysis. In considering psychological conceptions we are considering the bases of sociological science, and those conceptions themselves can only be really understood in connection with social relations. Man is distinguished from the lower animals by his capacity for progressive wants. This capacity for always discovering new wants is a necessary condition of human ] What is the psychological explanation for the excep-

tional cases of people who arc absolutely free from the stimulus of progressive desires ? The stream of consciousness in the individual life is a current always directed towards some end. Man, having no sufficient instincts for the purpose, must achieve his ends by way of consciously devised means. Any object of striving having once been an end in the subordinate sense of being a means is henceforward capable of becoming an end in the principal sense. Any one of the steps may achieve an independent interest and become desired for itself. What instinct does for the lower animals habit tends to do for man. In proportion as the means by which ends are reached become easy and familiar it tends to become habitual and unconscious. There is immense gain if, after we have developed higher interests, we can relegate lower ones to automatic action. But the danger is that the mind should never have broken through the primitive cycle, or should have been allowed to become auto- matic at a low level. Mental struggle, then, is the first law of progress. If any individual or class is cut off from this struggle they are cut off from the possi- bility of developing higher interests. Every new perception alters the whole group of ideas into which it is received. This has for result: (i) that nothing of a totally new nature can be received into the mind ; and (2) what the mind sees depends upon what it already is. This seems to tend against the possibility of any state of society in which the individuals shall have the same views, interests, and mental experiences. Yet we do have similar views. This is due mainly to two facts: (a) that certain fundamental characteristics of affection and gregariousness form a common basis upon which all individual life is erected ; (b) that we are rational beings, and therefore share in a common mental organization which is reflected into our social organization. All purposive, rational thought and action is guided by noetic synthesis ; all automatic action by association alone. The higher the type of mind the more complex and complete will be its organization according to interests and purposes. A system of rewards and punishments, therefore, will develop only a quite commonplace type of character. Some interest and purpose must be introduced to develop character. We no longer need to teach self-abnegation, but the enlarging of the self, the finding it in wider interests. At this point psychology merges into soci- ology. What is needed in social as in individual life is the introduction of organizing and not disintegrating ideas. HELEN BOSANQUET, International Journal of Ethics, April 1897. Fr.

The Evolution of Domestic Service. In antiquity servants were slaves ; in the Middle Ages, serfs. Servitude, though contrary to human dignity, had great advan- tages over the present condition, since it assured food and lodging in sickness and old age. Now servants, unable to count on gratitude from those they serve, judge that faithfulness and patience are folly. They are further degraded by being required to renounce their individuality. A model servant must be an admirable machine, working noiselessly and impassively at a sign. The servants' position is precarious, but isolation has prevented their union. No law of importance protects domestics. Some charitable associations place and supervise maids, but a trade union should take the place of such narrow though sincere efforts. In England this social work has begun. A league of women's trades unions, founded in 1874, tries to group women workers who cannot enter men's unions. There is also a syndicate of domestic servants which publishes the Domestic Servants" Gazette. Its objects are to protect servants' certificates against unjust masters, to limit hours of work, especially for servants under eighteen, to make employers responsible for accidents not caused by negligence, to found employ- ment offices and servants' homes. What will be the results of such unions ? Servants will develop a new sense of their dignity and rights. They will cease to be servants,