Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/83

 SOCIAL CONTROL 69

In short, two series of ideas and their correlative feelings are completely blended. Moral excellence is made akin to every other form of excellence. Conformity to the principles of asso- ciate life is purity, straightness, whiteness, sweetness, clearness, life, health; while nonconformity is filth, stain, blemish, deformity, disease, decay. By causing the unsocial to appear first as sin, or that which is offensive to God, and then as defile- ment, or that which is offensive to man, society exploits first man's reverence and then his fastidiousness.

(d) By exploiting the sense of the sublime. In many the first straying from the ego is not toward fellowship, but toward the vast. Not sympathy, but thirst for largeness, carries them out of themselves. They sicken of self-seeking because individual aims seem petty, and so crave, like Faust, to lay hold on the per- manent. Art now turns this to social account. She weans away men still zestful for life by harping on its brevity, frailty, feeble- ness. By skillful selection and fitting imagery the artist is able to impress with the triviality of life and the insignificance of the individual lot. The consequent quest for a fit aim of endeavor is directed to social advantage by dwelling on the vastness, might, and permanence of society, the nation, or the race. Only the group is worth striving for ; it alone can give eternity to one's name or work.

Occasionally one reminds us that society is nothing but peo- ple, and if the individual joy or pain be held trivial corporate aims are stricken with a like blight. But such a voice is a jar- ring note in the chorus. Art leads us into society, and there causes us to repose and rest satisfied. The collective life is magnified till it fascinates with its spaciousness, glorified till it dazzles with its splendor. Thus the stream of dependence and awe that naturally sets out toward the universe is skillfully turned aside and caused to make fruitful the social garden. In a century of Gotterddmmerung like ours this apotheosis of society is especially marked.

(e) By perfecting social symbols. The grand permanent needs of man get provided for in the ordinary flow of social life. But