Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/408

 388 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

Part III. Domestic Institutions.

Part IV. Ceremonial Institutions.

Part V. Political Institutions.

Part VI. Ecclesiastical Institutions.

Part VII. Professional Institutions.

Part VIII. Industrial Institutions.

(Cf. De Greef's groups in the chart, p. 139.)

In the above groups, Mr. Spencer supposes himself to have included, in form, all the essential evidence about human reactions. This is the evidence out of which sociological formulas must be constructed. Whether Spencer worked inductively is not worth inquiring at this point. At all events he concludes, whether before or after hearing the evidence we will not ask, that the same general law of evolution which he finds in the sphere of physics and biology persists in human associ- ation.

This general formula of evolution is in the now famous proposi- tion :

^'■Evolution is an integration of matter and concomitant dissipation of motion; during which the matter passes from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity ; and during which the retained motion undergoes a parallel transformation." {First Principles,

§ I45-)

Mr. Spencer believes that the variations in types of correlation among human beings are in accordance with this formula. The kinds of evidence classified in above groups, or completing such a schedule as that of De Greef, must test the belief. Mr. Spencer's fundamental organization of the evidence is contained in part in The Principles of Sociology, Vol. I, Part II, entitled, " The Inductions of Sociology." Whether we attach great value to these inductions or not, they at least serve to illustrate the perception that there are general forms of relation- ship between persons which other researches have dealt with in par- ticular manifestations ; which, however, have never been thoroughly examined, either analytically or comparatively. These inductions are scheduled under the titles :

I. What is a Society ? II. A Society is an Organism.

III. Social Growth.

IV. Social Structures. V. Social Functions.

VI. Systems of Organs.