Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/23

 A SOCIOLOGICAL VIEW OF SOVEREIGNTY 9

Perfect partnership would be that relationship wherein the wishes of each and every member agree in every resi)ect with the executed will of the whole. This also seldom, if ever, occurs. Majority rule is usually the nearest approach. In perfect partner- ship each individual would have a veto on all the others, and con- sequently there could be no unity of the institution except with such mutual concessions as would unite them all on a single course of action." In so far as this ideal of perfect partnership is approached, it follows that mutual concessions must be brought about by mutual persuasion. Motives of all kinds are appealed to, and especially the motives dependent upon the common beliefs and desires peculiar to the institution. In the church it is the common faith to which appeal is made ; in the family it is parental and sexual love ; in industry it is self-interest and love of work ; in the state it is patriotism ; in the political party it is class-interest. To the extent that mastery supersedes partner- ship, coercion takes the place of persuasion. The veto is taken away from certain members, who thereby become subordinate, and united action is brought about, not solely through appeals to their beliefs and desires, but also through suppression of the same.

The foregoing shows briefly the threefold relation of the institution to the individual ; first, as his teacher, shaping his character through education and persuasion in the form of beliefs ; second, as his fellow-worker, fashioning nature into material products to satisfy these beliefs ; third, as his arbiter, assigning his place in the social organization. Each institution is thus an organic union of beliefs, material products, and organization. This analysis will reappear in the following chapters, and will be amplified and illustrated.

CHAPTER III.

PRIVATE PROPERTY.

Comparing the use of force by human beings with that by animals, there are the following points of difference : The

■ This was the arrangement in the Iroquois Confederacy and among American Indians generally; consequently military enterprises had to be undertaken usually under private initiative.