Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/819

 SOCIAL ASSIMILATION 805

inferior element is far enough below the superior in social devel- opment, it is possible that the conquering minority may be reduced to one man. Instance Bastian's testimony to the influ- ence of one white man upon a whole savage community. The manner of life and personal habits of the tribe were greatly modified through his advent. 1 Novicow asserts that if an Englishman establishes himself in Spain, Spanish society in his vicinity will ascend the ladder of progress, because the stranger brings an activity superior to that of the natives. 2 The state- ment that the higher culture tends to prevail over the lower often holds good in cases where the higher culture is possessed by the conquered people. The Romans were partially Hellenized in the eastern part of their empire, and the triumphant Germans, in the barbarian conquest of Rome, were finally Romanized in what were once Roman provinces. Again, it is true that the nearer the planes of culture, the greater will be the interaction. When two races of about the same culture stage come in contact, characteristic traits of each will persist. There often results, therefore, instead of an imposition of the civilization of the con- querors upon the conquered, such a reciprocal action, such a modification of institutions and habits, in a word, such a fusion, that a new type, quite distinct from either of its component ele- ments, arises. Perhaps one of the best examples of this reaction is seen in the Norman conquest of England and the resulting English type of culture. When the elements involved have approximately the same civilization, the language used after the conquest often shows how keen the struggle for predominance has been. If adjustment cannot be made immediately, a com- mon meeting-ground is given through the use of a neutral tongue. Thus in Hungary, where there has been such a struggle of tongues, Latin was the language of administration up to 1849. In the second place, the interaction between the elements

1 " Dr. Petzoldt .... cites Bastian's testimony that even one short visit (to cer- tain inner African tribes) from a white man is often enough to destroy the peculiarity of type. ' New tendencies are introduced and the stability is immediately diminished, though only to progress gradually to a newer higher form.' " (WILLIAMS, A Review of Evolutional Ethics, p. 430.)


 * Les Luttes entre Societes humaines, p. 565.