Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/827

 SOCIAL ASSIMILATION 813

ambition, and breaks up the passive element and renders it plastic.

The dominant ideals in different societies determine the method that shall prevail and the resulting type of assimilation. The aristocratic ideal of loyalty to the king, unity of faith, and class authority results in the aristocratic type of assimilation, while the modern democratic ideal of universal brotherhood, equal opportunity, and realization of individuality gives rise to the democratic type. The aristocratic ideal is controlled by the distinctions of class and the power of position ; the democratic ideal considers the people irrespective of classes, and values the man more than the position. In the aristocratic type the coercive method of persecution prevails ; in the democratic type the attractive method of toleration reigns supreme. The main assimi- lating agent in the aristocratic type is religion. 1 In societies practicing this type of assimilation it is all-essential that religious opinion shall be the same throughout the group. It must form the bond of union between classes which otherwise have no common meeting-ground save that of loyalty, which is itself more than half a matter of religion. To " fear God and serve the king" is the whole duty of man, or at least should be, in these groups. In the democratic type, on the contrary, religion is practically of no use as an assimilating influence. Here the chief agent is education. The aristocratic type of assimilation, which discourages interclass assimilation and promotes dissimilation through class antagonisms, will never produce national unity. Only the democratic type, which fosters interclass assimilation and annihilates class distinctions, can produce a nation in the true sense of the word. Examples of the aristocratic type of assimi- lation are furnished by all ancient states, and modern Russia, Germany, and Austria, etc. Concerning the policy pursued by the last nation, Bluntschli quotes the answer given by the emperor to the French ambassador when asked concerning the matter. Said Francis II.:

1 " The key to the whole composition of this early society was its religion

Religion was the one conclusive motive and sanction of all social order in that early time as it continued to be for many centuries afterward ; and the heads of religion were, of course, the rulers of society." ( WILSON, The State, p. 36.)