Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/170

 THE NUMBER OF MEMBERS AS DETERMINING THE SOCIOLOGICAL FORM OF THE GROUP. II.

MERELY another variation of the same fundamental socio- logical constellation may be expressed in the observation that relationships of twos, composition of a whole out of only two participants, must presuppose a higher degree of individualization on the part of each of these than, caeteris paribus, in the case of combinations of many elements. In the present instance the essential factor is that in a combination of two there is no majority which can override the individual, and that occasion for such a majority is given so soon as a single unit is added. Relationships, however, in which the domination of an individual by a majority is possible, not merely depress the individuality, but, so far as they are voluntary, they will not be readily entered upon by very decided individualities. In this connection, never- theless, we must distinguish two frequently interchanged con- cepts ; namely, the decided and the strong individuality. There are persons and collective structures of the extremest individual- ization that, however, have not the energy to protect this peculiarity against suppressions or leveling forces. On the con- trary, the strong personality may confirm its formation in reac- tion with these very contrasts, in struggle for its peculiarity, and in opposition to all temptations to smoothing and mixture. The former, the merely qualitative individuality, will shun unions in which it finds itself in antithesis with an eventual majority ; it is, on the contrary, as it were, predestined to the manifold unions in pairs, because, by reason of its differentiation, as well as its susceptibility to attack, reinforcement by another is its indicated recourse. The other type, the more intensive individuality, rather courts, on the other hand, the opposition of others against whose quantitative excess it can preserve its dynamic superiority. Technical grounds, so to speak, will justify this preference : the triple consulate of Napoleon was decidedly more convenient for him than a duality would have been, for he needed to gain