Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/403

 WORK A ND PL A Y 387

run athwart some natural law. The point is that in civilized human society the necessity for growing into harmony with the social environment in the matter of dress, as an instance, is about as pressing as the necessity of growing into harmony with the physical environment in the matter of food. Of course, there are those who can ignore their social environment in this regard and apparently be happy, but so are there those who can deny themselves food and offset the pains of hunger with the pleasure of being masters of the situation. The two cases are much alike ; the man who does not conform to social requirements in matters aesthetic offsets the pain of isolation and criticism by the con- sciousness that he is doing his duty, or that he is preserving his independence ; or in some way he finds compensation for the unhappiness he brings upon himself.

Look now at the person who "puts on airs" in any commu- nity; he will give more attention to his dress than anyone else about him, and it may be said that he is doing this in the play rather than in the work spirit. But here again he is seeking to attain a certain definite end toward which he co-ordinates all his powers in a serious manner. He is striving to gratify an instinct about as profound as that concerned with the getting of food. The states of consciousness accompanying the choosing of a dress and working in an office are not so different in respect of the feeling of freedom and the pleasure accompanying the activi- ties. There is an underlying feeling of necessity in both cases ; the one seems to be as binding as the other.

Groos seeks to put all the activities that relate to aesthetic production into the category of play. He sees that men put more time upon almost everything they construct than is required to make it useful. For instance, a chandelier is always orna- mented in some fashion, when a rod of plain iron would have served as well to hold the lights. All this extra activity, accord- ing to Groos, would come under the head of play, because it is not absolutely required ; individuals do these things because they find pleasure in the activities themselves. But this is cer- tainly overstating the case. The author has ignored a certain very real and vital need which is gratified by artistic creation.