Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/783

 MOOT POINTS IN SOCIOLOGY

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binary star is a solar system, or a molecule of two atoms a body.

Most helpful is Simmel's notion that the true matter of sociol- ogy is not the groups themselves, but the modes or forms of association into groups. In bodies the most diverse a church or a guild, a trust or an art league may be found identical modes of union. Despite their infinite variety of purpose, the groupings of men reduce to a few principles of association. Among such "forms" are equality, superiority and subordina- tion, division of labor, imitation and opposition, secrecy, and hierarchy. To work out the various relations in which associ- ates may stand to one another, and to discover what happens to groups in consequence of the more or less of each relation, is the task of the sociologist.

Nevertheless, I prefer to consider this attractive area, not the domain of sociology, but only one of its provinces, viz., that of social morphology. The partialness of a conception which focuses our gaze on the human interactions themselves is well brought out by comparing it with another conception which rivets attention on the results or products of these interactions. For Dr. Ward the subject-matter of sociology consists in human achievement. How do languages, sciences, and arts come into being ? How does the coral reef of civilization rise ? This is certainly one of the most fascinating and practical of studies, but, as Dr. Ward distinctly states, it does not cover all the ground. I should place his superb book, as (say) Vol. Ill, in a complete treatise on sociology. For how can you draw a firm line between those modes of human interaction which yield a permanent product, and those which leave behind them no last- ing result ? Mobs and panics, public opinion and social sugges- tion, are certainly worthy of study, albeit they contribute nothing to the sum of human achievement.

A widening circle of thinkers make sociology equivalent to the science of association. They would have it deal with the conditions, motives, modes, phases, and products of association, whether animal or human. Here is, indeed, a virgin field to till, and to it we all gladly retire when our neighbors stigmatize us