Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/354

* SOCIALISM. 300 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY. sylvania, and Rhode Island received 33,133 votes. In 1896 the number of votes was 36,564. In 1898, in eighteen States, the Socialist Labor Party received 82,204 votes, and the Social Demo- cratic Part}-, which was organized in 1897, 9545 votes, largely in iVIassaphusetts, making a total of 01,749. in the Presidential elections of 1900 the Socialist Party received 97,730 votes and the Socialist Labor Party 33,450, making a total of 131,180. In 1902 State and Congressional elec- tions the Socialist Party received 229,762, and the Socialist Labor Party received 53,763, mak- ing a total of 283,525. The Socialists have not succeeded in electing any member of Congress. They have, however, met with some success in State and local elec- tions, in 1898 electing John C. Chase Mayor of Haverhill, Mass., and James T. Carey and Louis M. Scates to seats in the Jlassachusetts Legis- lature. In 1903 three representatives of the Socialist Party were members of the Massa- chusetts Legislature. In the same year the Mayor of Haverhill, Mass., Parkman B. Flanders, and several of the numieipal officers were Socialists. In Brockton, Mass., Charles F. Coulter was re- elected Mayor. The greatest victories of the Socialists were won in the April local elections of 1903. Socialists were elected to office in at least twenty cities ; in five, mayors were elected ; in several a considerable proportion of the other municipal officers. The city of Anaconda, Mont., was carried by the Socialists. It may be mentioned that W. D. P. Bliss estab- lished an American I'^abian Society at Boston in 1895. This society published the American Fa- bian, which continued to exist for several years, but has disappeared. The 'Society of Christian Socialists.' also under the leadership of Bliss more than any other man, was organized in Boston, April 15, 1889. The tendency in re- cent years has been for the Socialist Party to absorb all these minor organizations. Recently there has been organized a Collectivist Society in New York City. The aim of this society is evidently to do a work like that of the Fabian Society in England. It is noteworthy that American socialism is probably more JIarxian than the socialism of the other great countries of the world. There is also a tendency to lay less emphasis upon the 'immediate demands' or the reforms which can be accomplished while the framework of the existing order is retained. The 'immediate de- mands' were dropped altogether from the plat- form of the Socialist Labor Party at the con- vention held in New York City in .Time'. 1900. Political socialism has little influence upon organized labor in the United States, but here also the influence is growing rapidly. The Knights of Labor (q.v.) were in so far social- istically inclined that some of the planks in their platform were in general line with socialist thought. So far as there was socialism in the rank and file of the Knights of Labor it was sentimental and impulsive rather than the re- sult of deliberate thought. Doubtless, however, the agitation which the Knights of Labor have conducted helped to prepare the soil in this country for socialism. Most significant is the attitude of the Ameri- can Labor Union (q.v.). which is avowedly and unreservedly committed to political socialism. The Socialists have the support of a large and increasing number of periodicals. The num- ber in June, 1903, was probably about one hun- dred. The Socialist Labor Partj' press consists chiefly of the daily, weekly, and monthly People, of New York City. The newly organized Penn- sylvania branch of the Socialist Labor Party has as its organ the Socialist Standard of Pittsburg. The principal newspapers supporting the Social- ist Party are The Marker, The Comrade, and the Yolkzeitung of New York City; the Cleveland Citizen, of Cleveland, Ohio; the American Labor Union Journal, of Butte, Mont. ; the Social Democratic Herald, of Milwaukee, Vis. ; the Coming Nation, of Rich Hill, ilo. ; the Appeal to Reason, of Girard, Kan.; and the Chicago Social- ist. Especially noteworthy is the International Socialist Revieny, which is the organ of scientific socialism in this country. LiTEKATUKE. The information concerning the socialist parties of the world must be sought in the periodical press representing these parties, and this has already received mention. Espe- cially noteworthy as sources of authority are the Socialistische Monatshefte, of Berlin; the 7n- ternfitional Socialist Review, of Chicago; and L'Avenir Social, of Brussels, in which the inter- national secretary has each month a review of the 'labor movement and international socialism.' SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY. A term used to describe the branch of investigation which deals with those modifications of consciousnesi^ that result from the reciprocal relations of individ- uals in a community. As used at present, the term includes only human groups or societies. It adds few if any new mental processes, but it examines a host of new functions which the in- dividual consciousness fulfills by virtue of its relation to other minds more or less like itself. This branch of psychology is to be distinguished from the science of sociology, which deals with the formation, structure, and development, as well as the practical betterment of society. Sociology studies society objectively as an or- ganization with certain laws of growth and change. Social psychology, on the other hand, regards the phenomena of society subjectively; i.e. it studies the springs of action which deter- mine the movements of society, and also the conscious modifications which individual minds produce in one another. It inquires into the state of mind in a mob. and the causes which produce it; the mental disposition of the crimi- nal and the motives which lead him to criminal acts; the mental characteristics of different peo- ples and races ; the effects of climate and of scenerv upon the temper of a community : the analysis of imitation, of invention, and of sug- gestion, and the part that these factors play in developing and maintaining society. The prob- lem of social psychology may be regarded either (1) genetically or (2) statically. One may (1) trace the development of society by the inter- pretation of language, religion, myths, customs, arts, and laws in variois stages of development from the earliest primitive peoples down to the present time. Siich an investigation produces Ijoth psychological and sociological resiilts. The problem which is of interest to the social psy- chologist concerns the modification of percep- tion, idea, feeling, emotion, sentiment, and ac- tion which is traceable directly to the social environment and the reciprocal effect of these mental formations upon the community as a