Social Civics

The purpose of this chapter is to explain why human beings have come together into a society, to point out some of the chief influences which affect their action in organized groups, and to show that government is the greatest of the agencies through which human co-operative action is maintained today.

Man’s Place on the Earth.—The present organization of society finds its explanation in the nature of man. Man is by nature a social being; he possesses intelligence and the capacity to organize. Among living creatures man is by no means the first in physical power—he is neither so strong as the lion nor so fleet as the reindeer. But he dominates the earth because he more than makes up, by his mental and moral superiority, for whatever may be lacking in physical prowess. We do not know when mankind first began to assert its mastery over all other forms of life on the earth, but it was a very long time ago. Man’s superior intelligence gave him a start, and his capacity for organization enabled him to clinch the victory. Today he is supreme on land, at sea, and in the air.

The Principle of Development.—Human society did not come into existence all at once; it has grown to its present form through the slow process of time. Everywhere we see the principle of development at work—among individuals and among institutions. Everything is still in a continual process of change and this has unquestionably been the case for many thousands of years. Or to put it in another way, new forms of life and institutions are continually being evolved from older forms.

To understand this principle of continual change and development it is necessary to know something about the doctrine of evolution. This doctrine is commonly associated with the name of Charles Darwin, for although many others had hinted at the idea, he was the first to set it forth accompanied by scientific evidence.^[2] Darwin’s theory has been much misunderstood; in the illiterate mind it is often summed up by saying that “Man is descended from the monkey”. But Darwin did not say anything of the kind, neither did he ever deny the existence of God as the controlling factor in the life of the universe. Darwin’s theory of evolution asserted that all forms of life now on earth have sprung from a few simple, primitive types, and that human life is an evolution from one of these earlier forms. Human institutions, likewise, did not arise instantaneously but developed from simple and primitive beginnings into their complex structure of today.

The evidence upon which the doctrine of evolution rests is too extensive and too technical to be even summarized here but it is regarded as trustworthy by most scientists.^[3] For fifty years it has been studied, discussed, and tested by scholars with the result that educated men are now disposed to accept the doctrine so far as its main principles are concerned although they differ about various details.

It is astonishing how little we know, after all, about the beginnings of things. We do not know when or how life began upon the earth. We do not know the exact origin of man. But we do know that all forms of life and institutions have grown; they were not created in the shape we now have them. All the general laws of life which apply to plants and animals apply also to man. Alike they are born, they are nourished, they mature, and they produce descendants like themselves.

The method of evolution, according to Darwin’s theory is based upon the principle of natural selection. It is a well-known law of nature that “like begets like”, in other words that offspring resemble the parent-stock although there may be some individual differences. If it were not so, a definite species would never be perpetuated. All forms of life, moreover, reproduce themselves more or less abundantly. It is said that the progeny of a single starfish exceeds half a million per year. Even the elephants, which are the slowest breeding of all animals, produce a sufficiently numerous offspring to over-run the whole of Africa if every young elephant grew to maturity.

But nowhere does the entire progeny of any organisms, whether plants, animals, or human beings, survive to full growth. If every acorn became an oak tree, there would in time be no room for anything else on the surface of the earth. If every tadpole grew to be a frog, there would be no room for anything else in the waters of the earth. All life, however, is a struggle for existence, a relentless competition for air, sunshine, moisture, and soil on the part of plants, and for food and shelter on the part of animals. The further down we go in the scale of life the more bitter this struggle for existence becomes; small animals eat up the plants; large animals feed on the smaller ones. Higher in the scale, the struggle is not so keen, and among mankind it is the least strenuous of all.

In this struggle for existence, what plants and animals survive? The answer is that those which are best fitted to their environment continue to exist and to reproduce themselves, while those which are more poorly adapted to their environment fall out of the race and disappear. |The survival of the fittest.| In other words natural selection or the survival of the fittest was thought by Darwin to be the principle which determines the course of evolution. The unfit perish and the fit survive, everything depending upon the relative success of the organism in adapting itself to the conditions under which it is endeavoring to live. The clumsy mastodon became extinct; his bones are now relics in museums; but the horse, being fleet of foot, managed to survive. The fit organisms,—plants or animals or human beings,—have survived and have perpetuated the species. They gave to their offspring the traits or qualities which enabled themselves to survive. In that way each generation of organisms became a little better fitted to its environment than the generation which went before. This is a slow process for human beings, of course, for it takes twenty years or more to produce a new generation of men, whereas new generations of birds, reptiles, and lower animals appear every few months. The principle of natural selection, moreover, does not fully account for the form which evolution has taken. Other factors have also been at work, but scientists are not yet agreed as to their nature or importance.^[4]

Now how does the human race figure in all this? Mankind has also been at all times under the necessity of adapting itself to its environment, and in the early stages of human history those who did not successfully adapt themselves went to an early grave. During century after century natural selection and the other factors strengthened the race. As the race grew stronger in intelligence, man undertook to subdue his environment rather than to be subdued by it, and in considerable measure he succeeded. He discovered the art of kindling a fire and made this element his servant in conquering the cold. He domesticated wild animals, made them provide him with milk and meat, and compelled them to carry his burdens. Step by step he mastered the natural conditions which surrounded him. This he did by his ability to work with his fellow-men. Through this power of co-operation he created group organizations—society, the state, and government.

The struggle for existence among men is not now, therefore, as it was in primitive days, a life-and-death competition for food and shelter. Individuals have come to recognize each other’s rights and to seek even their own advantage by co-operation rather than by strife. The association of individuals in the family and the community serves to preserve the weak whom a keen struggle for existence would eliminate. Our whole system of poor-relief, hospitals, and care for the defective is based upon the idea of giving a fair chance to those who otherwise would be crowded out of the struggle for existence altogether. The competition today is not so much between individuals as among groups, small or large, including competition between whole nations of men.

The Factors in Social Progress.—Two factors have greatly influenced the course of social evolution or social progress. These factors are inheritance and environment. By inheritance we mean the qualities, physical and mental, which each generation inherits from the generation preceding. By environment we mean the general surroundings, physical and social, in which the people live. Mankind influences these surroundings to a considerable extent and moulds them to his own needs, but in turn is also influenced by them. Everything that is characteristic of man is the result of these two forces, inheritance and environment. In some things the first is more important, in others the second. For example, under normal conditions the height of a man or woman is determined almost altogether by inheritance, for no one by taking thought can add a cubit to his stature. Intelligence, likewise, is to a large degree an inherited quality. But morals, manners, education, and personal habits are determined much more largely by environment than by inheritance.

The respective influences of inheritance and environment cannot, however, be in all cases clearly separated. Both often work to produce the same result, as when a person who inherits a strong body and a sound mind is fortunate enough to be placed in an environment where both body and mind are developed by out-of-door life and a good education. Sometimes they work in opposite directions, as when a child starts life with a strong physique and good natural intelligence, but grows up in a crowded tenement amid sordid conditions which weaken the one and fail to afford scope for the other. We cannot say, therefore, that one factor is always stronger or weaker than the other. The social progress of the race is promoted by improving both influences. Environment especially can be improved by human effort. Man’s control of his inheritance is not nearly so complete, but everything that conduces to the betterment of health or education and promotes a higher morality is a step towards improving its influence.

Physical and Social Inheritance.—The influence of inheritance is exerted from two quarters which may be distinguished by calling them physical and social. |(a) Physical.| By the former we mean the influence exerted upon human beings by the bodily and mental traits which are handed down to them by their own parents. Not all the characteristics of parents are transmitted to their children but mainly those which the parents themselves have inherited. Traits or qualities which have been acquired by the parents during their own lives do not ordinarily descend to their children.^[5] Parents who are born feeble-minded will in all probability have feeble-minded children; but parents who acquire through education a high degree of learning and culture cannot transmit any of this to their children by inheritance. There is no royal road to learning. Some of us are born with better or worse possibilities than others, but we are all born illiterate.

The other form of inherited influence is called our social heritage because it represents the whole accumulation of knowledge, habits, and expedients which have come down to us by the social process of teaching and learning. Each generation of mankind is enormously dependent upon its social inheritance; without it everything that we now call civilization would collapse in a very short time. Each generation takes over all the knowledge possessed by the one which went before; each generation adds something to this stock of knowledge, habits, and expedients for the benefit of the generation which comes after it. Each generation, if it is to live happily, must adapt this social inheritance to its own particular needs.

Physical and Social Environment.—The other great influence is that of environment. By physical environment we mean the conditions of nature and society in which man lives, moves, and has his being. Physical environment includes the geographic, climatic, and other natural conditions which surround the people. |(a) Physical.| These conditions have an important influence upon the trend of human development and they are not, for the most part, under man’s control. Man must adapt himself and his ways of life to them. In cold climates he must wear warm clothing, provide artificial heat in houses, and consume warmth-giving food. Groups of men must everywhere mould their occupations to the character of the soil, the natural resources, and the other conditions of the physical environment in which they live. It is because of differences in physical environment that the Southern states developed cotton-culture on a large scale and employed slave labor, while the Northern states gave their attention to farming and industry with free labor.

Physical environment, moreover, determines in some measure the relations of the various races with their neighbors. Men will be influenced by neighboring groups of men in so far as physical features make intercourse easy or difficult. A race of men who live on a distant island, or in any other shut-off region, will not be so easily influenced by neighboring races as if they dwelt in the midst of a fertile plain. To some extent, as has been said, man is able to overcome the difficulties which physical environment sets in the face of progress. If there is inadequate rainfall, he may devise a system of irrigation and carry on certain forms of agriculture as successfully as though rainfall were abundant. By means of railroads, steamships, and electric or radio communication he can be in constant contact with other men who are separated from him by physical obstructions. But however much the conditions of nature may be controlled, they still exert a great influence upon human progress.

The social environment is quite a different thing. By it we mean the conditions altogether apart from geographic or natural features, which influence the daily life of mankind. We include within social environment such things as family life, the schools, the churches, the organization and methods of industry, the form of government—everything that society develops in the way of institutions. Many of these, as has been pointed out, are natural growths, but the mind of man has also had a large part in shaping their course.

Most of the things we do, whether as a body of people or as individuals, are merely the result of custom or general habit. Why do men have their hair cut short while women let their hair grow long? Why do people wear black when they are in mourning? In some countries they wear white. The answer is merely that every nation, through long-continued habit, develops its own ways of doing things and keeps on doing things in that way regardless of any present reason. Orientals, when they eat their meals, squat on the floor; Europeans and Americans seat themselves at the table. Aryans shake hands when they meet; the Esquimos hold their hands high above their heads as a token of greeting. The gentleman of today, when he greets a lady on the street, raises his hat. This is not a particularly graceful custom, nor is it in rainy weather an altogether hygienic one; but it has been in vogue among the people of western Europe for many centuries. It goes back to the days of chivalry when the armored knight raised his visor to show his countenance and disclose his identity.

Primitive races are governed largely by customs, and not until a race has shown itself amenable to the influence of custom is it prepared to be governed by laws. Laws differ from customs in that they have a definite sanction, in other words are enforced by some official authority. The institutions and practices which make up the social environment may be the outcome of long-standing custom, like the system of trial by jury, for example; or they may be brought into existence by law, as, for instance, the admission of women to suffrage or the establishment of national prohibition. The avowed purpose of all human institutions is to promote the greatest good of the greatest number, in other words to provide the best social environment.

Some Important Social Forces.—The basis of custom is habit. Customs, in other words, are habits which extend |Two important social forces: habit and imitation.| to the whole community and receive its approval. We do not always realize how great a part habit plays in our daily lives.^[6] Without it the day’s work could not be done. By habit we walk, eat, dress ourselves, and perform many other common acts. Just think how long it would take a novice to put the various parts of a watch together; but the watchmaker, being habituated to the task, can do it in an hour. The foundation of habit is imitation. One man does a thing successfully; others follow his lead; a habit develops and a general practice or custom may be the ultimate outcome. The influence of custom is usually conservative, for when a custom is once firmly established it does not easily give way. Take the custom of smoking tobacco, for example. Europeans found it in vogue among the Indians when they first came to America; they adopted it and have kept it up for more than four hundred years. Sometimes, however, the habit or custom is only of short duration, in which case we commonly call it a fashion. Fashions come and go. A century ago men used snuff and women powdered their hair; but these things have wholly passed out of fashion today.

The Course of Social Progress.—Having considered the various social factors and forces (development, inheritance, environment, custom, and so on) we are now in a position to ask and to answer the following question: In accordance with what principle has human society developed?

There was a time when even educated people imagined that such organizations as the state were planned in advance, that individuals merely came together in prehistoric days and agreed after calm deliberation to establish a civil government. That, of course, was an absurd idea. Today we realize that one step in social organization led gradually to another, that institutions were not created but evolved, that various social factors and forces exerted an influence upon their development, and that the strongest institutions survived while the weaker disappeared.

In the course of human history associations of every type have come into existence; many still continue to flourish while others merely abode their little hour and went their way. The organizations which we have today, including the family, the school, the church, the community, the state, are among those that have survived. Those that succumbed during the long journey down the ages would make a formidable list. Who ever hears nowadays of the totem-kin, the clan, or the gens? Where do we now find tribunes, praetors, augurs, and triumvirates? Absolute monarchy, as a form of government, once held sway over most of the world. But democratic government entered into competition with it, and as there was not room enough for both, one crowded the other off the stage. The great mediaeval institution of feudalism dominated the rural life of Europe for more than five hundred years, but the last relics of feudal tenure have practically all been swept away. The trade guilds of the olden days, the orders of nobility, the crowns and coronets, the soothsayers and the alchemists—all of them have disappeared or are rapidly disappearing. The beaches of history are strewn with the wrecks of social and political institutions. Some others, like the hereditary peerages of a few European countries, are barely able to keep afloat. The institutions which survive and flourish are the ones that have been found best fitted to survive.

The Fundamental Social Group.—In human society the foundation-group is the family. Human beings are social by nature; the motive which draws people together is so universal that we call it a natural instinct. Individuals do not live in isolation. Nobody leads the hermit type of life if he can avoid it. Robinson Crusoe was not on his little island because he wanted to be there. Even among the least civilized races of men, among savage tribes, there is a grouping of men, women, and children on the basis of blood relationship. The family, as a unit, is older than either the state or the community. It is the foundation upon which other groups and organizations have been built, hence it is rightly called the “social microcosm” or basis of society.

The primary function of the family is to keep the human race in existence. Its first duty is the rearing of children so that a new generation may take the place of the old. Other duties that belong to the family may be handed over to the school (the duty of secular education) or to the church (the duty of religious instruction); but the primary function of the family, that of perpetuating the race, is one which cannot be transferred.

The whole stream of human life flows through the family organization. The same virtues which make for harmony in the household,—obedience, co-operation, loyalty, and service,—are the ones which mark good citizenship; therefore the home is the primary school of all the civic virtues. For this reason the collapse of the home and of home life would be nothing short of a human catastrophe.

Other Social Groups.—Out of the family grew the clan, or group of families united by ties of kinships. In early days the clan was a wandering group, like the gipsy bands of today; but ultimately each clan settled upon the land and became a community. In these communities men became trained in manual labor; they developed customs and the rudiments of a village government.

Then came the next stage—several village communities joined together for defence against their mutual enemies. A loose confederation at first, this group of communities in time became a state, usually with a chieftain or a monarch at its head. In other cases a single village community grew in size to such an extent that it became a city state, like Athens or Sparta. The most notable example of this development is afforded by ancient Rome, where a small community grew into a World Empire. The family, the clan, the community, the confederation of communities, the state, and, ultimately, the nation—that is the general course of political evolution, although this line of development was not in all cases exactly followed.

But the evolution was not confined to political institutions alone. Social and economic groups and institutions developed also. A variety of needs called forth one institution after another, the church, the school, the club, the industrial organization. Each has its own function in organized society.

The Rôle of Government.—The dominating factor in the social and economic life of today, however, is the political community (nation, state, and municipality), acting through the agency which we call government. Government is the great co-ordinating factor. Day by day we are looking more and more to government for leadership, for regulation, and for supervision in all our greater social and economic activities. In the field of social and economic effort, all roads lead through government—it is the clearing house of our greater problems. Whether the problem be one of banking, commerce, poor-relief, labor, or defence we must reckon with the hand of government as one of the strongest among constructive and harmonizing factors. Government is the focal point in all civic relations. It provides a thread which winds its way along every main line of civic activity. That has been particularly noticeable in European countries; but it is now true of America as well. The greatest of our socializing agencies is government.

Individual Liberty and Social Control.—In the United States strong emphasis has always been laid upon individual freedom, and rightly so, because the encouragement of individual initiative is essential to progress in a new country. The exploitation of vast natural resources required that men should be given encouragement to pioneer, and should not be held down by too much governmental interference. “That government is best which interferes the least” was the common notion. Stress was laid upon the prosperity of the individual rather than upon the welfare of the whole people. This doctrine of extreme individualism undoubtedly served a useful purpose in the days when the country’s biggest problem was to increase production and gain for itself a place among the strong nations of the world.

To a considerable extent this emphasis upon individualism was due to the influence of the frontier. From the first settlement of the country down to about 1880 the American people were engaged in the task of marching steadily westward, conquering the wilderness as they went. This mastering of a great domain demanded qualities of enterprise, initiative, and individual courage. It developed men’s confidence in their own power and made them reliant upon their own efforts. In old countries the natural tendency is for the individual to look to the public authorities for leadership, guidance, and supervision; on the great American frontier the pioneers had to hew their own way. They preceded the state and the community. This emphasis upon individual initiative remained as the frontier rolled west and profoundly affected the whole social temper of the country.

In time a reaction came. Social control developed. The more thickly populated a country becomes, the more complicated do the relations of individuals grow, and the greater is the need for general restraint. Social control, however, is not merely negative in its purpose. Its object is not simply to restrain individuals in their freedom of action but to encourage them in the thing which the general welfare demands. The government is the chief agency through which social control is exercised, but it is by no means the only one. Religious, fraternal, professional, and benevolent organizations do a good deal in the same general direction. Their function is to promote collective interests as distinguished from the interests of individuals; they protect the collective interests against the avarice or selfishness of individuals. The government exercises social control by means of laws and administrative orders; other organizations exercise it by their own rules or by customs which the members obey.

There is always a danger, of course, that social control may proceed too far. It is not the object of government and of social organizations to run all men in the same mould, making them mere automatons without individuality or initiative. Government should aim to give sufficient scope for every individual to use his abilities in the best possible way. Control over the acts and discretion of individuals is justified only where such control promotes, in the long run, the well-being of the greatest number of individuals. The state is not an end in itself. Society is not an end in itself. The individual is the end. Society and the state are merely means to the promotion of the general welfare and the welfare of the individual. Their activities in the way of exercising social control should go no further than this.

C. H. Cooley, Social Organization, pp. 3-22;

H. G. Wells, Outline of History, Vol. I, pp. 3-103;

C. A. Ellwood, Sociology and Modern Social Problems, pp. 7-59;

F. S. Chapin, Social Evolution, pp. 3-101;

Vernon Kellogg, Darwinism Today, pp. 10-57; 129-157;

J. A. Thomson, Darwinism and Human Life, pp. 181-237;

D. S. Jordan and V. L. Kellogg, Evolution and Animal Life, pp. 1-56;

T. N. Carver, Sociology and Social Progress, pp. 174-270;

E. A. Ross, Social Control, pp. 1-105.

1. How far should society control the conduct of individuals? Why social control is exercised. The extent of social control in older countries,—Great Britain, France, and Germany. Its growth in America. Causes of this growth. The point at which it ceases to be justified. Illustrations. Effects of too much emphasis on individualism. Effects of too much social restraint. Relation of social control to socialism. References: E. A. Ross, Social Control, pp. 49-76; H. G. Wells, New Worlds for Old, pp. 1-55; T. N. Carver, Sociology and Social Progress, pp. 788-808; Ibid, Principles of National Economy, pp. 740-749.

2. What is progress? References: F. S. Marvin, Progress and History, pp. 8-10; John Dewey “Progress” in International Journal of Ethics, xxvi, 312-318 (1916); James Bryce, Essays and Addresses in War Time, pp. 84-102 (War and Progress); George Nasmyth, Social Progress and the Darwinian Theory.

Short Studies

1. The past in the present. H. R. Burch and S. H. Patterson, American Social Problems, pp. 33-43.

2. The beginnings of civilization. H. G. Wells, Outline of History, Vol. I, pp. 183-208.

3. Earlier forms of the family. C. A. Ellwood, Sociology and Modern Social Problems, pp. 108-130.

4. The development of the tribe into the community. J. Q. Dealey, The State and Government, pp. 24-45.

5. The American family as an economic unit. Mary K. Simkhovitch, The City Worker’s World, pp. 1-21.

6. The relation of leisure to family life. Florence Kelley, Some Ethical Gains through Legislation, pp. 105-125.

7. The influence of environment. F. S. Chapin, Social Evolution, pp. 121-170.

8. Habit. William James, Psychology, I, pp. 104-127.

9. The influence of frontier conditions upon the development of American society. F. J. Turner, The Frontier in American History, pp. 1-38.

10. Individualism. Herbert Spencer, Social Statics, pp. 100-136; C. W. Eliot, The Conflict between Individualism and Collectivism in a Democracy, pp. 1-42.

1. How would you define “society”? Is it an organism? What resemblances to an organism does it bear?

2. Explain the following terms: instinct; impulse; natural selection; social inheritance; social environment; habit; custom; fashion; mob mind; institution; social control. Give examples of each.

3. How has physical environment affected the ideas of the American people in relation to (a) national defence; (b) form of government; (c) social control? How has the physical environment of England affected the ideas of the English people on the same matters?

4. What racial characteristics do you find most strongly marked in the (a) Scotch; (b) Irish; (c) Scandinavians; (d) Italians; (e) Jews; (f) Japanese?

5. Name any institutions, other than those given in the text, which have served mankind for a time and been discarded.

6. Can you think of any customs which are universal throughout the world? Any which prevail in the United States but not elsewhere? Any which prevail in some parts of the United States but not in others?

7. Do Americans in general pay too much deference to custom? Is there any ground for the European idea that there is “too much uniformity” in American life?

8. Are crowds likely to be more conservative or more radical than the individuals who compose them? Give your reasons. What is the difference between a mob, a crowd, a meeting, and a deliberative assembly?

9. The family, as an organization, differs not only in size but in nature, from all other social organizations such as the community, the state and the nation. Show how this is.

10. In what ways would society suffer if the family as a social unit were broken down?

11. To what extent has society the right to regulate, as a measure of self-protection, the institution of marriage?

12. Why have we laid emphasis upon individualism in this country? Explain why this stress is being steadily diminished.

13. Should social control be exercised over (a) the methods of agriculture; (b) the marketing of timber; (c) the production and sale of tobacco; (d) the rates charged by electric lighting companies; (e) the price of bread at retail bakeries; (f) the hours of labor for men; (g) the hours of labor for women; (h) the kind of pictures shown in theaters; (i) the diet of the people; (j) the hours at which young people may be on the streets after dark; (k) the religious beliefs of the people? Tell why or why not in each case. Is a greater degree of social control justified over certain classes of the population than over others? Is it justified at certain times and not at others?

14. If society exercises too little control over the individual, what evils result? If it exercises too much control, what are the consequences (a) upon the individual; (b) upon society itself?

1. Physical environment has had a more important influence than racial characteristics in determining the establishment and maintenance of democratic institutions in the United States.

2. Thomas Jefferson was right when he said “That government is best which governs least”.

3. Society is under obligation to ensure every industrious man a decent living.