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discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web ANDOVKR-HARVARD THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY MDCCCCX CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS > A SYSTEM OF SYNTHETIC PHILOSOPHY.
VOL. VI.
THE PRINCIPLES ov SOCIOLOGY, ST HEEBEET SPENCEE.
VOL. I.
SECOKD EDITION— STEBEOTTPED. (With Additioiua Chapten.)
WILLIAMS AND NORGATE, 15, HENBXETTA STREET, OOVENT OABDEN, LONDON; ▲ID 20, SOUTH FREDERICK PLACE, EDINBURGH.
The Bight qf TranOaUon U SesenncL w. J. 'joBsnoM, rBurm, 121, rLBcr triisrr, ummov, e.«.
'^ jL^.^W.
\ PREFACE TO YOL. 1.
Fob the Science of Society, the name "Sociology" was introduced by M. Comte. Partly because it was in posses- sion of the field, and partly because no other name suffi* ciesntly comprehensiye existed, I adopted it. Though re- peatedly blamed by those who condemu the word as a " barbarism,*' I do not regret having done so. To use, as some have suggested, the word "Politics,** too narrow in its meaning as well as misleading in its connotations, would be deliberately to create confusion for the sake of avoiding a defect of no practical moment. The heterogeneity of our speech is already so great that nearly every thought is ex- pressed in words taken from two or three languages. Already, too, it has many words formed in irregular ways from hetero- geneous roots. Seeing this, I accept without much reluct- ance, another such word: behoving that the convenience and suggestiveness of our symbols are of more importance dian the legitimacy of their derivation.
Probably some surprise will be felt that, containing as this work does multitudinous quotations from numerous authors, there are no references at the bottoms of pages. Some words of explanation seem needful. If foot-notes are referred to, the thread of the argument is completely broken; and even if they are not referred to, attention is disturbed by the consciousness that they are there to be looked at. Hence a loss of effect and a loss of time. As I n FBSFAOK.
n FBSFAOK.
intended to use as data for the oonclusions set forth in this work^ the compiled and classified facts forming the Desm^piive Sociology, it occurred to me that since the arrangement of those facts is such that the author^s name and the race referred to being given, tho extract may in each case be found, and with it the reference, it was need- less to waste space and hinder thought with these distracting foot-notes. I therefore decided to omit them. In so far as evidence furnished by the uncivilized races is concerned, (which forms the greater part of the evidence contained in this volume), there exists this means of verification in nearly all cases. I found, however, that many facts from other sources had to be sought out and incorporated; and not liking to change the system I had commenced with, I left them in an unverifiable state. I recognize the defect, and hope hereafter to remedy it. In succeeding volumes I propose to adopt a method of reference which will give the reader the opportunity of consulting the authorities cited, while his attention to them will not be solicited.
The instalments of which this volume consists were issued to the subscribers at the following dates: — ^No. 35 (pp, 1— 80) in June, 1874; No. 3G (pp. 81—160) in November, 1874; No. 37 (pp. 161—240) in February, 1875; No. 38 (pp. 241-320) in May, 1875; No. 39 (pp. 321-400) in September, 1875; No. 40 (pp. 401—462, with Appendices A & B) in December, 1875; No. 41 (pp. 465—544) in April, 1876; No. 42 (pp. 545—624) in July, 1876; and No. 43 (pp. 625—704) in December, 1876: an extra No, (44) issued in June, 1877, completing the volume.
With this No. 44, tho issue of the System of Sjmthetio Philosophy to subscribers, ceases: the intention being to publish the remainder of it in volumes only. The next volume will, I hope, be completed in 1880.
London, December, 1876.
CONTEFIS OF VOL. I.
PART I.— THE DATA OP SOCIOLOGY.
CHAT. TAGB II. — THE FACTORS OF SOCIAL PHENOMENA...9 HI. — ORIGINAL EXTERNAL FACTORS...17 IV. — ORIGINAL INTERNAL FACTORS...41 VI. THE PRIMITIVE MAN — EMOTIONAL...59 IX. — THE IDEAS OF THE ANIMATE AND THE INANIMATE 138 X. — THE IDEAS OF SLEEP AND DREAMS...147 XI. — THE IDEAS OF SWOON, APOPLEXY, CATALEPSY, ECSTASY, AND OTHER FORMS OF INSENSIBILITY 158 XII. — THE IDEAS OF DEATH AND RESURRECTION...166 XIII. — ^THE IDEAS OF SOULS, GHOSTS, SPIRITS, DEMONS...186 XIV. — THE IDEAS OF ANOTHER LIFE...198 XV. — THE IDEAS OP ANOTHER WORLD...217 XVI. — THE IDEAS OF SUPERNATURAL AGENTS...234 XVII. — SUPERNATURAL AGENTS AS CAUSING EPILEPSY AND CONVULSIVE ACTIONS, DELIRIUM AND INSANIIT, DISEASE AND DEATH...24?
XVni. — INSPIRATION, DIVINATION, EXORCISM, AND SORCERY 253 XIX. — SACRED PLACES, TEMPLES, AND ALTARS; SACRIFICE, FASTING, AND PROPITIATION; PRAISE, PRAYEU 271 Vill COMTJBKTli.
CHAP.
XXVI. — THE PRIMITIVE THEORY OP THINGS XXVII. — THE SCOPE OP SOCIOLOGY...Plfll PART II.— THE INDUCTIONS OF SOCIOLOGY.
1. — WHAT IS A SOCIETY? II. — ^A SOCIETY IS AN ORGANISM III. — SOCIAL GROWTH IV. — SOCIAL STRUCTURES V. — SOCUL FUNCTIONS VI. — SYSTEMS OP ORGANS VII. — THE SUSTAINING SYSTEM...VIII. — THE DISTRIBUTING SYSTEM...IX. — THE REGULATING SYSTEM...X. — SOCIAL TYPES AND CONSTITUTIONS XI. — SOCIAL METAMORPHOSES XII. — QUALIFICATIONS AND SUMMARY PART III.— THE DOMESTIC RELATIONS.
I. — THE MAINTENANCE OF SPECIES II. — THE DIVERSE INTERESTS OF THE SPECIES, OF PARENTS, AND OF THE OFFSPRING...III. — ^PRDfinVE RELATIONS OF THE SEXES...K. — EXOGAMY AND ENDOGAMY...V. — ^PROMISCUITY VI. — POLYANDRY VII. — ^POLYGYNY VI ri. — MONOGAMY JX.— THE FAMILY X. — THE STATUS OF WOUEN XI. — THE STATUS OP CHILDREN...THE XII. — DOMESTIC RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT I V PART I THE DATA OF SOOIOLOGY.
CHAFTEB L 8UPKB-OBOAMI0 EVOLUTION.
§ 1. Of the three broadly-distingaiBhed kinds of Evo' lutioii^ we come now to the third. The first kind. Inor- ganic Svolntiony which, had it been dealt with, would have occupied two Yolnmes, one dealing with Astrogeny and the other with Greogeny, was passed over because it seemed nndesirable to postpone the more important ap- plications of the doctrine for the purpose of elaborating those less important applications which logically precede thenu The four yolumes that have followed First Priu' eiples, haye dealt with Organic Evolution: two of them with those physical. phenomena presented by living aggre- gates, vegetal and animal, of all classes; and the other two with those more special phenomena distinguished as psychical, which the most evolved organic aggregates dis- play. We have now to enter upon the remaining division-* Super-organic Evolution.
Although this word is descriptive, and although, in First Frineiples, § 111, I have used it with an explanatory sen- tence;, it wiU be proper here to exhibit its meaning more fufly.
§ 2. While we are occupied with the facts displayed by an individual organism during its growth, maturity, and decay, we are studying Organic Evolution. If we take into 4 THE DATA OS* SOCIOLOaT.
acconnt^ as we mnst^ the actions and reactions going on between this organism and organisms of other kinds which its life puts it in relation with^ we still do not go beyond the limits of Organic Evolution. Nor need we consider that we exceed these limits on passing to those groups of facts which the rearing of offspring frequently shows us; though here, in parental co-operation^ we see the germ of a new order of phenomena. While recognizing the fact that the joint actions of parents in fostering their young, foreshadow processes of a class beyond the simply organic; and while recognizing the fact that some of the products of these joint actions, such as nests^ must be taken as foreshadowing products of the super-organic class; we may fitly regard Super-organio Evolution as commencing only when there arises some- thing more than the combined efforts of parents. There can of course be no absolute separation. If there has been Evolution, that form of it here distinguished as super- ; organic must have arisen by insensible steps out of the organic. But we may conveniently mark it off as including all those processes and products which imply the co-ordinated actions of many individuals — co-ordinated actions which achieve results exceeding in extent and complexity those achievable by individual actions.
There exist various groups of super-organic phenomena, of which certain minor ones may be briefly noticed here by way of illustration.
§ 3. Of such the most familiar^ and in some respects the most instructive, are furnished by the social insects. The processes carried on by these show us co-operation, with," in some cases, considerable division of labour; as well as pro- ducts of a size and complexity far beyond any that would be possible in the absence of united efforts.
It scarcely needs to particularize these truths, as shown us by bees and wasps. All know that these form (though, as we shall presently see, only in a qualified sense) comommties — commimities sach that the imits and the aggre- gates stand in yeiy definite relations. Between the in- diyidoal organization of the hive-bee and the organization of the hive as an orderly aggregate of individuals with a regolarly-formed habitation^ there exists a fixed connexion. Jost as the germ of a wasp evolves into a complete indivi- dual; so does the adult queen-wasp^ the germ of a wasp- society, evolve into a multitude of individuals with defi- nitely-adjusted arrangements and activities. That is to say, the growths and developments of these social aggregates have analogies with the growths and developments of the individual aggregates. Though the structures and functions shown us by the community are less specific than those shown us by the individual, yet they are specific in a considerable degree. As evidence that Evolution of this order has here arisen after the same manner as the simpler orders of Evolution, it may be added that, among both bees and wasps, different genera exhibit it in different degrees. From kinds that are solitary in their habits, we pass through kinds that are social in small degrees to kinds that are social in great degrees.
Among some species of ants the process of Super-organic Evolution is carried much further — ^ome species, I say; for here, also, we find that unlike stages have been reached by unlike species: the societies they form vary inmiensely, both in size and complexity. Among the most advanced, divi- sion of labour is carried so far that different classes of individuals are structurally adapted to different functions. Sometimes, as among the white ants, or termites (which, how- ever, belong to a different ordw of insects), there are, in addi- tion to males and females, soldiers and workers; and it has recently been shown that there are in some cases two kinds of males and females, winged and unwinged: making six un- like forms. Among the Sadba ants there are, besides the two developed sexual forms, three varieties of forms sexually undeveloped— one class of in-door workers and 6 THB DATA OF 800IOL0QT.
two dassea of oat-door workers. Bejond the diyision of labour among indiyidnals of the commimity thus diyersely constracted^ we find^ in some cases^ a farther division of labour achieved by making slavea of other ants. We see, also, that there is a tending of other insects, sometimes for the sake of their secretions and sometimes for unknown purposes; so that, as Sir John Lubbock points out, some ants keep more domestic auimalH than are kept bj mankind. To which we must add that among members of these com- munities, there is a system of signalling equivalent to a rude language, and that there are elaborate processes of mining, road-making, and* building — ^building of which the methodical character may be judged from the statement of Tuckey, who, in Congo, "found a complete banza [village] of ant-hills, placed with more regularity than the native banzas ''; or from the statement of Schweinfurth, who says a volume would be required to describe the magazines, chambers, passages, bridges, contained in a ^^rmi^-mound. But, as hinted above, though social insects exhibit a kind of evolution much higher than the merely organio— though the aggregates they form simulate social aggregates in sundry ways; yet they are not true social aggregates. The evolution we see in them is, in essential respects, intermediate between the organic and the super-organic, as here to be understood. For each of these societies is in reality a large family. It is not a union among like individuals substan- tially independent of one another in parentage, and approxi- mately equal in their capacities; but it is a union among the ofEspring of one mother, carried on, in some cases, for a single generation and in some cases for more; and from this community of parentage arises the possibility of classes luwing tmWce strudwres amd consequent unlike fundio^ns* Instead of being allied to the specialization of function which arises in a society, properly so called, the specializa- tion of function which arises in one of these large and com- plicated insect-families, is allied to that which habitually arises between the sexes. For instead of two kinds of indi- viduals descending from the same parents^ there are seyeral kinds of indiyidnals descending from the same parents | and instead (rf a simple co-operation between two differentiated individuals in the rearing of oSspringj there is an inyolved co-operation amontp sundry differentiated classes of indi- vidt^ in the rear^g of ^ring.
§ 4. The onlj true rudimentary forms of Super-organic Evolution are those to be f oxuid among certain of the higher types of yertebrata.
Some birds form communities in which^ beyond mere ag^^gation^ there is a small amount of co-ordination. Books furnish the most familiar instance. Among these we see such integration as'is implied by the keeping-together of the same families from generation to generation^ and by the ezchision of strangers. There is some rude form of govem- menty some recognition of proprietorship^ some punishment of offenders^ and occasionally expulsion of them. A slight specialization is shown in the stationing of sentinels while the flock feeds. And there is usually an orderly action of the whole community in respect of times of going and coming. Clearly there has been reached a co-operation comparable in degree to that shown us by those small assemblages of the lowest human beingSj in which there exist no goyemments.
Gregarious mammals of most kinds display little more than the union of mere association. In the common ten- dency towards supremacy of the strongest male in the herd, we do, indeed, see a faint trace of governmental organiza- tion. Some degree of co-operation is shown, for offensive purposes, by animals that hunt in packs, and for defensive purposes by animals that are hunted; as, according to Boss, hy the North American buffaloes, the bulls of which assemble to guard the cows during the calving-season against wolves, bears, or other enemies. Certain gregarious mammals.
8 THE DATA OF SOCTOLOGT.
however^ as tHe bearers^ carry social co-operation to a con- siderable extent; and their joint actions yield remarkable products in tbe shape of habitations. Finally, among sundry of the Primatss, gregorionsness is joined with some snb- ordinationj some combination, some display of the social sentiments. There is obedience to leaders; there is union of efforts; there are sentinels and signals; there is some idea of property; there is some exchange of services; there is adoption of orphans; and anxiety prompts the community at large to make efforts on behalf of endangered members.
§ 5. These classes of truths, which, by one haying adequate knowledge, might be enlarged upon to much purpose, I have here set down and illustrated for several reasons. Partly it seemed needful to point out that beyond organic evolution, there tends to arise in various direc- tions a further and higher order of evolution. Partly, my object has been to give a comprehensive conception of this Super-organic Evolution, as not of one kind but of various kinds, determined by the characters of the various species of organisms among which it shows itself. And partly, the facts have been referred to with the view of suggesting that Super-organic Evolution of the highest order, arises out of an order no higher than that variously displayed in the animal world at large.
Having observed thus much, we may henceforth re- strict ourselves to that form of Super-organic Evolution which so immensely transcends all others in extent, in complication, in importance, as to make them relatively insignificant — almost too insignificant to be named at the same time. I refer, of course, to the form' of it which human societies exhibit in their growths, structures, func- tions, products. To the phenomena comprised in these, and grouped under the general title of Sociology, we now pass.
CHAPTER 11.
CHAPTER 11.
THE FACTORS OF SOCIAL PHENOMENA.
§ 6. Ths beliayioor of a single inanimate object depends on the oo-operation between its own forces and the forces to which it is exposed: instance a piece of metal^ the mole- coles of which keep the solid state or assume the liquid state^ according partly to their natures and partly to the heat-waves falling on them. Similarly with any group of inanimate objects. Be it a cart-load of bricks shot down^ a barrowful of gravel turned over, or a boy's bag of marbles emptied, the behaviour of the assembled masses — ^here stand- ing in a heap with steep sides, here forming one with sides much less inclined, and here spreading out and rolling in all directions — is in each case determined partly by the propertiea of the individual members of the group, and partly by the forces of gravitation, impact, and friction, they are jointly and individually subjected to.
It is equally so when the discrete aggregate consists of organic bodies, such as the members of a species. For a species increases or decreases in numbers, widens or contracts its habitat, migrates or remains stationary, continues an old mode of life or falls into a new one, under the combined influences of its intrinsic nature and the environing actions, inorganic and or^nic.
It is thus, too, with aggregates of men. Be it rudi- mentary or be it advanced, every society displays phenomena 10 THB DATA OF SOGIOLOOT.
tliat are ascribable to the cliaracters of its units and to the conditions nnder which they exist. Here^ then^ are the &ctors as primarilj divided.
§ 7. These &ctors are re-diyisible. Within each there are groups of factors that stand in marked contrasts.
Beginning with the extrinsic factors^ we see that from the outset seyeral kinds of them are variously operative. They need but barely enumerating. We have climate, hot, cold, or temperate, moist or dry, constant or variable. We have sur&ce, much or little of which is available, and the available pturt of which is fertile in greater or less degree; and we have configuration of surface, as uniform or multi- form. Next we have the vegetal productions, here abundant in quantities and kinds, and there deficient in one or both. And besides the Flora of the region we have its Fauna, which is highly influential in many ways; not only by the numbers of its species and individuals, but by the proportion between those that are useful and those that are injurious. On these sets of conditions, inorganic and organic, charac- terizing the environment, primarily depends the possibility of social evolution.
When we turn to the intrinsic factors we have to note, first, that, considered as a social unit, the individual man has physical characters which are potent in determining the growth and structure of the society. He is in every case more or less distinguished by emotional characters which aid, or hinder, or modify, the activities of the society, and the developments accompanying them. Always, too, his degree of intelligence and the tendencies of thought peculiar to him, become co-operating causes of social quiescence or social change.
Such being the original sets of factors, we have now to note the secondary or derived sets of &ctors, which social evolution itself brings into play.
§ 8. First may be set down the progressive modifications THX FACT0B8 01 SOCIAL PHISrOMIirA. 11 of tbe enyironment, morgamc and organic, which the actions of societies effect.
Among these are the alterations of climate caosed by clearing and hy drainage. Such alterations may be fayonr- able to social growth^ as where a rainy region is made lees rainy by cutting down forests, or a swampy surface rendered more salubrions and fertile by carrying off water*; or they may be nnfayonrable, as where, by destroying the forests, a region already dry is made arid: witness the seat of the old Semitic civilizations, and, in a less degree, Spain.
Next come the changes wrought in the kind and quantity of plant-life oyer the sur&oe occupied. These changes are three*£old. There is the increasing substitution of plants conduciye to social growth, for plants not conducive to it; ihere is the gradual production of better varieties of these useful plants, causing, in time, extreme divergences from their originals; and there is, eventually, the iniaroduction of new useful plants.
Simultaneously go on the kindred changes which social progress works in the Fauna of the region. We have the diminution or destruction of some or many injurious species. We have a fostering of useful species, which has the double effect of increasing their numbers and making their quali- ties more advantageous to society. Further, we have the naturalization of desirable species, brought from abroad.
It needs but to think of the immense contrast between a wolf -haunted forest or a boggy moor peopled with wild * It ill worth noting that the effect of drainage is to increaae what we may fignimtiTely call terrestrial reepiratioa; and that on terreetrial respira- ticm the liree of land-plants, and therefore of land-animals, and therefore of men, depend. Every change of atmospheric pressure produces, from day to day, exits or entrances of the ur into all the interstices of the soil. The depth to which these irregular inspirations and expirations reach, is increased hy freedom from water; since interstices occupied by water cannot be filled by air. Thus those chemical decompositions effected by the air that is renewed with every fall and rise of the barometer, are extended to a greater depth by drainage; and the plant-life depending upon these decompoeitions is therefore facilitated.
12 THE DATA OF SOCIOLOQT.
birds^ and tiie fields coyered with crops and flocks which eyentually occapj the same area^ to be reminded that the environment; inorganic and organic, of a society, under- goes a continuous transformation of a remarkable kind during the progress of the society; and that this trans- formation becomes an all-important secondarj factor in social evolution.
§ 9. Another secondary factor which must not be orer- looked, is the increasing size of the social aggregate, ^ accompanied, generally, by increasing density.
Apart from social changes otherwise produced, there are social changes produced by simple growth. Mass is both a condition to, and a result of, organization in a society. It is clear that hetereogeneity of structure is made possible only by multiplicity of units. Division of labour cannot be carried far where there are but few to divide the labour among them. There can be no difierentiation into classes in the absence of numbers. Complex co-operations, govern- mental and industrial, are impossible without a population large enough to supply many kinds and gradations of agents. And sundry developed forms of activity, both predatory and peaceful, are made practicable only by the power which large masses of men furnish.