GENERAL INTRODUCTION ix 



with the other elements of history, elements neglected and, indeed, 

 often denied by the pure sociologist. 



It is also desirable in any attempt to differentiate between 

 various explanatory elements to make the following distinction. 

 Even if institutions are always a social construction, so to speak, 

 and bear the stamp of society, it does not follow from this that 

 they always express the specific necessities of society or respond 

 to actual functions. Not everything which, in the course of the 

 life of society, takes on an institutional form is essentially social. 



The juridico-political function is an essential characteristic of 

 society and it differentiates itself into political, juridical, and 

 moral elements ; its only reason for existence is in, and for, 

 society, of which in fact it forms the chief support, fust as 

 economic institutions correspond to the personal necessities of 

 the individual — the necessities of subsistence, of enjoyment, 

 and of luxury — so we may speak of an economic function of 

 society ; theoretically it might even be considered as primary, 

 for society can only be organized by giving to these needs of the 

 individual a more secure and complete satisfaction by appropriate 

 means and by substituting, to a great extent, co-operation and 

 division of labour for individual effort. But we cannot accurately 

 speak of a mental or (esthetic function of society, although institu- 

 tions have been built up with art and science in view. Society 

 does not think. Mental development as well as (esthetic — from 

 the most rudimentary technique to the efflorescence of philosophy, 

 science, and art — rests essentially on the faculties of the individual : 

 it is human not social. Of course, this human development is 

 only possible within society. Between the human and the social 

 there is constant action and reaction, and with the very beginnings 

 of thought we are confronted by the problem of the nature of 

 this interrelation between the individual — as a thinking being — 

 and society. It develops particularly with that very complex 

 group of phenomena which we call religious. But in spite of 

 appearances we believe it to be as impossible to speak of a religious 

 function of society as of a mental or (esthetic one. Religion 

 consists fundamentally of a connected system of beliefs and 

 practices related to a given milieu and to forces surrounding and 

 transcending those of man : in other words, it is an inter- 

 pretation of the objects by which human activity tends to be 

 regulated. It gives expression to the most profound anxieties of 

 developing thought and amalgamates them with the most varied 



