74 evolution: the ages and tomorrow 



has already been mentioned in Chapter 6. Sociologists and 

 psychologists have always been impressed by the possibilities 

 of the parent-offspring relationship, particularly in higher 

 animals. Ashley Montagu feels that the immediate basis of the 

 urge toward mutual aid is in this relationship— the fact that 

 the offspring is, however short the time, dependent on the 

 parent. He applies his hypothesis even to unicellular life 

 where reproduction is by fission to form daughter cells. The 

 daughter cells, he points out, owe their existence to the 

 proper functioning of the mother cell during mitosis. They 

 are interdependent and form the beginning of a social life. 

 Every new individual is the result of a reproductive coop- 

 eration, and cooperation is as basic a characteristic of life as 

 irritability and motility. The dependence of offspring on 

 parent in higher animals is very much more apparent, and 

 Montagu describes in detail the effects of this relationship in 

 the life of man. The human infant gets a social "inclination" 

 when it comes to connect emotionally the provider with the 

 physical satisfaction of the warmth and food which it is en- 

 joying. And this social "inclination" is never lost. 



Nature reveals in the species living today all stages in the 

 evolution of societies, from mere collections of animals to 

 the high organization of social insects and the civilizations 

 of man. Collections of animals around food or at water holes 

 or along shore lines are not generally indicative of social 

 organization; but, even in these situations, some observers 

 have found a tendency, particularly in mixed shore birds, to 

 establish leadership. Some would even say that no collection 

 around any more or less permanent situation is without some 

 organization. In any case, as Allee points out, the more 

 closely-knit societies arise out of simple aggregations which 

 are often, but not always, of the sexual-familial pattern. He 

 feels certain that an underlying element of automatic mutual 

 aid is involved, since he and others have experimentally dem- 

 onstrated survival values for the group, however loose or 

 unorganized. 



