148 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



given us profound studies of imitation and invention; Gumplo- 

 wicz and Lc Bon, of the psychology of races and culture groups; 

 ]S^ovico^v, of the psychology of conflict and toleration; Le Bon 

 and Durkheim, of the psychology of crowds, of co-operation, and 

 of the division of labor; Baldwin, of the psychology of the social 

 unit — the socius. 



Thus it appears that w^hile sharp disagreements of opinion still 

 exist relative to the priority or the generality of one or another of 

 these psychic factors in the social process, discussion has focused 

 about the psychological phenomena themselves. There has been 

 a progressive limitation of the field and an increasing definiteness 

 of conception and hypothesis. 



My own effort, if now I may be pardoned for referring to it, 

 has been to restrict the field yet further, and to make the prob- 

 lems of sociology yet more specific. I have contended that these 

 psychological phenomena which have been seized upon for pur- 

 poses of sociological interpretation are still too vaguely conceived. 

 They are often disclosed to the inquirer in purely individual as 

 well as in social aspects. The lines of inquiry between the study 

 of mind in general, of mind as individual, and of mind as mani- 

 festing itself socially in the concert or co-operation of a number 

 of individual minds, have not been drawn with sufficient precision. 

 I have tried to show that the psychological phenomena that Ward, 

 Tarde, Gumplowicz, ISTovicow, Le Bon, Durkheim, Baldwin, and 

 others have so admirably analyzed as psychic factors of society are 

 social when, and only when, they have certain coefficients, name- 

 ly: (1) The coefficient of resemblance — that is, a fundamental 

 similarity of individuals to one another underlying and, on the 

 whole, dominating their innumerable differences; (2) the coeffi- 

 cient of awareness or consciousness of resemblance — that is to say, 

 certain feelings, perceptions, or thoughts of resemblance, which 

 give rise to varied prejudices and preferences that facilitate or 

 prevent effective co-operation. Whether this contention of mine 

 will prevail, wliether tliere will ultimately be a general agreement 

 among sociologists that these coefficients of resemblance and con- 

 sciousness of kind are the true differentia of social phenomena, 

 time and further research must determine. 



The second inquiry through which w^e may learn somewhat of 

 the present position of sociology relates to the development of 

 method. Exact method in social research is statistical. Wher- 

 ever w^e can obtain numerical data within the domain of social 

 phenomena, there we arrive at exact or quantitative knowledge. 

 The development and application of statistical methods to social 

 problems has been one of the most striking scientific achievements 



