794 SOCIOLOGY 



hood, theories, which later on are borrowed, adapted, and general- 

 ized by the great humanitarian religions, like Buddhism and Christ- 

 ianity. Suggested by societies of congenial spirits we have the 

 consciousness-of-kind theories, voiced in the proverb that "birds 

 of a feather flock together," in the saying of Empedocles that "like 

 desires like," in the word of Ecclesiasticus that "all flesh consorteth 

 according to kind, and a man will cleave to his like." From appro- 

 bational societies have come our natural- justice theories. From 

 despotic societies have come our political-sovereignty theories that 

 "might makes right," in the sense of creating law and order. From 

 authoritative societies have come theories of the divine right of 

 kings; from conspirital societies have come Machiavellian theories 

 of the inevitableness of intrigue and conspiracy; and from societies 

 long used to deliberative assemblies, to charters of liberty, and 

 bills of rights, have come the social covenant or contract theories 

 of Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau. Finally, from societies that have 

 attained the heights of civilization have come the Utopian theories, 

 from Plato until now. 



Whatever the kind or type of the society, there are found in it 

 four great classes or groupings of facts. 



Every society presupposes a certain number of concrete living 

 individuals. The basis of every society, therefore, is a population. 

 Every Social Population offers for observation phenomena of aggre- 

 gation, or distribution of density; phenomena of composition, by 

 age, sex, and race; and phenomena of amalgamation or unity. 



The social life, however, as we have seen, is a phenomenon of 

 mind, and the varied modes that the common activity and inter- 

 play of minds assume, present the second great class of social facts. 

 These facts of the Social Mind, as we may call them, include the 

 phenomena of stimulation and response in their generic forms; 

 phenomena of resemblances and differences, that is to say, of types; 

 phenomena of the consciousness of kind, and phenomena of con- 

 certed volition. 



The common mental activity, taking habitual forms, creates 

 permanent social relationships, that is to say, a more or less com- 

 plex Social Organization. In this we meet the third great class of 

 social facts. Two general forms may be observed. In one form, 

 individuals dwell together in groups that, by coalescence and federa- 

 tion, compose the great compound societies. These groups collect- 

 ively may be called the social composition. In the other form, in- 

 dividuals, with more or less disregard of residence, combine in 

 associations to achieve specific ends. Such associations collectively 

 represent the social division of labor, and therefore may be called 

 the social constitution. In its entirety and in its subdivisions the 



