796 SOCIOLOGY 



examine our concepts of the great processes of social evolution, 

 and of the causes in operation. 



We accept the evolutionist point of view, and regard all the trans- 

 formations that occur within any social group as a phase of that 

 ceaseless equilibration of energy taking place throughout the uni- 

 verse. Every finite aggregate of matter is in contact or communica- 

 tion with other finite aggregates, no two of which are equally charged 

 with energy. From the aggregate more highly charged, energy is 

 given off to aggregates that are undercharged, and in this process 

 the strong absorbs, or disintegrates, or transforms, the weak. Every 

 social group, animal or human, since time began, has been in ceaseless 

 struggle with its material environment and with other social groups. 

 Whatever has happened to it or within it is most intelligibly ac- 

 counted for if we view the process as one of equilibration of energies, 

 between the group and its environment, or between group and group, 

 or between unequal and conflicting elements within the group itself. 



The modes that this equilibration assumes are many. 



There is, first, the external equilibration of the society with its 

 surroundings. This gives rise to the processes of migration, in which 

 populations move from place to place in search of new food-supplies. 

 Social groups are thus brought into conflict with one another, and 

 the activities of militarism are engendered. 



There is, next, a process of combined external and internal equi- 

 libration. Migration is its chief manifestation, but the migration 

 is not now one of entire populations organized for war and conquest. 

 It is one of individuals or families, moving from land to land in search 

 of economic opportunity or of religious or political liberty, and its 

 consequence is that exceeding heterogeneity of the demotic com- 

 position which is seen, for example, in the population of the United 

 States. 



There are, thirdly, the processes of internal equilibration. First 

 among these is the differentiation of the mind of the population, 

 consequent upon some degree of unlikeness and inequality in the 

 responses of differing individuals to the common stimuli to which 

 all are subjected. This is followed by the segregation of resemb- 

 ling products into types and classes. Secondly, there is an evolu- 

 tion of the consciousness of kind, with increasing attention to means 

 of communication and association. Thirdly, there is a struggle 

 between strong individuals and weak, between leaders and fol- 

 lowers, between strong and weak classes. This equilibration may 

 take one of three possible forms: (1) the subjugation and per- 

 haps the enslavement of the weak by the strong; (2) economic 

 exploitation; (3) the uplifting of the weak by the strong through 

 education, justice, and economic aid. The moral advance of so- 

 ciety is a progress from equilibration through subjugation and 



