852 SOCIAL STRUCTURE 



The existence of wealth i. e., of a large number of wealthy 

 citizens creates another kind of leisure class, and many, freed 

 from the trammels of toil, turn their attention to various higher 

 pursuits. Art and literature arise, and civilizing and refining influ- 

 ences begin. Voluntary organizations of many kinds, all having 

 different objects, are formed. Besides innumerable business combin- 

 ations and corporations, there spring up associations for mutual aid, 

 for intellectual improvement, for social intercourse, for amusement 

 and pleasure, and also eventually for charitable and benevolent 

 purposes. Educational systems are established, and the study of 

 human history, of art and letters, and finally of nature, is under- 

 taken. The era of science at last opens, invention and discovery 

 are stimulated, and the conquest of nature and the mastery of the 

 world begin. 



Every one of these civilizing agencies is a social structure and 

 all of them are the products of the one universal process. They 

 represent the products of that intensive activity which results 

 from the primary clash and conflict of the social forces in the fierce 

 grapple of hostile hordes and clans, and the far fiercer battles of 

 developed nations bent on each other's conquest and subjugation. 

 To see all this one has only to read the history of any of the great 

 nations of the world that are leading the civilization of to-day. 

 Every one is familiar with the history of England, for example. 

 No less than four typical social assimilations have taken place on 

 English soil since the earliest recorded annals of that country began. 

 Think of the animosities and hostilities, the bitter race-hatred, the 

 desperate struggles, the prolonged wars, that characterize the 

 history of England. What has become of all these warring elements? 

 There is no country in the world where patriotism is higher than 

 in England, and it is shared alike by Saxon and Celt, by Scot and 

 Briton. Who now are the Normans that constituted the last con- 

 quering race? And do the Saxons, when they can be distinguished, 

 any longer feel the chains that once manacled them? The equi- 

 libration is complete, and all class distinctions, at least those arising 

 out of the race-question, have totally disappeared. On the other 

 hand, consider the achievements of England. Contemplate the 

 wonderful social efficiency of that many times amalgamated people. 

 The sociologist cannot shut his eyes to the fact that the social effi- 

 ciency is mainly due to the repeated amalgamations and to the 

 intensity of the resultant social struggles, developing, molding, and 

 strengthening social structures. 



France or Germany would show the same general truth, and 

 those who are equally familiar with their history will find no diffi- 

 culty in paralleling every step in the process of national develop- 

 ment in all these countries. Austria seems to present an exception, 



