THE MILITANT TYPE OF SOCIETY. 575 



the aid which the non-combatant body has to furnish cannot 

 be insured. 



555. That binding together by which the units of a 

 militant society are made into an efficient fighting structure, 

 tends to fix the position of each in rank, in occupation, and 

 in locality. 



In a graduated regulative organization there is resistance 

 to change from a lower to a higher grade. Such change is 

 made difficult by lack of the possessions needed for filling 

 superior positions ; and it is made difficult by the opposition 

 of those who already fill them, and can hold inferiors down. 

 Preventing intrusion from below, these transmit their respec 

 tive places and ranks to their descendants ; and as the 

 principle of inheritance becomes settled, the rigidity of the 

 social structure becomes decided. Only where an &quot;egali 

 tarian despotism &quot; reduces all subjects to the same political 

 status a condition of decay rather than of development 

 does the converse state arise. 



The principle of inheritance, becoming established in 

 respect of the classes which militancy originates, and fixing 

 the general functions of their members from generation to 

 generation, tends eventually to fix also their special functions. 

 Not only do men of the slave-classes and the artizan-classes 

 succeed to their respective ranks, but they succeed to the 

 particular occupations carried on in them. This, which is a 

 result of the tendency towards regimentation, is ascribable 

 primarily to the fact that a superior, requiring from each kind 

 of worker his particular product, has an interest in replacing 

 him at death by a capable successor ; while the worker, 

 prompted to get aid in executing his tasks, has an interest 

 in bringing up a son to his own occupation: the will of the 

 son being powerless against these conspiring interests. Under 

 the system of compulsory cooperation, therefore, the prin 

 ciple of inheritance, spreading through the producing organi 

 sation, causes a relative rigidity in this also. 



