CHAPTER VII 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPT OF SOCIETY AS 

 AN ORGANISM 



WE have noted the use of the organic analogy by Comte and 

 Spencer and its exaggerated use by Lilienf eld. In this chapter we 

 will consider the development of the concept, especially as re- 

 lated to our subject, in the social theories of Schaffle, Mackenzie, 

 Le Bon and Durkheim, with some reference to other writers. 1 



In our discussion of Spencer we called attention to the very 

 great emphasis placed by him on passive adaptation. In his 

 thought society, meaning, usually, the sovereign group, is a 

 quasi-biological organism, or " super-organism," subject, in its 

 growth and decline, to the same mechanical laws as a biological 

 organism. Almost no place was given by him to the concept of 

 active adaptation. Lilienfeld, as we saw, brought into promi- 

 nence the idea of social pathology and social therapeutics (a 

 figurative term for active adaptation), although his reasoning 

 was so largely deductive as to be of little scientific value. Those 

 whom we are to consider in this chapter have made more use of the 

 inductive and historical methods and have carried the discussion 

 further into the realm of the psychical than did the earlier writers, 

 bringing into prominence the thought of society as a psychical 

 organism, thus preparing the way for greater emphasis on active 

 adaptation. 



ALBERT SCHAFFLE (1831-1903) 

 The Social Organism 



According to Earth, SchafHe made slight advance over Spencer 

 in the use of the organic concept in several minor particulars: (i) 

 as to the structure of society, Schaffle does not consider the 

 individual to be the social unit in all social relations, but rather 



1 Barth discusses the use of this concept by Spencer, Lilienfeld, Schaffle, Fouille'e, 

 and Worms, op. cit., ch. IV. 



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