ACTIVE SOCIAL ADAPTATION 273 



Now this winning quality of evoking sympathy (se rendre 

 sympathique) is incompatible with the use of physical force. 



No one can compel love by force. The only way one can evoke sympathy 

 is by possessing the qualities which are admired. If one society experiences 

 admiration for the intellectual culture of another, this admiration provokes 

 sympathy and leads it to imitate the models which are pleasing. To provoke 

 imitation is the most efficient process in the domain of sentiment. 1 



Although Novicow's use of the terms sympathie and sympatheti- 

 que are not the best in this connection, his emphasis on the 

 importance of " provoking imitation " as a factor in social prog- 

 ress is of the greatest significance in our discussion. The con- 

 clusion to his analysis of feeling is as follows: 



The power which one society possesses of assimilating a lower society and 

 its power of radiating influence is in direct proportion to the sympathy it can 

 evoke. Now the ability to absorb strange elements and to make conquests 

 outside are the very conditions of the growth of societies. We conclude, 

 then, that . . . other things being equal, the nation which evokes the most 

 sympathy will be the most powerful. 2 



In discussing " denationalization " Novicow points out the 

 value of homogeneity to a political group and shows how ineffectual 

 are the coercive methods used almost exclusively up to the present 

 time by rulers in their endeavor to assimilate subject peoples 

 differing in language and culture. 3 He condemns the current 

 political theory and practice which make the territory belonging 

 to a nation under the absolute control of the rulers to be disposed 

 of as they wish without regard to the desire of the private owners 

 and occupiers of the land, and holds that migration, alliance, 

 union and realignment of groups should be absolutely free and 

 based entirely on the laws of social attraction or " sympathy." 

 For example he believes that the northern states were not 

 justified in '6 1 in preventing the secession of the southern states; 

 that Alsace and Lorraine should themselves decide as to whether 

 they would be a part of Germany or France. 4 



The reason assigned for the failure of coercion to secure group 

 homogeneity is the fact noted above that assimilation is a matter 

 of feeling. The " sympathy " of the subject people must be won 



1 Les Luttes, pp. 122, 276 ff. 3 Ibid., p. 127. 



1 Ibid., p. 124. * Ibid., pp. 251, 252. 



