236 TABOO AND GENETICS 



From the viewpoint of psychology, we may 

 briefly summarize the whole situation by saying 

 that society has imposed upon its members a 

 uniform and inflexible type of sexual relation- 

 ships and reproductive activities with a total 

 disregard of individual differences in its demand 

 for conformity to these traditions. When the 

 infinite number of variations and modifications 

 possible in the sexual hfe of different individuals 

 is taken into consideration, it is obvious that 

 there must be a certain disharmony between 

 personal inclinations and social standards. 

 Because the power of the group control is very 

 great, its members usually repress emotions 

 which are not in accord with its regulations, and 

 shape their conduct to meet with its approval. 

 If such a restriction of the personahty and 

 emotional life of the individual is necessary for 

 the welfare of the whole race and for social pro- 

 gress, its existence is entirely justified. It is 

 our next task, therefore, to determine in what 

 respects a rigid and irrational social control is 

 conducive to human betterment, and wherein, 

 if at all, it fails to achieve this purpose. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR CHAPTER II 



1, Adler, Alfred. The Neurotic Constitution. Mofiat, 



Yard, N. Y., 1917. (Kegan Paul & Co., 1921.) 



2. Adler, Alfred. A Study of Organic Inferiority and Its 



Psychic Compensation. Nervous & Mental Disease 

 Pub. Co., N. Y., 1917. 



