434 THE OEIGIN OF TEADITION 



between density of population and division of labour. Again, in 

 modern communities there is an apparent anomaly. There are 

 considerable differences as regards the amount and kind of 

 tradition present in the different strata of society, and this may 

 appear all the more anomalous because in such societies the 

 division of labour has been developed to the greatest extent. 

 Tradition, it would seem, should be very uniform. Uniformity 

 of tradition, on the other hand, is a mark of primitive society. 

 But this anomaly is only apparent. Among primitive races there 

 is infinitely less tradition than among civilized races. Among the 

 latter not only is the amount of tradition vast, but it is in the 

 course of rapid evolution, and there is therefore in the first place 

 a far greater possibility for differences in tradition to arise. 

 Further, the very fact of the division of labour means that different 

 forms of skill are cultivated dehberately by different elements 

 of the community. Thence arise the differences in social customs 

 and conventions which are apparent in the different strata of 

 modern society. Where there is division of labour, there must be, 

 as we have seen, differences in the acquirement of the tradition 

 of skill, and we may think of the differences in the social and 

 conventional tradition as originating in the differences in functions. 

 Where there is ownership of property on a large scale, ownership 

 may be regarded as a function in society, and clearly enough 

 certain customs and conventions become connected with this 

 function and distinguish the so-called upper classes. Differences 

 in social tradition so arising do lead to some approach to a seg- 

 mentary division of society. Once classes are set up, there 

 is a tendency for a man to take his position rather according to 

 his class than accorchng to his function. Actually what happens 

 is that the upper classes adopt certain functions, the sacer- 

 dotal or the military for example, and thus the differences in 

 custom and convention become somewhat artificially perpetuated, 

 perpetuated that is to say over and above the distinctions which 

 would be the inevitable accompaniment of different functions. 

 In this fashion class becomes of considerable importance in 

 modern communities as a barrier to the transmission of tradition, 

 and there is thus less coalescence between those performing 

 different functions than the mere division of labour brings about. 

 Interesting as are these modifications of the working of what 

 we have called economic factors, they do not seriously affect the 



