348 



ARISTO CRA CY AND E VOL UTION 



Book IV 

 Chapter 3 



The majority 

 of each class 

 will remain in 

 the class in 

 which they 

 werejborn. 



Only the 

 efficiently ex- 

 ceptional can 

 rise out of their 

 own class ; 



equality of social conditions. The facts of the case 

 are precisely the reverse of these. Civilisation 

 originated in, and is still maintained by, men whose 

 capacities are unequal to those of the majority ; and 

 just as there is no tendency towards equality in 

 capacity, so, for reasons which have been explained 

 in the last chapter, there is no tendency towards 

 equality in social conditions. Inequalities of con- 

 dition may at some times be greater than at others, 

 but the fact that at times they show a tendency to 

 become less is no more a sign that they have any 

 tendency to disappear than the fact that an economy 

 has been effected in the consumption of coal on board 

 a steamship is a sign that steam has a tendency to be 

 generated without fire. It is therefore a scientific 

 certainty that of each generation of children in 

 every civilised country the majority will, throughout 

 their subsequent lives, occupy positions very different 

 from those of the few. Most of the members of 

 each class will remain in the position in which they 

 were born ; but there will be a gradual descent from 

 the upper classes of their weaker members into the 

 lower, and amongst the stronger members of the 

 lower classes there will be a constant potential desire 

 to push their way into the upper. Some of these last 

 are strong in potential desire only. With others the 

 strength of desire is accompanied by corresponding 

 talent, by means of which, if developed, the position 

 which they desire will be obtained. It will be 

 obtained by the talent of these men, because the 

 talent of such men is creative ; and when it is 



