NEO-DARWINIAN SOCIOLOGISTS 87 



pictures the misery of the exploited classes in industrial centers 

 and seems to feel that all this is natural and necessary, — neces- 

 sary for the good of the social organism with special emphasis 

 on unborn generations. 1 



Having read the first three chapters with emphasis on rivalry 

 between individuals as a basis of selection, — though he fails to 

 indicate how there can be selection for he admits that the masses 

 who do not succeed leave the largest number of offspring, 2 — one 

 is surprised to find later that Mr. Kidd repudiates the commonly 

 accepted belief among biological sociologists concerning the 

 differential in average mental capacity between primitive and 

 modern man. 3 His view seems to be that with the advent of 

 man natural selection turned to the production of those qualities 

 of character which make for group efficiency such as energy, 

 vigor, 4 virility, courage, integrity 6 and simple-minded devotion 

 to conceptions of duty, 6 but he fails to show how these qualities 

 are produced. He lays great stress on the increasing prevalence 

 of the doctrine of the equality of all men and traces this to " the 

 great fund of altruistic feeling generated by the ethical system 

 upon which our civilization is founded," 7 — but he does not 

 furnish a shred of evidence that this feeling is due to selection 

 rather than to the increase of co-operation, intercourse and educa- 

 tion. Indeed as to the other qualities which he holds to be of 

 supreme worth in the individuals of the successful group, — these 

 are the result of a complex of physical and social conditions and 

 by no means solely the product of selection. In other words, 

 there is no more reason for believing that the western nations 

 excel others in the social and religious instincts than there is for 

 believing that they excel in average mental ability. 



The struggle between groups results, as Kidd shows, in the 

 survival of the groups that on the whole are best adapted to the 

 conditions of life in which they are placed, and survival power 

 depends not only on the social efficiency of the individual mem- 

 bers, but on the efficiency of the social organization. 8 It depends 



1 Social Evolution, ch. II. 5 Ibid., p. 61. 



2 Ibid., pp. 278 f., 37 2 . 3 8 4- 6 Ibid., p. 349. 



3 Ibid., ch. IX. ' Ibid., p. 182. 



4 Ibid., p. 58. 8 Ibid., pp. 68 f. 



