THE ORGANIC CONCEPT OF SOCIETY 1 43 



consciousness of supplementary difference. The result of this 

 process has been ever increasing organic solidarity in societies. 



One of the strongest proofs of his position he finds in the de- 

 crease of mechanical solidarity and increase of organic solidarity 

 as revealed in the decrease of repressive rights and criminal laws 

 and increase of co-operative rights and laws. 1 



The social ideal is a society where the division of labor produces 

 such a condition that social inequalities express natural inequali- 

 ties. Under such normal conditions we have the greatest possible 

 individual and social well-being. 



The only cause which determines the manner by which work is divided is 

 diversity of capacity. By reason of this the division is made on this basis. 

 Thus there is realized of itself a harmony between the constitution of each 

 individual and his condition. One may say that this is not always sufficient 

 to content men; that there are those whose desires exceed their abilities. It 

 is true but such cases are exceptions not the rule. Normally man finds happi- 

 ness in filling his natural place in society; his needs are in correspondence 

 with his means. Thus in the organism each organ claims only that amount 

 of aliment proportionate to its dignity. 2 



Most, I think, would say that this was the ideal rather than the 

 normally actual. But even as an ideal it is suggestive, and as the 

 disparity between the actual and the ideal is the background for 

 individual and social telic endeavor, we have in this condition the 

 chief sphere for the process of active as against passive adapta- 

 tion. And indeed Durkheim recognizes this but considers as 

 normal what we should term ideal and as abnormal what statis- 

 tics by use of a frequency curve would doubtless show to be 

 normal. He seems to have been misled by Comte's theory of 

 society as a developing personality, by the general organic 

 analogy and by Galton's theory of natural ability. The law of 

 adaptation does not work so rigidly in social evolution at present 

 as to bring about the survival of those societies only where divi- 

 sion of labor is based on natural capacity to the degree assumed 

 by our author. Indeed, as we have seen, we have no data avail- 

 able which afford proof of such differences in ability as assumed 

 by Galton and Durkheim. 



1 De la Division du Travail Social, ch. V. 2 Ibid., pp. 421, 422. 



