INVENTION AND PRODUCTION 24 1 



In the ideal commonwealth under a pleasure economy there 

 must be the elimination of all such rivalries and conflicts as pro- 

 duce fear. 1 In such a commonwealth " the economic forces would 

 constitute the first and elementary bonds uniting the members 

 of such a society," leading to division of labor, the storing of 

 energy in the form of capital, and, as a result of differences in soil, 

 climate, and universal products, to commerce. Self-interest would 

 call for co-operation and organization. The conditions of con- 

 sumption as well as of production would assist in uniting men. 2 



Increase in standard of living with variety in diet results in 

 greater social interdependence as well as in increased individual 

 well-being. 3 Increasing range of desires and the demand for 

 harmonious groups of utilities are potent factors in the formation 

 of social organizations. 4 " The economic forces, therefore, are 

 sufficient to create powerful bonds uniting the individuals into a 

 social commonwealth even if they feel no other motives than 

 those due to the pursuit of pleasure." 5 " The race ideals are an 

 outgrowth of the same process through which harmonious groups 

 in consumption are formed." 6 The aesthetic ideals are the first 

 to be formed, then the moral and finally the religious. 7 



Thus according to our author, up to the present man has been 

 dominated largely by fear and pain due to lack of adjustment with 

 his environment and this failure, in turn, has been due primarily 

 to lack of productive power. With increased power over his 

 environment (active material adaptation) there results normally 

 a surplus of energy, motor activity and pleasure, the process of 

 industrial evolution leading to ever increasing social bonds and 

 institutions, these being supplemented by associations arising out 

 of consumption. The greatest danger in this process arises from 

 the tendency to expend this surplus energy in wasteful consump- 

 tion, i. e., consumption not resulting in health, growth, and in 

 those forms of activity that increase individual and social well- 

 being. Such wasteful consumption is dissipation leading to 

 degeneration and elimination by the law of selection. 8 The con- 



x Theory of Social Forces, p. 83. 6 Ibid., p. 90. 



2 Ibid., pp. 85 f. 6 Ibid., p. 91. 



3 Ibid., pp. 86 f. 7 Ibid., p. 94. 



4 Ibid., p. 89. 8 Theory of Prosperity, pp. 166 f ., 180. 



