CHAPTER VII 
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPT OF SOCIETY AS 
AN ORGANISM 
WE have noted the use of the organic analogy by Comte and 
Spencer and its exaggerated use by Lilienfeld. In this chapter we 
will consider the development of the concept, especially as re- 
lated to our subject, in the social theories of Schaffle, Mackenzie, 
Le Bon and Durkheim, with some reference to other writers.! 
In our discussion of Spencer we called attention to the very 
great emphasis placed by him on passive adaptation. In his 
thought society, meaning, usually, the sovereign group, is a 
quasi-biological organism, or “‘ super-organism,” subject, in its 
growth and decline, to the same mechanical laws as a biological 
organism. Almost no place was given by him to the concept of 
active adaptation. Lilienfeld, as we saw, brought into promi- 
nence the idea of social pathology and social therapeutics (a 
figurative term for active adaptation), although his reasoning 
was so largely deductive as to be of little scientific value. Those 
whom we are to consider in this chapter have made more useof the 
inductive and historical methods and have carried the discussion 
further into the realm of the psychical than did the earlier writers, 
bringing into prominence the thought of society as a psychical 
organism, thus preparing the way for greater emphasis on active 
adaptation. 
ALBERT SCHAFFLE (1831-1903) 
The Social Organism 
According to Barth, Schiffle made slight advance over Spencer 
in the use of the organic concept in several minor particulars: (x) 
as to the structure of society, Schiffle does not consider the 
individual to be the social unit in all social relations, but rather 
1 Barth discusses the use of this concept by Spencer, Lilienfeld, Schaffle, Fouillée, 
and Worms, of. cit., ch. IV. 
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