CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: THE NATURE OF IN ITS broadest meaning the term "sociology" embraces the systematic treatment of all the interests that arise from the life of men in social aggregates.1 So considered, it includes within its general scope such particular branches of inquiry as Economics, Law, and Politics. In these special departments of knowledge, the facts dealt with are largely the same, the differences consisting in the standpoints from which they are viewed. Thus, for example, the subject of crime is of concern to the economist. He is interested in its cost to society, the extent to which it is due to economic conditions, and the manner in which it enters as a disturbing element into economic life by rendering insecure the possession of property. To the lawyer, the subject is of importance as a violation of law, and as necessitating legal action for its punishment or prevention. To the student of Political Science it is of interest as being a revolt against the constituted authorities of the land, as an anarchistic element in the body politic, and, if widespread and continued, as endangering the very existence of the State itself. Or, as the difference has been stated by a distinguished English economist: Economics is not a complete philosophy of society; it does not give a complete account even of that part of human conduct which it studies. The social relations to which business gives rise are the subject matter not only of Economics but also of the 1See W. W. Willoughby, The Nature of the State, p. 1 ff. The Social Ethics, 2 PROBLEM OF GOVERNMENT science of Politics, the study of social action in general, and of Ethics, the study of conduct in general. And Economics is the subordinate study of the three, because the problems of social practice to which its study is directed are seldom purely economic, and when it comes to action the ethical aspect is always, and the political aspect is usually, more important than the economic aspect. The study of the economic element in social and political problems is essential if they are to be solved, but few of them can be decided by purely economic considerations alone.1 To distinguish then, the domain of Political Science from the larger field of sociology and from the other special departments of knowledge embraced therein, we may say that Political Science deals with society solely from its organized standpoint-that is, as effectively organized under a supreme authority for the maintenance of an The domain orderly and progressive existence. We thus distinguish between the conception of an aggregate of men as politically organized—as constituting a body politic—and the same community of men as forming merely a group of individuals with mutual economic and social interests. The body politic is the social body plus the political organization. of Politics An aggregate of men living together and united by common interests and relationships may be termed a society. A human "society" is distinguished from the types of communal life exhibited by the lower beings, such as bees, wasps, and ants, in that there is in the minds of its members a common consciousness of mutual interests and aims. Giddings says: H. Clay, Economics for the General Reader, p. 15. cance. "Regarding man in his capacity as a self-directing individual, there are three fundamental aspects of civilization that have continuing and permanent signifiThese fundamental aspects are Ethics, the doctrine of conduct and service; Economics, the doctrine of gainful occupation; and Politics, the doctrine of reconciliation between the two and of living together in harmony and helpfulness. These are the three subjects which must lie at the heart of an effective education which has learned the lessons of war. To these all other forms of instruction are either introductory and ancillary, or complementary and interpretative." N. M. Butler, "Education after the War," Educational Review, January, 1919, p. 69. When human so Human society truly begins when social consciousness and tradition are so far developed that all social relations exist not only objectively as physical facts of association, but subjectively ciety begins also, in the thought, feeling, and purpose of the associated individuals. It is this subjective fact that differentiates human from animal communities. In its social consciousness a community has a living bond of union. The mutual aid and protection of individuals, operating in an unconscious way, are no longer the only means that preserve social cohesion: the community feels and perceives its unity. The feeling must be destroyed before rupture can occur.1 When this society becomes organized for the effectuation of certain general, or, as they are called, political interests, and with a magistracy into whose hands is entrusted the exercise of its controlling authority, it assumes a political form, and a State is said to exist. The rules defining the contents of this authority and the manner of its exercise may be termed the Constitution. As a preliminary definition of the State, we may say, therefore, that wherever there can be discovered in any community of men a supreme authority exercising control over the social actions of individuals and groups of individuals, and itself subject to no such regulation, there we have a State. The definition given by Holland is as follows: A State is a numerous assemblage of human beings generally occupying a certain territory amongst whom the will of the majority, or of an ascertainable class of persons, is, by the strength of such a majority or class, made to prevail against any of their number who oppose it.2 Ihering defines the State as "the form of a regulated and assured exercise of the compulsory force of society," while Burgess describes it less specifically as "a particular portion of mankind viewed as an organized unit."4 "The Theory of Society," Supplement to the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, July, 1894, pp. 57, 60. Elements of Jurisprudence, 6th ed., p. 40. 'Der Zweck im Recht, Vol. I, p. 307. 'Political Science and Constitutional Law, Vol. I, p. 51. Nature of the State |