Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Journal of Sociology: The American
Journal of Sociology: The American
Journal of Sociology: The American
JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
VOLUME X MARCH, I 905 NUMBER 5
I
When we speak of a house, a village, or a city,the idea
immediately arisingin our mindsis that of a visiblebuilding,
or of largeror smallergroupsof buildings; but soon we also
recollectthe visiblecontentsof these buildings,such as rooms
and cellarsand theirfurniture;or, when groups of buildings
are concerned, the roads and streetsbetweenthem. The words
"house," "village," and "city" are,however,used in a different
sensewhenwe have in mindtheparticularcontentsof buildings
whichwe call theirinhabitants, especiallytheirhumanoccupants.
Veryoften,at least in manylanguages,peopleare not onlycon-
ceivedof as theinhabitants of,butas identicalwith,thebuildings.
We say,forinstance,"the entirehouse,""the wholevillage" -
meaninga lot of peoplethe idea of whom is closelyconnected
withtheidea of theirusual dwelling-place.We thinkof themas
beingone withtheircommonhabitation. Neverthelessit is still
a visibleunion of individualswhich we have in mind. This
visibleunion,however,changesintoan invisibleone, whenit is
conceived ofas lastingthrough severalgenerations.Nowthehouse
willbecomeidentified witha familyor perhapswitha clan. In the
samemannera villagecommunity or a townshipwillbe imagined
as a collectivebeing,which-although not in all, yet in certain
important respects-remains the same in essence,notwithstand-
ing a shiftingof matter;thatis to say, an incessantelimination
of waste portions- men who die - and a constant accretion of
fresh elements- born children. Here the analogy with the
essentialcharacteristicsof an organismis obvious. Vegetable
and animal organismslikewiseare only representedby such
elementsas are visibleat anytime,and thelaw of lifeconsistsin
this,that the remainingportionsalways predominateover the
eliminatedand the reproducedones, and thatthe latterby and
by moveand fillup thevacantspaces,whiletherelationsof parts
of cellsas tissues,or of tissuesas organs
e. g., theco-operation
-do notundergoa substantial change. Thus suchan application
of biological notions
to thesocial lifeof mankind - as theorgani-
cist theoriesor methodsset out to do is not to be rejectedon
-
principle. We may,in fact,look upon any community of this
572 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY