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Control of Mechatronic Systems
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Control of Mechatronic Systems
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some content that appears
in standard print versions of this book may not be available in other formats.
Contents
Preface xiii
Acknowledgment xix
About the Companion Website xxi
Index 469
xiii
Preface
The control of mechatronic systems and electrical-driven processes aims to provide tools
to ensure their operating performance in terms of productivity, optimization, reliability,
safety, continuous operations, and even stability. This is usually achieved through hybrid
control paradigms using digital or analog tools. Nowadays, digital tools are widely used to
implement control systems, as they offer numerous advantages including their ability: (i) to
ease control-system implementation; (ii) to design complex and built-in intelligent information
processing combining multiple functions for control, fault detection and diagnostic, monitor-
ing, and decision planning; (iii) to integrate logic and continuous control algorithms, as well
as supervision programs, into hybrid control strategies; (iv) to enhance the synchronization
of input and output process operations; (v) to coordinate control actions among geograph-
ically distributed systems and processes; and (vi) to achieve reliable and optimal operating
conditions.
The digital control system architecture usually consists of the integration of the following
functional units: a data-processing and computing unit, an electrical-driven actuating unit, a
measuring and detecting unit, a data acquisition (DAQ) and transmitting unit, and a signal con-
ditioning unit. The data-processing and computing unit can be implemented through devices
such as a microcontroller (μC), a programmable logic controller (PLC) with a control function,
a digital signal processing (DSP) unit, and a field-programmable gate array (FPGA).
The design of efficient control systems requires the mathematical modeling of mechatronic
systems and process dynamics. This can be achieved in accordance with the operating char-
acteristics (discrete and continuous) and objectives, as well as the technological constraints,
of the related instrumentation (signal conversion, transmission, conditioning, measurement,
actuation, etc.). However, in most of the current engineering literature on the design of digi-
tal control systems, the mathematical foundation of discrete-time and discrete-event systems is
usually presented separately from the technological constraints of control instrumentation. For
example, the operating time-delay models and signal-to-noise ratios of digital device interfaces
are not usually considered. Hence, the theoretical control algorithms proposed have limited
practical applicability.
Challenges in the development of a practical design approach for the control of mechatronic
systems and electrical-driven processes are: (i) to size and select control instrumentation in
accordance with controlled system design objectives; (ii) to develop accordingly the mathemat-
ical discrete hybrid model capturing their continuous and discrete event behavioristic char-
acteristics; and (iii) to integrate the control systems with respect to technological constraints
and operational characterization (discrete and continuous) (e.g. time delays, signal-to-noise
ratios, etc.).
This book intends to revisit the design concept for the control of mechatronic systems
and electrical-driven processes, along with the selection of control instrumentation. By
xiv Preface
reviewing the theory on discrete-time and discrete-event systems, as well as various elements
of control instrumentation, it offers an integrated approach for: (i) the modeling and analysis
of mechatronic systems dynamics and electrical-driven process operations; (ii) the selection of
actuating, sensing, and conversion devices; and (iii) the design of various controllers for single-
to multiple-function electrical-driven products (mechatronic systems) and processes. Further-
more, it covers some design applications from several engineering disciplines (mechanical,
manufacturing, chemical, electrical, computer, biomedical) through real-life digital control
system design problems (e.g. driverless vehicles, newborn incubators, elevator motion) and
industrial process control case studies (e.g. power grids, wind generators, crude oil distillation,
brewery bottle filling, beer fermentation).
Through this book, the reader should gain methods for: (i) model formulation, analy-
sis, and auditing of single- to multiple-function electrical-driven products and processes;
(ii) model-driven design of the software and hardware required for digital control instru-
mentation; (iii) sizing and selection of electrical-driven actuating systems (including electric
motors), along with their commonly used electro-transmission elements and binary actuators;
(iv) selection and calibration of devices for process variable measurement and computer
interfaces; and (v) modeling, operating, and integrating a wide variety of sensors and actuators.
Hence, the textbook is organized into eight chapters:
1) Introduction to the Control of Mechatronic Systems. Chapter 1 gives a brief conceptual defi-
nition and classification of mechatronic systems, electrical-driven technical processes, and
control systems structure. Here, a functional decomposition of the generic control system
architecture is presented, along with some examples to illustrate control instrumentation
for sensing, actuating, computing, signal converting, and conditioning. Furthermore, typi-
cal functions of generic controlled systems for electromechanical products and processes
are described, along with the interconnection between the control instrumentation ele-
ments. Generic requirements for control system design are outlined based on challenges to
software-based (design of hybrid architecture) and hardware-based (instrumentation siz-
ing, compliance, and selection) control system integration. This is summarized within a list
of the major steps in control design projects.
2) Physics-Based Systems and Processes: Dynamics Modeling. Chapter 2 presents numerous
examples of dynamics modeling for various electrical-driven systems and processes, includ-
ing transportation systems (e.g. a sea-port gantry crane, a hybrid vehicle, a Segway, an
elevator, a driverless car), production systems and processes (e.g. an energy-based wind
turbine, a drilling machine, a cement-based pozzolana scratcher), chemical processes (e.g.
oil distillation, a cake conveyor oven, city water treatment, fermentation, poultry scalding
and defeathering), fluidic and thermal systems and processes (a mixing tank, purified water
distribution, a conveyor oven, poultry scalding and defeathering thermal processes), and
biomedical systems (e.g. an infant incubator, human blood glucose insulin metabolism).
Systems and process behaviors can be captured through differential equations using an
experimental data modeling approach and classical physical laws of conservation and con-
tinuity. The resulting models are capable of displaying multiple and nonlinear variables as
well as time-variant parameter characteristics, which can further be simplified according to
the system physical properties or operating boundaries. A methodology for physics-based
modeling is presented through the deterministic or stochastic behavior models of com-
monly encountered electrical-driven systems and large-scale processes. A review on linear
modeling methods such as stochastics, dynamics responses, and state space is presented in
the Appendices.
Preface xv
3) Discrete-Time Modeling and Conversion Methods. Chapter 3 focuses on methods for deriv-
ing a discrete approximation of continuous systems and signals using tools such as the hold
equivalent, pole-zero mapping, numerical integration, and z-transformation theorems. A
technological description of computer control architecture and interface is proposed with
respect to DAQ unit operations, from the bus structure to data gathering, logging, and pro-
cessing with respect to signal noise reduction and approximation consideration. Critical
issues related to signal conversion, such as aliasing effects, along with a methodology for the
selection of a sample period, are also covered. Overall, the chapter topics include technology
and methods for continuous signal digital conversion and reconstruction, such as bilinear
transformation, discrete-time command sequence generation, computer control interface
for data logging, conditioning, and processing, sample time selection, and computer conver-
sion technology using various conversion techniques (successive approximation, dual-slope
ADC, delta-encoded ADC, etc.), as well as processing delay effects.
4) Discrete-Time Analysis Methods. Chapter 4 presents methods related to discrete system
dynamical analysis in the frequency and time domains. Moreover, stability definitions
and tests for discrete time systems are discussed and controlled system performance
assessment tools are outlined. The chapter aims to present discrete controller design spec-
ifications. Topics include frequency analysis tools such as DTFT, FFT, and DFT, discrete
zero- and pole-location plots, stability tests and criteria for discrete time systems
(Jury–Marden, Routh–Hurwitz), steady-state errors, performance indices (ITAE, ISE), and
time and frequency properties for controller design (settling time, percentage overshoot,
gain and phase margins).
5) Continuous Digital Controller Design. Chapter 5 presents various approaches to the design
of PID controller algorithms, such as continuous time design, discrete design, direct design
using roots locus, and frequency-response techniques, as well as some advanced techniques
such as model predictive control. Hence, using time- or frequency-domain controller spec-
ifications, numerous examples of the design and tuning of control algorithms are described,
ranging from PID family, deadbeat, feedforward, and cascade to non-interacting control
algorithms. In addition to stability analysis tests, performance indices and dynamics
response analysis are derived in frequency and time domains. Furthermore, the open-loop
controller design for stepper motors and scalar and vector control designs for induction
motors are described. Model predictive control algorithms suitable for process operations
with physical, safety, and performance constraints are also presented. Comparative analyses
between classical PID controllers with various state feedback topologies for DC motor
speed control are performed. Overall, chapter topics include cascade control, design and
tuning methods for discrete-time classical PID family controllers, and scalar and vector
control. The digital state feedback controller concept is revisited for cases where it is
not possible to measure all state variables. Comparatively, analyses between classical PID
controllers and various state feedback topologies for DC motor speed control are presented.
6) Boolean-Based Modeling and Logic Controller Design. Chapter 6 presents Boolean
function-based models that have been derived by using sequential or combinato-
rial logic-based techniques to capture the relationship between the state outputs of
discrete-event system operations and the state inputs of their transition conditions. Hence,
after performing process description and functional analysis, a design methodology of a
logic controller for process operations (discrete event systems) is proposed. Subsequent
systems behavioristic formal modeling is achieved by using techniques such as truth tables
and K-maps, sequence table analysis and switching theory, state diagrams (Mealy and
Moore), and even state function charts. Some illustrative examples covering key logic
xvi Preface
controller design steps are presented, from process schematics and involved I/O equipment
listings, wiring diagrams with some design strategies such as fail-safe design, and interlocks,
to state transition tables, I/O Boolean functions, and timing diagrams. Examples of logic
controller designs include cases of elevator vertical transportation, an automatic fruit
picker, a driverless car, and biomedical systems such as robot surgery and laser-based
surgery. Overall, the chapter topics cover: (i) the methodology for Boolean algebra based on
the modeling of discrete event systems; and (ii) logic controller design methodology for the
derivation of I/O Boolean functions based on truth tables and Karnaugh maps, switching
theory or state diagrams, wiring and electrical diagrams, and P&I and PF diagrams.
7) Hybrid Process Controller Design. Chapter 7 presents a generic design and implementation
methodology for process monitoring and control strategies (logic and continuous), with
algorithms to ensure the operational safety of hybrid systems (i.e. systems integrating
discrete-event and discrete-time characteristics). First, the functional and operational
process requirements are outlined, in order to define hybrid control and supervision
systems with respect to logic and continuous control software, data integration and process
data gathering, and multi-functional process data analysis and reporting. Subsequently, a
methodology is proposed for the design of monitoring and control systems. Some cases
are used to illustrate the design of process monitoring and hybrid control for elevator
motion, drying cement pozzolana, and a brewery bottle-washing process. Overall, chapter
topics include hybrid control system design, piping and instrumentation diagrams, system
operations, FAST and SADT decomposition methods, process start and stop operating
mode graphical analysis, and a sequential functional chart (SFC), as well as process interlock
design.
8) Mechatronics Instrumentation: Actuators and Sensors. Chapter 8 provides an overview of
electrical-driven actuators and sensors encountered in mechatronics, including their tech-
nical specifications and performance requirements. This is covered for electromechanical
actuating systems such as electric motors as well as some electrofluidics and elec-
trothermal actuating systems. Similarly, binary actuators such as electroactive polymers,
piezo-actuators, shape alloys, solenoids, and even nano devices are technically described
and modeled. Additionally, a spectrum of digital and analog sensing and detecting methods
are described, along with the technical characterization and physical operating principles
of the instrumentation commonly encountered in mechatronic systems. Presented sensors
include motion sensors (position, distance, velocity, flow, and acceleration), force sensors,
pressure or torque sensors (contact-free and contact), temperature sensors and detec-
tors, proximity sensors, light sensors and smart sensors, capacitive proximity, pressure
switches and vacuum switches, RFID-based tracking devices, and electromechanical
contact switches. In addition, some smart sensing instrumentation based on electrostatic,
piezo-resistive, piezo-electric, and electromagnetic sensing principles are presented.
Overall, chapter topics include actuating systems such as motors (AC, DC, and stepper),
belts, screw-wheels, pumps, heaters, and valves, along with detection and measurement
devices of process variables (force, speed, position, temperature, pressure, gas and liquid
chemical content), RFID detection, sensor characteristics (resolution, accuracy, range, etc.),
and nano and smart sensors.
This textbook emphasizes the modeling and analysis within real-life environments as well as
the integration of control design and instrumentation components of mechatronic systems
through the selection and tuning of actuating, sensing, transmitting, and computing or control-
ling units. Further, it looks at the matching and interconnecting of control instrumentation such
as sensors, transducers, and actuators particularly the interface between connected devices and
Preface xvii
signal conversion, modification, and conditioning. As such, the reader can expect by the end
of the book to have fully mastered: (i) the design requirements and design methodology for
control systems; (ii) the sizing and selection of the instrumentation involved in process control,
as well as microelectromechanical devices and smart sensors; (iii) the use of microprocessors
for process control, as well as signal conditioning; and (iv) the sizing and selection of actuat-
ing equipment for electrical-driven systems and industrial processes. Numerous examples and
case studies are used to illustrate formal modeling, hybrid controller design, and the selection of
instrumentation for electrical-driven machine actuation and DAQ related to systems dynamics
and process operations. Through these case studies, the reader should gain a practical under-
standing of topics related to the control system and instrumentation, allowing him or her to fill
a control and instrument engineering position where he or she is expected: (i) to possess a good
knowledge of instrumentation operating conditions and control requirements; (ii) to size and
select control instrumentation; (iii) to design, develop, and implement digital controllers; (iv) to
design engineering processes and electrical-driven systems; (v) to collaborate with design engi-
neers, process engineers, and technicians in the cost- and time-based acquisition of systems
and processes control equipment; and (vi) to perform technical audit to ensure instrument
compliance with health-and-safety regulations.
This book was conceived to develop the reader’s skills in engineering-based problem
solving, engineering system design, and the critical analysis and implementation of control
systems and instrumentation. It allows self-study via comprehensive and straightforward
step-by-step modular procedures. In addition, examples (with their accompanying MATLAB
routines, as well as) and design- and selection- related exercises and problems are provided,
®
along with their solutions. Furthermore, a dedicated companion website (email author at
kaltjob@uwalumni.com to have access to secured website) allows the reader to download
additional material for teaching, such as slide presentations on the chapter material, data files
for additional laboratory sessions, example files, and innovative 2D and 3D virtual labs for
physical real-life systems (i.e. model-based simulation tools that can be associated to real-life
systems for in-class lab sessions).
Suggestions for teaching plans for applied control theory of mechatronic systems and
electrical-driven processes would be as follows: (i) Chapter 1 through Chapter 5 (up
to Section 5.3.1), for an introductory digital control-level course lasting one semester;
(ii) Chapters 2, 3, and 5 (Sections 5.3 and 5.4) for advanced control students with a control
theory background; (iii) Chapters 1, 3 (Sections 3.3 and 3.4), and 8 for electric-driven machine
and instrumentation students with computer hardware and software programming experience;
(iv) Chapters 2, 3 (Sections 3.3 and 3.4), 5 (Sections 5.2.4, 5.3, and 5.4), and 6–8 for field control
and instrumentation engineers interested in the design or migration of process control of
hybrid systems.
xix
Acknowledgment
®
This book makes extensive use of MATLAB routines, distributed by Mathworks, Inc. A user
with a current MATLAB license can download trial products from their website. Someone
without a MATLAB license can fill out a request form on the site, and a sales rep will arrange
the trial for them. For additional MATLAB product information, please contact:
The MathWorks, Inc.
3 Apple Hill Drive
Natick, MA, 01760-2098 USA
Tel: 508-647-7000
Fax: 508-647-7001
E-mail: info@mathworks.com
Web: www.mathworks.com
xxi
This book is accompanied by a companion website which aims to support the teaching efforts
of instructors through:
1.1 Introduction
The rapid expansion of automated electrically-driven systems (e.g. electromechanical
machines) is related to the development of digital control strategies in order to enhance their
performance and extend their functionality while significantly reducing their operating cost
and complexity. However, those digital control strategies are dependent on the performance
of the control instrumentation related to measurement, signal conditioning, actuating, and
digital control technologies. Recent technology advancements offer a plethora of control
systems instrumentation, each with design-specific requirements and compliance constraints.
Hence, in addition to system modeling, the design of digital control strategies has to consider:
(i) the selection of control instrumentation in accordance with performance objectives; and (ii)
the integration of the control systems instrumentation and process equipment with respect to
operating constraints.
Consequently, it is suitable to lay out a generic design procedure for digital control sys-
tems, especially in: (i) controlling electrically-driven systems; (ii) sizing and selecting control
instrumentation related to information processing and computing, electrically-driven actua-
tion, process sensing and data acquisition; (iii) integrating those control instrumentation with
respect to controlled system performance objectives and operating constraints; and (iv) inte-
grating multifunctional control applications.
In this chapter, the definition and classification of electrically-driven systems and techni-
cal processes are presented first. Then the functional relationship between electromechanical
machine control and control within interconnected and synchronized electromechanical sys-
tems is outlined. Various components of control systems instrumentation are described along
with their design requirements. Furthermore, major steps of control system migration projects
are presented with some illustrative examples of industrial process control. Finally, key project
management steps and the associated subsequent design documents are listed.
to perform automatic operations of systems or process actuation. Such systems are expected
to perform them routinely and independently of human intervention with a performance
superior to manual operation.
Thus, control systems aim to provide the necessary input signals to achieve the desired pat-
terns of variations of specific process variables. Therefore, the functions of control systems are
embedded in electromechanical systems (machine or product control).
Example 1.1 Figure 1.1 shows a typical 3D printing robot for customized cooking with speed-
and temperature-controlled system which could be combined with monitoring indicators for
cooking time and cooking stage, as well as a control panel allowing the selection of the final
mixing of the product and cooking program. This system would require:
1) the angular position control of a pressure valve delivering semi-liquefied food (paste), the x-y
axis position control of the carriage driving the extruder head (nozzle) made of two motors
with a screw mechanism, the table angular speed and the z-axis position control;
2) the heater temperature control (nozzle level);
3) the remote pressure and force control for the valve in charge of injecting pressured food
paste feed based on environmental (e.g. space mission) and biological conditions (e.g. lower
gravity forces); and
4) the logic control for the discrete selection of ingredients.
Such control design combination enhances the product or machine functionality while reduc-
ing operating and maintenance costs. This is done by integrating data processing and computing
Syringe 1 Syringe 2
Motor1 Motor2
Pressure
valve 1 Motor
extruder
Pressure
valve 2
Motor 3A Motor 3B
Heater with
Heater with Screw
temperature
temperature
sensor 2
sensor 1 Nozzle
Extruder drive
z
Layer over layer deposit
x
y
Motor 4
FOOTNOTES:
[134] Wordsworth, Ode on the Intimations of Immortality, etc.
[135] In a paper on The Personal and the Factional in the Life
of Society. The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific
Methods, 1905, p. 337.
[136] By Mantegna.
[137] Page 30. See also the last chapter.
[138] I mean by mechanism anything in the way of habit,
authority or formula that tends to dispense with choice.
[139] Baring-Gould, Germany, i, 350 ff.
[140] Garibaldi’s Autobiography, i, 105.
CHAPTER XXIX
INSTITUTIONS AND THE INDIVIDUAL—Continued.
These traits have an obvious connection with that more eager and
facile communicativeness that strikes us so in the French: they have
as a rule less introspection, live more immediately and congenially in
a social stream from which, accordingly, they are less disposed to
differentiate themselves.
France is, no doubt, as truly democratic in its way as the United
States; indeed, in no other country, perhaps, is the prevalent
sentiment of the people in a given group so cratic, so immediately
authoritative. Such formalism as prevails there is of a sort with which
the people themselves are in intelligent sympathy, not one imposed
from above like that of Russia, or even that of Germany. But it is a
democracy of a type quite other than ours, less differentiated
individually and more so, perhaps, by groups, more consolidated and
institutional. The source of this divergence lies partly in the course of
history and partly, no doubt, in race psychology. Rooted dissensions,
like that between the Republic and the Church, and the need of
keeping the people in readiness for sudden war, are among the
influences which make formal unity more necessary and tolerable in
France than in England.
The French kind of solidarity has both advantages and
disadvantages as compared with the Anglo-Saxon. It certainly
facilitates the formation of well-knit social groups; such, for instance,
as the artistic “schools” whose vigor has done so much toward giving
France its lead in æsthetic production. On the other hand, where the
Anglo-Saxon type of structure succeeds in combining greater vigor
of individuality with an equally effective unity of sentiment, it would
seem to be, in so far, superior to a type whose solidarity is secured
at more expense of variation. It is the self-dependence, the so-called
individualism, of the Teutonic peoples which has given them so
decided a lead in the industrial and political struggles of recent times.
Perhaps the most searching test of solidarity is that loyalty of the
individual to the whole which ensures that, however isolated, as a
soldier, a pioneer, a mechanic, a student, he will cherish that whole
in his heart and do his duty to it in contempt of terror or bribes. And it
is precisely in this that the Anglo-Saxon peoples are strong. The
Englishman, though alone in the wilds of Africa, is seldom other than
an Englishman, setting his conscience by English standards and
making them good in action. This moral whole, possessing the
individual and making every one a hero after his own private fashion,
is the solidarity we want.
Tradition comes down from the past, while convention arrives,
sidewise as it were, from our contemporaries; the fireside tales and
maxims of our grandparents illustrate the one, the fashions of the
day the other. Both indicate continuity of mind, but tradition has a
long extension in time and very little, perhaps, in place, while
convention extends in place but may endure only for a day.
This seems a clear distinction, and a great deal has been made of
it by some writers, who regard “custom imitation” and “fashion
imitation,”[151] to use the terms of Tarde, the brilliant French
sociologist, as among the primary traits that differentiate societies.
Thus mediæval society, it is said, was traditional: people lived in
somewhat isolated groups and were dominated by the ideas of their
ancestors, these being more accessible than those of their
contemporaries. On the other hand, modern society, with its
telegraphs, newspapers and migrations, is conventional. Thought is
transmitted over vast areas and countless multitudes; ancestral
continuity is broken up; people get the habit of looking sidewise
rather than backward, and there comes to be an instinctive
preference of fashion over custom. In the time of Dante, if you
travelled over Europe you would find that each town, each district,
had its individual dress, dialect and local custom, handed down from
the fathers. There was much change with place, little with time. If you
did the same to-day, you would find the people everywhere dressed
very much alike, dialects passing out of use and men eager to
identify themselves with the common stir of contemporary life. And
you would also find that the dress, behavior and objects of current
interest, though much the same for whole nations and having a great
deal in common the world over, were somewhat transient in
character, changing much with time, little with place.
There is, truly, a momentous difference in this regard between
modern and mediæval life, but to call it a change from tradition to
convention does not, I think, indicate its real character. Indeed,
tradition and convention are by no means the separate and opposite
things they may appear to be when we look at them in their most
contrasted phases. It would be strange if there were any real
separation between ideas coming from the past and those coming
from contemporaries, since they exist in the same public mind. A
traditional usage is also a convention within the group where it
prevails. One learns it from other people and conforms to it by
imitation and the desire not to be singular, just as he does to any
other convention. The quaint local costume that still prevails in out-
of-the-way corners of Europe is worn for the same reasons, no
doubt, that the equally peculiar dress-suit and silk hat are worn by
sophisticated people the world over; one convention is simply more
extended than the other. In old times the conforming group, owing to
the difficulty of intercourse, was small. People were eager to be in
the fashion, as they are now, but they knew nothing of fashions
beyond their own locality. Modern traditions are conventional on a
larger scale. The Monroe Doctrine, to take a dignified example, is a
tradition, regarded historically, but a convention as to the manner in
which it enters into contemporary opinion.
In a similar manner we may see that conventions must also be
traditions. The new fashions are adaptations of old ones, and there
are no really new ideas of any sort, only a gradual transformation of
those that have come down from the past.
In a large view, then, tradition and convention are merely aspects
of the transmission of thought and of the unity of social groups that
results from it. If our mind is fixed upon the historical phase of the
matter we see tradition, if upon the contemporary phase we see
convention. But the process is really one, and the opposition only
particular and apparent. All influences are contemporary in their
immediate origin, all are rooted in the past.
What is it, then, that makes the difference between an apparently
traditional society, such as that of mediæval Europe, and an
apparently conventional society, like that of our time? Simply that the
conditions are such as to make one of these phases more obvious
than the other. In a comparatively small and stable group, continuous
in the same locality and having little intercourse with the world
outside, the fact that ideas come from tradition is evident; they pass
down from parents to children as visibly as physical traits.
Convention, however, or the action of contemporary intercourse, is
on so small a scale as to be less apparent; the length and not the
breadth of the movement attracts the eye.
On the other hand, in the case of a wide-reaching group bound
into conscious unity by facile communication, people no longer look
chiefly to their fathers for ideas; the paternal influence has to
compete with many others, and is further weakened by the breaking
up of family associations which goes with ease of movement. Yet
men are not less dependent upon the past than before; it is only that
tradition is so intricate and so spread out over the face of things that
its character as tradition is hardly to be discovered. The obvious
thing now is the lateral movement; influences seem to come in
sidewise and fashion rules over custom. The difference is something
like that between a multitude of disconnected streamlets and a single
wide river, in which the general downward movement is obscured by
numerous cross-currents and eddies.
In truth, facile communication extends the scope of tradition as
much as it does that of fashion. All the known past becomes
accessible anywhere, and instead of the cult of immediate ancestors
we have a long-armed, selective appropriation of whatever traditional
ideas suit our tastes. For painting the whole world goes to
Renaissance Italy, for sculpture to ancient Greece, and so on.
Convention has not gained as against tradition, but both have been
transformed.
In much the same way we may distinguish between traditionalism
and conventionalism; the one meaning a dominant type of thought
evidently handed down from the past, the other a type formed by
contemporary influence—but we should not expect the distinction to
be any more fundamental than before.
Traditionalism may be looked for wherever there are long-
established groups somewhat shut out from lateral influence, either
by external conditions or by the character of their own system of
ideas—in isolated rural communities, for example, in old and close-
knit organizations like the church, or in introverted nations such as
China used to be. Conventionalism applies to well-knit types not
evidently traditional, and describes a great part of modern life.
The fact that some phases of society are more dominated by
settled types, whether traditional or conventional, than others,
indicates, of course, a certain equilibrium of influences in them, and
a comparative absence of competing ideas. This, in turn, is favored
by a variety of causes. One is a lack of individuality and self-
assertiveness on the part of the people—as the French are said to
conform to types more readily than the English or Americans.
Another requisite is the lapse of sufficient time for the type to
establish itself and mould men’s actions into conformity; even
fashion cannot be made in a minute. A third is that there should be
enough interest in the matter that non-conformity may be noticed
and disapproved; and yet not enough interest to foster originality. We
are most imitative when we notice but do not greatly care. Still
another favoring condition is the habit of deference to some
authority, which may impose the type by example.
Thus the educated classes of England are, perhaps, more
conventional in dress and manner than the corresponding classes in
the United States. If so, the explanation is probably not in any
intrinsic difference of individuality, but in conditions more or less
favorable to the ripening of types; such as the comparative newness
and confusion of American civilization, the absence of an
acknowledged upper class to set an authoritative example, and a
certain lack of interest in the externals of life which our restlessness
seems to foster.[152] On the other hand, it must be said that the
insecurity of position and more immediate dependence upon the
opinion of one’s fellows, which exist in America, have a tendency
toward conventionalism, because they make the individual more
eager to appear well in the eyes of others. It is a curious fact, which
may illustrate this principle, that the House of Commons, the more
democratic branch of the British legislature, is described as more
conventional than the House of Lords. Probably if standards were
sufficiently developed in America there would be no more difficulty in
enforcing them than in England.
Perhaps we should hit nearest the truth if we said that American
life had conventions of its own, vaguer than the British and putting
less weight on forms and more on fellow-feeling, but not necessarily
less cogent.
FOOTNOTES:
[141] Gabriel Tarde, Les lois de l’imitation; English translation
The Laws of Imitation.
[142] Democracy in America, vol. ii, book iii, chap. 21.
[143] The Works of Edmund Burke (Boston, 1884), vol. iii, p.
277.
[144] Amenomori in the Atlantic Monthly, Oct., 1904.
[145] French Traits. P. G. Hamerton’s works, especially his
French and English, are also full of suggestion.
[146] French Traits, page 284.
[147] Page 295.
[148] Page 295.
[149] Idem, page 304.