In regard to industry, it is pointed out that the principle of the sovyet is associated in an entirely accidental way with Bolshevism.[XXIII-36] The sovyet may well be judged on its own merits. The principle upon which citizens may be grouped for purposes of securing representation in government is not yet settled. Is a given geographical area a better unit for securing representation than occupational areas?
State socialism is objected to by Professor Ross on the grounds that it leaves the citizens so remote “from that which most vitally concerns him, viz., the regulation of the industry in which he works, that his yearly vote may be a mere fribble and he little better than a state serf.”[XXIII-37] Guild socialism, on the other hand, urges that each branch of industry shall organize itself democratically, and that the state shall be organized not with provinces and localities as semi-autonomies but with industries exercising a degree of autonomy. Our author endorses the general shift which is occurring at the present time from the coercive side to the service side of industrial life.
Professor Ross has deduced several important sociological principles of general import. These he calls the principle of anticipation, the principle of simulation, the principle of individualization, and the principle of balance.
By the principle of anticipation, he means that a known policy of an institution will come to be anticipated by the members of the institution and will result in modifying behavior.[XXIII-38] Unfair advantage is often taken of people on the basis of this principle. For example, children frequently count on favor and leniency. The false beggar’s whine is often effective. It is in this connection that genuine social reform differs from a common conception of charity, for the former method fits people to run, clears their course, and incites them to make the race,[XXIII-39] while the latter fails to render assistance of permanent value.
The principle of simulation refers to the common tendency of “the unworthy to simulate every type or trait which has won social approval, in order to steal prestige from it.”[XXIII-40] Commercial competition has produced adulterations, misbrandings, counterfeiting. There is the professional athlete, who sometimes poses as a sincere enthusiast for physical development. Politicians are often expert dissemblers.
The principle of individualization refers to giving individuality a reasonable chance for growth. As society grows more complex, institutions more ossified, and life more standardized, the average individual is increasingly in danger of being crushed; at least, his opportunities for self-expression grow more slim. There is need of constant vigilance in education in allowing for individual differences, in industry for safeguarding the laborer in expressing his personality in his work, in government in permitting free discussion.
The principle of balance is stated by Professor Ross as follows: “In the guidance of society each social element should share according to the intelligence and public spirit of its members and none should predominate.”[XXIII-41] There has been in the past, and even now there is in all countries, a bitter struggle taking place between classes apparently on the basis that some one class should rule all the other classes. Society has suffered immeasurably in this way. Sometimes society has been the victim of the rulership of the dead, of the rulership of masculinism, of clericalism, of militarism, of commercialism, of legalism, of leisure class ascendancy, of intellectualism, of proletarianism, but always by one class lording it over the weaker classes until some one of the weaker classes acquires strength enough to overthrow the class in power.
The socio-psychological thought of Professor Ross has penetrated the farthermost reaches of human life. It has been stated in lucid, stimulating language. It has commanded the attention of socially-thinking persons in many lands. It has defined the field of sociology, giving the psychological approach.
Special attention may be given to the concept of “the great society” as used by Graham Wallas. The Great Society is a name for current human society, the product of mechanical inventions, industrial production, commercial expansion, democratic evolution—highly organized and intricately complex. It is ruled, in the main, by men “who direct enormous social power without attempting to form a social purpose,” and it is composed to a surpassing degree of individuals who recognize the power of society but dimly and who often treat society with distrust and dislike.[XXIII-42]
Mr. Wallas substitutes organization for organism as a fundamental social concept. He makes a distinction between thought organizations, will organizations, and happiness organizations. Thought organizations are those institutions in society whose main function is the organization of thought, such as discussion groups, ranging from a philosophical club to an ordinary committee that is called together to plan new legislation. At this point Mr. Wallas asserts that he has attended perhaps 3000 meetings of municipal committees, of different sizes and for different purposes, and that he is sure that at least half of the men and women with whom he has sat “were entirely unaware that any conscious mental effort on their part was called for.”[XXIII-43] They attended in the same spirit that many persons attend church, namely, in the spirit that if they merely attend they are doing their duty, and that some good must come of it.