The Status of Sociology in Italy

Abstract

or industrial democracy and liberty in the subtler connotations of intellectual liberty, ethical liberty, spiritual liberty even, wait then and will continue to wait upon a high general level of competency and full development of the innate abilities. But it is not only that liberty, however priceless that may be, is withheld. With the lack of freedom goes the loss of originality in thought and action, the loss to culture of original contributions, the maintenance of hide-bound traditional fallacies, goes, relatively at least, cultural stagnation. The superior variate, easily able wisely to cut loose from the moorings of tradition, custom, and creed, and to venture forth upon the open sea in new voyages of discovery and conquest, may not do so or pays the price of his non-conformity if he does. Thus 'progress,' another current fetich, suffers. We shall not attempt to say what constitutes progress. We shall leave it go as probably substantiable that intelligent people of emotional stability and integrated personalities are more apt to choose standards which will conduce to it than are feebleminded and insane defectives. This, added to our earlier discussion of the relation of the level of group competency to the rate of innovation, the rate of diffusion, and the patness of adaptations and new combinations of cultural elements, is sufficient to show the dependence of progress upon group competency. The meagreness of our biological knowledge on the matter of eugenics and the difficulties in the way of instituting eugenical programs and changing educational systems we have only suggested. It is sufficient for our purpose here to show that human culture is influenced by certain biological factors; the individual variate, superior, inferior, and aberrant; the general level of competency of the group as a whole; and the range of variation within the group. These impinge upon and work in functional interdependence with changes in the physical environment and the 'self-contained' culture process-innovation, accumulation, diffusion, recombination. The social implications are important enough to warrant society in looking to its biological heritage, to conserve and improve it by active measures. It is anomaly and paradox to put forth as 'moral' or 'religious' objections to so important a human venture.