CHAPTER 1 
SUBMISSION 
SUPERORDINATION AND SUBORDINATION! 
HE most important form of relationship in the whole 
Tei world is the relationship between the leader 
and his followers, between the superior and his subor- 
dinates. It is a form of socialization without which no so- 
cial life would be possible, and the main factor sustaining 
the unity of groups. Superiority and subordination con- 
stitute the sociological expression of psychological differ- 
ences in human beings, and wherever these are associated, 
there they appear in a more or less pronounced form. 
This relationship between the superior and the inferior 
assumes oftentimes the appearance of a one-sided opera- 
tion. It seems as if the superior exerts an influence which 
the inferior merely undergoes. But the latter is by no 
means a purely passive agent. The subordinate in turn 
exerts an influence on the superior, and it is only by virtue 
of this interaction of the two that in the relationship the 
one takes the position of superior and the other the posi- 
tion of subordinate. The relationship of superior to infe- 
rior is a form of interaction between individuals and there- 
fore a form of socialization. It always allows a certain 
amount of independence and spontaneity on the part of 
the subordinate. In some cases of superiority and inferi- 
ority the amount of spontaneity and independence of the 
subordinate is great, in others small; but it is never wholly 
absent. Even in a case of the worst tyranny, the subordi- 
\ Adapted from Soz., chap. iii, pp. 134-246.