NUMERICAL RELATIONS OF SOCIAL FORMS 137 1) Nn | © 11 oe Bl. Nn ¢ &x Tr V n <1 on r=) y | 14 the reciprocal activities and relationships of its elements can crystallize. Out of that necessity are born objective structures and norms, official and representative bodies as means to preserve the social unity, which small circles can dispense with. The formation and function of these special structures will be dealt with in the chapter on social pres- ervation. They are referred to here because their forma- tion is immediately related to the size of the group, and hecause they are, as such, characteristic of large groups. The formal difference between large and small groups is also manifest in the type of norm by means of which the group secures its self-preservation. This is most evident in the distinction between mores and law. In small groups the relationships between individuals are regulated by the mores; the large group needs, in addition to these, the law. The life of primitive peoples living in small communities was entirely regulated by the mores. The mores set the norms for the whole of the religious, political, and economic life, and covered the entire domain of what appear at pres- ent as the spheres of morality, convention, and law. With the formation of larger social circles and the combination of these small groups in single units, there occurred a differ- entiation in fields of different social content and a differ- entiation in different kinds of norms. The result had both a social and a sociological aspect. Out of the mores differ- entiated on the one hand individual morality. on the other hand law. In modern society all three forms of norms serve to secure an individual behavior in accordance with social requirements. Society has an interest in the moral perfection of the individual only in so far as that moral perfection guaran- tees an adequate social behavior. that is. only in so far as it regulates social relationships. But in so far as it serves that function, it is a highly efficient instrument. It has a