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er-CHAPTER

 V

SOCIAL CONSERVATION

Tae PERSISTENCE OF Social CIRCLES!

OCTAL groups, once formed, have a tendency to per-S
 sist. This persistence of the group unity results from
the permanence of the interactions between the group
elements and manifests itself in the continuity of the life
of the group. This permanent coherence between the composing
 elements suggests the existence of a special vital
force.
But an understanding of the life-process of the group
requires more than the mere assumption of the existence
of a vital force. Upon further analysis, the apparently unified
 force appears to consist of a great many separate and
distinct processes of interaction. The apparently unitary
process of social self-preservation must therefore be analyzed
 and resolved into the actual primary processes.
These primary processes will by no means prove to be conservative
 processes only. At all times there are destructive
 forces which menace the persistence of the group both
from within and from without. If these could operate unhampered,
 the group unity would soon be destroyed. But,
apart from these destructive forces, there are conservative
 tendencies which produce permanent interactions between
 the elements and thereby maintain the group unity.
This unity persists for a longer or shorter time, until it
yields at last to the disintegrating forces.
The group appears to have a life of its own relatively
! Adapted from Soz., chap. viii, pp. 494-613.

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