NUMERICAL RELATIONS OF SOCIAL FORMS 139 
no sanction other than the dictates of conscience. These 
are the three special forms of norms which regulate the 
internal and external relations of the individual to his 
social groups. Their purely formal aspect is evident from 
the fact that the same content may at different periods be 
left to the mores, to the law, or to individual morality.! 
The Size of the Group and Its External Relations 
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Apart from this determination of the internal relations 
by the size of the group, the number of the group elements 
gives also in many instances a special character to the 
group as a whole viewed in relation to the outside world. 
The significance of the numerical magnitude of the group 
for its external relations is manifest in two types of social 
situation. The first occurs in the subdivision of large 
groups into numerically defined subgroups. The second 
occurs if society as a whole prescribes a numerical maxi- 
mum or minimum membership for certain kinds of groups 
and associations. 
Social Organization on a Numerical Basis 
In the first instance, the numerical magnitude becomes 
the principle of social organization. Parts of the group of 
a specified magnitude are considered as units. Numerical 
identity of parts becomes the form principle of the group. 
The group as a whole is then related to each of its parts as 
the parts are related to their individual members, that is, 
numerically. The numerical relationship is, of course, not 
the only relationship. The individual members must be 
relatives or neighbors or fellow-workers or fellow-fighters. 
They must have something in common on the basis of 
which they are combined in subgroups. But in so far as the 
structure of the subgroup is dependent on its size, it is not 
t Soz., pp. 53-62.