SOCIAL DIFFERENTIATION 191 
for interests which are common to women of all classes and 
which concern themselves with such facts as legal status, 
the administration of property, and the guardianship over 
children. A large superordinated social circle has been 
formed intersecting the family circles and uniting in a com- 
mon group what has been differentiated as homogeneous 
out of these heterogeneous smaller groups.! 
Another form of social differentiation, or at least an- 
other aspect of social differentiation, is manifest in the 
splitting up of co-ordinated circles. It leads to the forma- 
tion of a number of different circles out of what formerly 
has been one group. In the Middle Ages such a separation 
was unknown. The guild did not only regulate the trade 
activities of its members; it regulated their whole lives. 
The apprentice was not only a vocational student of his 
master; he was one of his family. The different aspects of 
life were intimately integrated, and if the emotional and 
political life centered around the vocational life, regulation 
of the latter implied and included regulation of the former. 
In modern times the different sides of the individual’s 
life have become more clearly differentiated, and he ex- 
presses each of these sides in separate associations and re- 
lationships. This differentiation has been due to a large 
extent to the division of labor. The division of labor has 
led to a type of activity which becomes on the one hand 
increasingly mechanical, but which on the other hand ab- 
sorbs much less of the total personality and allows other 
interests to assert themselves more freely. Besides, the 
increasing professional differentiation must show that sim- 
ilar life-interests can be combined with different profes- 
sions. The multiplicity of such other interests which is 
characteristic of an advanced civilization leads also to 
similar results. The similarity of interests among those in 
L Soz., pp. 436-45.