METHOD AND TECHNIQUE OF FORMAL SOCIOLOGY 75

processes in the individual consciousness of the elements.
This view will result in an investigation’ which will yield
the psychological explanation of the process of socialization.
 On the other hand, it may also be regarded with reference
 to what might be called its factual aspect. This
view will result in an investigation which will yield the
identification of the different forms of socialization and
their inherent laws and characteristics. The first asks how
the specific socialization comes into existence and how it
is continued as the product of individual psychical processes.
 The latter asks: What are the characteristics of its
form, and what is its inherent logical development as independent
 of the individual contributions? This latter question
 regarding the forms of the socialization will have to
be answered in a fashion similar to that in which we answer
the question regarding the factualness of the social content
 in the social sciences. It requires an alternating application
 of the general and the historical method. The first,
which aims at the determination of timeless uniformities,
is purely inductive. It finds its data in all countries, in all
ages, and combined with all kinds of social contents. The
latter, which is purely historical, investigates the development
 of the different forms of socialization.
A sociology which aims at a fundamental understanding
 of the processes of socialization must therefore find the
psychological explanation and determine the general laws
and the historical development of the different forms of
socialization.
To illustrate the task of sociology with reference to a
concrete example, we may formulate some of the fundamental
 questions which it would have to answer about
competition.
Competition is found in countless varieties in the most
varied connections—in politics and in economic manage-