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SPATIAL RELATIONS OF SOCIAL FORMS 157
damental equality and lack of differentiation is apparent
among the elements of all moving groups. The traveling
merchants of the Middle Ages had communistic types of
organization as long as they were actually on the road,
and sometimes continued their communistic form of living
even during their stay in foreign parts. The organization
of the factories of the Hanseatic league is an illustration
of this tendency. On the other hand, the despotic element
is usually not entirely lacking, as is manifest in the absolute
and unlimited authority of the caravan leader and the cap-
tain of a ship.
The wandering of certain elements in otherwise seden-
tary groups presents two important phenomena. The first
is the movement of elements which contributes to the uni-
fication of the group. The second is the wandering of ele-
ments which is harmful to the preservation of the group.
The groups which are dispersed over a wide territory
maintain their natural unity in modern civilization by
means of different dynamic relationships between their
elements. The similarity of objective culture which is ac-
companied by the knowledge that it is identical for all
points of the area, the uniformity of law and language, the
functional organizations and the scientific associations, all
contribute to the creation of a sociological unity. In so
far as these socializations are effective, they need only to
a very small extent the actual movement of individuals.
Modern life succeeds in creating a consciousness of social
unity through factual similarities, knowledge of common
interests, fixed institutions, and written communication.
But in periods when such an objective organization and
technique have not yet been developed, the movement of
individuals through the territory of the group is of great
significance for an effective unification.
During the Middle Ages the merchant, the scholar, the
