*he
ity
nup

Ze.

TrOher

of
ing
It
by

aqnenot

1gle
rent

O1-res.


CHAPTER VI

SOCIAL DIFFERENTIATION

THE INTERSECTION OF SociAL CIRCLES!

I y YHE history of human associations shows a tendency
1 similar to that of the association of ideas. The sociological
 development seems to repeat the psychological
 development. In thought, association by contiguity
generally precedes association by analogy. The accidental
coexistence of objects in space and time is at first sufficient
to bring about an association between the ideas of these
objects. The complex of characteristics of these objects
appears at first as a unitary totality. Only when one of
these characteristics is observed in a great many other
combinations does it become differentiated from the rest.
The similarity between various objects is then observed
detached from the individual combinations, and the association
 based on the relations between the contents of
ideas succeeds the association based on their temporal or
spatial coexistence.

The Historical Aspect of Social Differentiation.
The development of human relationships shows an analogous
 tendency. The individuals are at first associated with
others in their immediate environment, and this association
 is relatively independent of their individual peculiarities.
 At a later stage there arise associations between
the homogeneous elements out of the different heterogeneous
 groups.
! Adapted from Soz., chap. vi, pp. 403-53.
179