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207
hand an increased friction and opposition among these elements.
 The full realization of the potential contrasts. and
oppositions would not have resulted were it not for this!"
compression within a unitary frame. In this way the world
policy of the medieval empire stimulated the particularism
of kings, tribes, and peoples. The attempted and partially
realized synthesis created and stimulated the individualism
 which finally destroyed it.!
The most suggestive example of this correlation between
 social expansion and individual differentiation is to
be found in economic history. The introduction of the
money economy has had results both for the form and for
the content of social and individual life which illustrate perfectly
 the general correlation. The natural economy shows
small, relatively self-contained economic circles. The difficulty
 of transportation limits their size, and the technique
 of the natural economy, therefore, does not permit
a far-going differentiation in occupations. The introduction
 of the money economy changes this situation in two
aspects. The general acceptance of money, its easy transportation,
 and finally its transformation in a credit system
enable it to function over an ever expanding area until it
unites all peoples in one economic circle with interlocking
interests, supplementary activities, and similar usages.
On the other hand, the money economy permits a far-going
differentiation and specialization. The money wage makes
the worker more independent of his employer. The possession
 of money gives the individual a greater freedom of
movement. As the result of the full penetration of the
money economy, the individual is brought into free competition
 with all other individuals within the larger circle
and is allowed an amount of overspecialization and onesidedness
 which is possible only within a very wide frame.
t Soz., pp. 709-32.