The Functioning of Human Society: Social Achievement

W E ARE come now to the fourth and the last of the broad general divisions of sociology. You will remember that we began with an account of the nature and dynamics of society, and the ways in which they combine in the behavior of a considerable number of human beings acting together. Then we took up the historical evolution of society, and more recently we have been considering the continuing evolution of society of today and the problems which that fact presents to us. Now we are come to the inquiry as to what it is all for, what does it accomplish? In other words, we are come to a consideration of the functional performance and achievement of society. Is society just a meaningless thing in the universe, or does it serve a purpose, is it of use to mankind, does it further human welfare and conduce to human happiness? The first of the social achievements of which I shall speak is a group of achievements which may be brought under the general descriptive term of amelioration. Society has ameliorated the human lot almost beyond the powers of imagination. We have in the first instance the fact that by combining efforts, it is possible to be more secure, to be safer. And that phase of it I have touched upon in speaking of the, stage in social evolution in which the effort was made to defend the little group of persons, who felt themselves sufficiently alike and having the same interest, against their common enemies and dangers. Another way in which amelioration has, during all the ages, been attempted is the effort to protect man against unseen dangers, against mysterious influences, against supernatural dangers. And I spoke of the way in which religions and ritual developed out of the attempt to achieve this purpose. In modern times the great efforts of human beings organized in human society are to maintain the common defense and increase the amount of food and other material necessities of life, and, according to the labor expended, it has, as everybody knows, been achieved more successfully than any other effort made by man. We have not been as successful in achieving security, or anything like it, as the material means of life, the 1 In accordance with the dedication of Volume X to Professor Giddings we are continuing to feature some aspect of his work in each issue. The present article is taken from his last lectures at Teachers' College, Columbia University. Its substance will appear in the volume Civilization acse Society: An Account of the Development and Behavior of Iluman Society, by Franklin Henry Giddings, arranged and edited by Howard W. Odum, now in press for the American Social Science Series.-The Editors.