Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub
[graphic]
[graphic]

Why Lethargic or Energetic People

ISAAC EMERY ASH, Madison, Wisconsin

An abstract from the original treatise which appeared in The American Journal of Sociology, Volume XIX, Number 3, November, 1913, and so very pertinent to everyday problems of village and rural life.-The Editor.

I'

T is usually assumed that the tone of a community, whether vigorous or apathetic, is determined by the prevailing traits of its individual members. Without disputing the importance of individual traits, the writer believes there are also general factors which condition the dominant tone of a community in respect to energy and inertia. The available productive energy of a society is not always equal to the sum of the physical vigor and mental acumen of all the individuals. Productive energy, like controlling beliefs, is largely dependent upon the social atmosphere by which it is surrounded.

Says Cooley:

The physical law of the persistence of energy in uniform quantity is a most illusive one to apply to human life. There is always a great deal more mental en. ergy than is utilized, and the amount that is really productive depends chiefly on the urgency of suggestion. Indeed the higher activities of the human mind are, in general, more like a series of somewhat fortuitous explosions than like the work of a uniform force. In the absence of suggestion the mind easily spends itself in minor activities; and there is no reason why this should not be true of a whole people and continue for centuries. Then again a spark may set it on fire and produce in a few years pregnant changes in the structure of society."

[ocr errors]

If "suggestion" in the above quotation be extended in its meaning to in*Social Organization, p. 328.

clude anything that stimulates interest and instills hope in an individual or a people, his statement will be in accord with the most recent and advanced theories of the psychology of interest, effort and energy, and will be very helpful in interpreting the vigor and energy of certain peoples as against the lethargy and inertia of other peoples of equal capacity.

The problem of accounting for the lethargy and inertia of some peoples as against the energy of others, or of the same peoples at different times, consists in determining the conditions which make unavailable their reserve of energy. Of such conditions we shall here briefly consider six.

R

Communism in property and industry causes societies to move in lockstep fashion, thus making all to conform in their stride to that of the most feeble and lethargic. It is self-evident that any set of conditions which places a check or curb on self-expression, innovation, and initiative, and which causes men to move in herds and to act in unison or in accordance with a prescribed standard will have a tendency to eliminate all rivalry, and will stifle interest by substituting, as the motive to action, the impelling force of necessity for the lure of hope and the suggestion of a personal interest. Kline

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed]
[graphic]
[graphic]
« PoprzedniaDalej »