The Polish Peasant in Europe and America (Volume 4); Monograph of an Immigrant Group - Tapa blanda

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This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1920. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER IV STRUGGLE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE OLD SOCIAL SYSTEM When the disorganization of a social group becomes the object-matter of reflective attention on the part of its members, the spontaneous tendency immediately arising is that of strengthening the existing social system against the process of decadence. The phenomena of disorganization appear at first as a mere negation of the traditional order, and the problem which faces the group seems to be a simple alternative--either the old order or complete chaos. It is only later, when, as a consequence of a closer contact with other social milieux or of the growing realization of new forms of social life, a different social order appears as possible, that the problem loses its seeming simplicity and discloses itself as a very complex and very difficult problem of social evolution, offering an indefinite variety of more or less satisfactory solutions. From this broader standpoint, disorganization itself is a secondary matter, a social symptom rather than a social factor. But as long as viewed exclusively with reference to the existing system which is being disorganized, phenomena of disorganization are judged to be the real and important matter, the social evil which the chief task of society is to overcome. Such judgments are found not only in primary peasant groups; they constitute still the main content of social reflection in the most complex and most civilized societies, they are the backbone of all coercive and repressive legislation and of almost all "social reform" activities. The difference between a peasant primary group and a modern complex and fully civilized society is in this respect mainly a difference in the degree of sophistication. The attitude of the peasant community is more nai...