ABSTRACT
It is my objective in this chapter to demonstrate that Commons was, in fact, a pioneer in applying evolutionary thinking to social systems and provided a foundation upon which we can build. A Sociological View of Sovereignty should be read as an attempt by the author to explain the purpose and evolution of the institutional structure of a society. Social evolution brings about a differentiation and specialization of institutions. In these essays Commons discusses the family, the church, political parties, and industrial corporations as important contemporary institutions. In earlier, more primitive times, all of these functions were performed in an undifferentiated whole (Commons 1967, 5). Commons places special emphasis on the function and evolution of private property and the state and their interaction. Private property is significant in an evolutionary sense because it was the original institution. The state is important because it limits the capriciousness of property and because “until a people become politically organized in the form of a state there is no sovereignty” (Commons 1967, 38).
