ABSTRACT
Life in the primary groups gives rise to social ideals which, as they spring from similar experiences, have much in common throughout the human race. And these naturally become the motive and test of social progress. The primary groups themselves are subject to improvement and decay, and need to be watched and cherished with a very special care. All mankind acknowledges kindness as the law of right intercourse within a social group. Ordinarily the ideal of kindness, in savage and civilized societies alike, applies only to those within the sympathetic group; the main difference between civilization and savagery, in this regard, being that under the former the group tends to enlarge. Freedom is that phase of the social ideal which emphasizes individuality. The whole to which people belong is made up of diverse energies which enkindle one another by friction; and its vigor requires that these have play.
