ABSTRACT
While the primitive community enforced definite penalties for extreme violations of ethical usages, the most powerful enforcement was through the weight of general public disapproval of violations. The entire life of the community was ruled by these standards which everyone acknowledged, and which nearly everyone lived up to. Ethical standards originate in efforts to define relationships for successful community living. As the community always has a real and deep stake in the individual personal health and well-being of its members, personal ethics is really a part of social ethics. Sometimes a community ethical code can best be developed by informal education and personal influence. The small community is the best place, almost the only place, for stabilizing and transmitting the finest of those ethical standards which concern the intimate relations of its members. In nearly every modern community there are discriminations, inequalities, and other stresses which prevent spiritual unity, and which tend to disrupt the community.
