ABSTRACT
Society is a dialectic phenomenon in that it is a human product, and nothing but a human product, that yet continuously acts back upon its producer. The fundamental dialectic process of society consists of three moments, or steps. These are externalization, objectivation, and internalization. Society is a product of man, rooted in the phenomenon of externalization, which in turn is grounded in the very biological constitution of man. The coercive objectivity of society can be seen most readily in its procedures of social control, that is, in those procedures that are specifically designed to “bring back into line” recalcitrant individuals or groups. The success of socialization depends upon the establishment of symmetry between the objective world of society and the subjective world of the individual. On the foundation of language is built up the cognitive and normative edifice that passes for “knowledge” in a society.
