ABSTRACT
There is little point, and still less hope of practical effect, in legislating for sociology; which means, as well, that there is little point in designing substantive definitions separating things sociological from those bound to remain outside the realm of sociological competence and concern. Definitions, like laws, are as good as the authority that backs them: no better and no worse. And authority is as good as the (physically or mentally) coercive forces at its disposal. The coercive capacity of such forces depends in turn on their exclusivity: on the degree to which their command is condensed and genuinely free from rivals.
