ABSTRACT
My thesis, it is well to restate, is that societies must provide sources of integration and social control in order to persist. Surplus populations are created not only by increased birthrates and survival rates but by contractions of positions in organizations that force formerly integrated people into marginal relationships. Such people are more likely to participate in collective protest. Elites recognize this and legislate in order to integrate and control the potentially dissident. But more subtle societal processes operate, as well, to absorb surplus populations. The expansion of commerce and industry, the outbreak of war, the undertaking of Crusades, and other phenomena are easily recognized. But the emergence of organized patterns that effectively absorb personnel also occurs unintentionally, at least with respect to the social-control function. This was true for the emergence of the monastic system and the Beguinages. The motives for participation in these patterns were surely complex, but it is clear that from the point of view of the actors the motives did not include efforts to control one's dissident tendencies. That those in power both in the Church and the community realized that surplus men and women could be brought under control through religious participation is clear from my earlier analysis. But it was largely the participants themselves who made choices that led to their integration and regulation. The degree of regulation as a reflection of the processes associated with societal flexibility varied with historical conditions. But some roles emerged in society that allowed for more latitude in behavior than others. Thus the various mimes, minstrels, and other performers were recognized as more prone to deviance than monks or Beguines. This reflects a pattern of norm evasion that is tolerated, a tradition that, although reaching back into history, is less than institutionalized but nevertheless organized and persistent. Thus all societies recognize certain groups—what I have called “parallel castes”—as being somewhat outside of conventional society, and so long as they do 14 not pose too great a challenge to the behavior or mores of those in authority their ways will be tolerated.
