ABSTRACT
The apparently unitary process of social self-preservation must be analyzed and resolved into the actual primary processes. These primary processes will by no means prove to be conservative processes only. Legal regulations apply to the minimum necessary for social self-preservation, and for that reason conformity is secured by physical restraint. Conformity to the moral standard has no stronger sanction than that of good or bad conscience. The individual activities become unified in social activities on the basis of common agreements and mutual adjustments. The specialized structures for the fulfilment of specific social functions contribute, therefore, greatly to the preservation of the group. The life-processes of social groups show, namely, two clearly distinct types. The first type of social self-preservation is characteristic of groups which contain widely divergent elements. The opposite type of social self-preservation is characteristic of groups that live within larger groups, either tolerated or opposed and suppressed.
