THE SCOPE OF SOCIOLOGY 233
their lines, and indirectly the sort of work which other parts of the society can perform in discharging other functions.
Now, it is a further general fact that social structures, although differentiated to perform functions, tend to assert themselves, even when the function is no longer necessary, or when the structure is no longer adequate to the function. The parts of social structures are persons. Selfish interests are closer than social interests. The persons who compose a social structure get their living or their repute by doing the work of that structure, or by perpetuating the assumption that they do the work. To the persons in this situation the structure is something desirable in itself, because from it their livelihood and their social prestige are derived. Every revolution in history has accordingly been, wholly or in part, a throwing away of some social structure which once performed a needed function ; which had ceased to do the work ; which useless people nevertheless wanted to perpetuate because it was a good thing for them- selves ; which the rest of society wanted to abolish because it stood in the way of their personal interests.
Accordingly, one of the most radical inquiries suggested by any strained social situation, whether it is merely the case of a local church which fails to prosper, or the case of a national gov- ernment against which the people revolt, or anything interme- diate between these extremes, is : What social structure is involved ? What functions are its ostensible charge ? Are the functions performed ? What changes of structure would promote the performance of the functions ? What interests insist upon the permanence of the structure at the expense of the functions ?
9. Social forces. No treatment of this subject is so full and clear as that of Ward. 1 What we have said and suggested in the section on interests should, however, be recalled as the basis for analysis of the social forces.
We must guard at the outset against an illusion that has exerted a confusing influence at this point. There are no social forces which are not at the same time forces lodged in indi- viduals, deriving their energy from individuals, and operating in
1 Dynamic Sociology, Vol. I, 468-82 ; and The Psychic Factors of Civilization.
