The phenomena of personality may be divided into four classes: those of vitality, mentality, morality and sociality. According to the author just quoted, "the development of the social personality is measured by the increase of vitality, of sound and high mentality, of morality and of sociality; and by a decrease in the population of the number of the defective, the abnormal, the immoral, and of the desocialized, the deindividualized and the degraded."[1]
The development of vitality is fundamental in harmonious personal growth. From the days of the early Greeks the necessity of a sound body as a pre-requisite of a sound mind has been fully recognized and sought for in accordance with the knowledge available for the subject. The recognition of the connection between moral life and mental life has been somewhat more tardy, as also has been the knowledge of the connection between morality and sociality. Even though Jesus centuries ago declared, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," and "He that saveth his life shall lose it," we have been very slow to comprehend the fact that universal brotherhood is indicative of a high type of morality.
However, we have come now to see the fact that sociality rests upon morality, that morality is a differentiated form of mental life, and mental life is conditioned upon physical life while efficient physical life depends primarily upon the food we eat.
Consequently some of the essential studies of the sociologist are food necessities and vital statistics in order that he may understand the possibilities of harmonious development of the social man. This century has been especially rich in studies of this kind, but as long ago as the eighteenth century Adam Smith expounded the advantage to the community of a rising standard of living among laboring classes.[2] In our own century the work of investigation into the standards of living in their relation to social welfare have been undertaken by many individuals and agencies.[3]
The general plan of these investigations has been a study of living conditions as they actually exist among working people, for the most part, because the animating purpose of many of these inquiries has been the desire to improve the condition of the wage earner.
For instance, Mrs. More in the book entitled "Wage Earner's Budgets" gives the results of a personal investigation into the standards and cost of living of two hundred families in two districts in New
- ↑ Ibid., p. 250.
- ↑ Adam Smith, "Wealth of Nations," part 1, chapter 8.
- ↑ The publications of the United States Bureau of Labor, the publications of the Bureaus of Labor of Connecticut and Massachusetts and the publications of the Department of Agriculture; Devine, "Principles of Belief," chapter 3; Bosanquet, "The Standard of Life and other Studies"; Booth, "Life and Labor of People in London"; More, "Wage Earner's Budgets"; Chapin, "The Standard of Living in New York City."
