the result of the abilities, the tastes, and inclinations which this condition of the minds, the habits and customs will produce.
The ideas which prevail in a given society exert a powerful influence on that society. These ideas, however, have their source in the social milieu of that society, which milieu, in its turn, is the result of the economic relations of that society. The ideas, therefore, whether political, moral, religious, or otherwise, which prevail in a given society, and which influence the conduct of men in that society while they prevail, cease to prevail, and are gradually discarded, when the economic conditions in which they had their inception undergo a change. Furthermore, in our society, which is divided into classes based on economic interest, the ideas prevailing in it at any given time will not only be the result of certain economic conditions, but will in the main answer the needs, desires, or aspirations, of some social class which was brought to the front by those economic conditions. So that there may be, and very often there is, more than one set of ideas current in a given society at the same time; that these ideas may be in direct conflict with each other; and they are held, respectively, by those classes of that society whose interests they give expression to.
Usually there is only one set of ideas prevailing in society, and for the following reasons: In our society, that is, a society based on the private ownership of property, there is always a class of persons having in their possession or control the means wherewith society produces the things on which it subsists and from which it derives its comfort. This class, by reason of its control of society's means of production, carrying as this does with it the management and supervision of society's production and exchange, shapes the institutions and customs of society to suit its interests and to insure its dominion in society. It has absolute sway except that it must not disregard the law of its own existence. That is to say: its dominion must be
