irresponsible head is making no decisions; and a democracy
is not such only while elections are being held or
the legislature is sitting. The organization
of a society, the whole body of the usages which it
accepts and approves, are revelations of the social
will. That will does, it is true, give expression
to itself in a series of actual decisions more or
less conscious and deliberate, but it is far more
than any such series of decisions. It is a disposition,
rooted in the past and reaching into the future.
It is a guarantee of decisions to come, of whose nature
we may make some forecast.
The permanent social will constitutes the character
of a community. Our study of the will of the
individual prepares us for the recognition of the
fact that communities may be but dimly aware of their
own character, and may be quite unable to give an unbiased
account of the ideals which animate them.
EXPRESSIONS OF THE SOCIAL WILL
66. CUSTOM.—We have seen above that
even the forms of political and social organization
may justly be regarded as an expression of the social
will. Such forms are the result of past choices,
and their acceptance in the present is evidence of
present choice.
Between the organization of a society and its customs
proper we may distinguish by comparing the former
to structure and the latter to function in the case
of any organism. But we must bear in mind that,
here, structure has been built up by, and is in process
of modification by, the same forces that exhibit themselves
in function. It would not be wholly out of place
to describe a people as having the custom of being
ruled by hereditary chiefs, of choosing their monarchs,
or of governing themselves through elected representatives.
Forms of organization are handed down to successive
generations by the same social tradition that transmits
customs of every description.
Customs are public habits which are, on the whole,
approved by a community. They are ways of acting
which are regarded as normal and proper. Where
the authority of custom is evoked, pressure is brought
to bear upon the individual to adjust himself to the
will of the community.
A community, like an individual, may have habits which
it does not approve. Such may be tolerated, although
disapproved; or active efforts may be made to set
them aside. Some habits may be regarded with
comparative indifference, although professedly held
in condemnation. The individual, in following
such habits, may claim that they are not unequivocally
condemned by the community, and he is not conscious
of the weight of displeasure which visits the violation
of the will of the community when unequivocally expressed.
In simple and primitive societies custom prescribes
to the individual his course of life in the minutest
detail. It possesses the authority of the dictator.
In societies upon a higher level it may leave to him
some discretion in deciding upon the details of his
daily life, while still exercising a paramount control
over the general trend of his actions.
