In primitive communities custom may be a public habit
which embraces all, or nearly all, individuals.
Public opinion may scarcely have a separate existence.
In communities more developed, some individuals may
disapprove and refuse to follow many customs which
are characteristic of the society to which they belong.
Laws are not approved by all, and, in progressive
states, there is usually some agitation which has as
its object the repeal of old laws or the passage of
new ones. In communities where there is independence
of thought, public opinion is usually divided.
Furthermore, the communities to which civilized men
belong are not homogeneous aggregations of units.
There is the public opinion which obtains within single
groups within the state. The adherents of a religious
sect may have notions peculiar to themselves of the
conduct proper to the individual, and such notions
may extend far beyond what is actually prescribed
by the tenets of the sect. The several trades
and professions, the social classes, neighborhoods,
even lesser voluntary associations of men, such as
clubs, may be pervaded by a public sentiment which
varies with each group. When we speak of public
opinion generally we have in mind something broader,
a resultant. But the public sentiment of the
lesser groups cannot be ignored. The individual
feels himself especially influenced by the opinions
of those most nearly associated with him.
Under the head of public opinion it is convenient
to speak of the opinions of moral teachers who have
influenced the race. Such a thinker may enunciate
truths far in advance of the opinions of his fellows.
His teachings are not, hence, fairly representative
of the social will as it reveals itself in his time.
But the sentiments of the more enlightened never are
completely in accord with those of the mass of their
fellows. They are not mere aberrations from the
social will; they are its forerunners. The moralist
and the religious teacher initiate new choices, which
may become the choices of large bodies of men.
From them proceed influences which have their issue
in new expressions of the social will, characterizing
whole societies, and giving birth to new customs, new
laws, and a new form of public opinion. One can
scarcely imagine what China would be without her Confucius;
or the Arabic world, with Mahomet abstracted.
CHAPTER XIX
THE SHARERS IN THE SOCIAL WILL
71. THE COMMUNITY.—It is difficult
to state with absolute exactness what constitutes
a community.
