Citation

Case CM. Am. J. Sociol. 1922; 28(1): 1-20.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1922, University of Chicago Press)

DOI

10.1086/213423

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Partial explanations for war.-While war is increasingly abhorrent to enlightened men, it is not correctly described as "murder," nor is it the product of hatred or ill-will pure and simple, although these phenomena are intimately connected with war. Novicow's assertion that war is "a case of pure atavism, a survival, a routine," comes much nearer the truth, but it also, seems inadequate. Innate dispositions to belligerency.-The so-called "instinct" of belligerency is apparently a product of evolution through struggle, but the "natural" instinctive disposition to fight a personal opponent is erroneously identified with the large scale, impersonal, and ssentially "unnatural" activities of modern warfare. The latter is pre-eminently cultural and, perpetuated through tradition and training, which shows that is acquired rather than innate. Pressure of populations.-Overpopulation has apparently caused wars in the past, but the significance of this factor in modern times is psychological and cultural rather than biological. Growth of numbers leads to war mainly because the population becomes differentiated into biologico-psychological units which are conscious of an intense group rivalry. The expansion of the peace-group.-Sociologists have traced a tendency for groups to coalesce into larger peace units, and the present League of Nations is simply its latest expression. The process is distinctly rational, perceiving the advantages of peace, and the efficacy of institutional arrangements therefor. Stages in the expansion of the peace-area.-The process discloses three stages, the poetic (or prophetic), the juristic, and the economic. Both the American Union and the League of Nations have traversed them, the latter being now emerging from the juristic into the economic stage. In this evolution economic and other cultural factors are predominant, lending further support to the present purpose, which is to emphasize the cultural elements without denying to innate dispositions whatever of influence they can be shown to exert.