The new state : $b Group organization the solution of popular governmentFollett, Mary Parker
Science
The new state : $b Group organization the solution of popular government
Follett, Mary Parker
Democracy; Political participation; Social psychology; State, The
Moreover, we think now of the survival of groups rather than of
individuals. For the survival of the group the stronger members must not
crush the weaker but cherish them, because the spiritual and social
strength which will come from the latter course makes a stronger group
than the mere brute strength of a number of “strong” individuals. That
is, the strength of the group does not depend on the greatest number of
strong men, but on the strength of the bond between them, that is, on
the amount of solidarity, on the best organization.
But it might be said, “You still evidently believe in struggle, only you
make the group instead of the individual the unit.” No, the progress of
man must consist in extending the group, in belonging to many groups, in
the relation of these groups. If we accept life as endless battle, then
we shall always have the strong overcoming the weak, either strong
individuals conquering the weak, or a strong group a weak group, or a
strong nation a weak nation. But synthesis is the principle of life, the
method of social progress. Men have developed not through struggle but
through learning how to live together.
Lately the struggle theory has been transferred from the physical to the
intellectual world. Many writers who see society as a continuous
conflict think its highest form is discussion. One of these says, “Not
for a moment would I deny that fighting is better carried on by the pen
than by the sword, but some sort of fighting will be necessary to the
end of the world.” No, as long as we think of discussion as a struggle,
as an opportunity for “argument,” there will be all the usual evil
consequences of the struggle theory. But all this is superficial. If
struggle is unavailing, it is unavailing all along the line. It is not
intellectual struggle that marks the line of progress, but any signs of
finding another method than struggle. Two neighbors quarrelling in words
are little more developed than two men fighting a duel. We must learn to
think of discussion not as a struggle but as experiment in coöperation.
We must learn coöperative thinking, intellectual team-work. There is a
secret here which is going to revolutionize the world.
Perhaps the most profound reason against struggle is that it always
erects a thing-in-itself. If I “fight” Mr. X, that means that I think of
Mr. X as incapable of change—that either he or I must prevail, must
conquer. When I realize fully that there are no things-in-themselves,
struggle simply fades away; then I know that Mr. X and I are two flowing
streams of activity which must meet for larger ends than either could
pursue alone.
Is Germany the last stronghold of the old theory of evolution, is she
the last being in a modern world to assert herself as a thing-in-itself?
President Wilson’s contribution to this war is that he refuses to look
upon Germany as a thing-in-itself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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