would then be conserved in the leisure class. Masterful aggression, and
the correlative massiveness, together with a ruthlessly consistent
sense of status, would still count among the most splendid traits of
the class. These have remained in our traditions as the typical
"aristocratic virtues." But with these were associated an increasing
complement of the less obtrusive pecuniary virtues; such as providence,
prudence, and chicanery. As time has gone on, and the modern peaceable
stage of pecuniary culture has been approached, the last-named range of
aptitudes and habits has gained in relative effectiveness for pecuniary
ends, and they have counted for relatively more in the selective process
under which admission is gained and place is held in the leisure class.
The ground of selection has changed, until the aptitudes which now
qualify for admission to the class are the pecuniary aptitudes only.
What remains of the predatory barbarian traits is the tenacity of
purpose or consistency of aim which distinguished the successful
predatory barbarian from the peaceable savage whom he supplanted.
But this trait can not be said characteristically to distinguish the
pecuniarily successful upper-class man from the rank and file of the
industrial classes. The training and the selection to which the latter
are exposed in modern industrial life give a similarly decisive weight
to this trait. Tenacity of purpose may rather be said to distinguish
both these classes from two others; the shiftless ne'er do-well and the
lower-class delinquent. In point of natural endowment the pecuniary man
compares with the delinquent in much the same way as the industrial man
compares with the good-natured shiftless dependent. The ideal pecuniary
man is like the ideal delinquent in his unscrupulous conversion of goods
and persons to his own ends, and in a callous disregard of the feelings
and wishes of others and of the remoter effects of his actions; but he
is unlike him in possessing a keener sense of status, and in working
more consistently and farsightedly to a remoter end. The kinship of the
two types of temperament is further shown in a proclivity to "sport"
and gambling, and a relish of aimless emulation. The ideal pecuniary
man also shows a curious kinship with the delinquent in one of the
concomitant variations of the predatory human nature. The delinquent is
very commonly of a superstitious habit of mind; he is a great believer
in luck, spells, divination and destiny, and in omens and shamanistic
ceremony. Where circumstances are favorable, this proclivity is apt to
express itself in a certain servile devotional fervor and a punctilious
attention to devout observances; it may perhaps be better characterized
as devoutness than as religion. At this point the temperament of the
delinquent has more in common with the pecuniary and leisure classes
than with the industrial man or with the class of shiftless dependents.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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