登陆注册
37884000000072

第72章 Chapter 9 The Conservation of Archaic Traits(7)

The case is different as regards those individuals or classes who are immediately occupied with the technique and manual operations of production. Their daily life is not in the same degree a course of habituation to the emulative and invidious motives and maneuvers of the pecuniary side of industry. They are consistently held to the apprehension and coOrdination of mechanical facts and sequences, and to their appreciation and utilization for the purposes of human life. So far as concerns this portion of the population, the educative and selective action of the industrial process with which they are immediately in contact acts to adapt their habits of thought to the non-invidious purposes of the collective life. For them, therefore, it hastens the obsolescence of the distinctively predatory aptitudes and propensities carried over by heredity and tradition from the barbarian past of the race.

The educative action of the economic life of the community, therefore, is not of a uniform kind throughout all its manifestations. That range of economic activities which is concerned immediately with pecuniary competition has a tendency to conserve certain predatory traits; while those indusstrial occupations which have to do immediately with the production of goods have in the main the contrary tendency. But with regard to the latter class of employments it is to be noticed in qualification that the persons engaged in them are nearly all to some extent also concerned with matters of pecuniary competition (as, for instance, in the competitive fixing of wages and salaries, in the purchase of goods for consumption, etc.).

Therefore the distinction here made between classes of employments is by no means a hard and fast distinction between classes of persons.

The employments of the leisure classes in modernindustry are such as to keep alive certain of the predatory habits and aptitudes. So far as the members of those classes take part in the industrial process, their training tends to conserve in them the barbarian temperament. But there is something to be said on the other side. Individuals so placed as to be exempt from strain may survive and transmit their characteristics even if they differ widely from the average of the species both in physique and in spiritual make-up. the chances for a survival and transmission of atavistic traits are greatest in those classes that are most sheltered from the stress of circumstances. The leisure class is in some degree sheltered from the stress of the industrial situation, and should, therefore, afford an exceptionally great proportion of reversions to the peaceable or savage temperament. It should be possible for such aberrant or atavistic individuals to unfold their life activity on ante-predatory lines without suffering as prompt a repression Or elimination as in the lower walks of life.

Something of the sort seems to be true in fact. there is, for instance, an appreciable proportion of the upper classes whose inclinations lead them into philanthropic work, and there is a considerable body of sentiment in the class going to support efforts of reform and amelioration, And much of this philanthropic and reformatory effort, moreover, bears the marks of that amiable "cleverness" and incoherence that is characteristic of the primitive savage. But it may still be doubtful whether these facts are evidence of a larger proportion of reversions in the higher than in the lower strata, Even if the same inclinations were present in the impecunious classes, it would not as easily find expression there; since those classes lack the means and the time and energy to give effect to their inclinations in this respect. The prima facie evidence of the facts can scarcely go unquestioned.

In further qualification it is to be noted that the leisure class of today is recruited from those who have been successful in a pecuniary way, and who, therefore, are presumably endowed with more than an even complement of the predatory traits.

Entrance into the leisure class lies through the pecuniary employments, and these employments, by selection and adaptation, act to admit to the upper levels only those lines of descent that are pecuniarily fit to survive under the predatory test. And so soon as a case of reversion to non-predatory human nature shows itself on these upper levels, it is commonly weeded out and thrown back to the lower pecuniary levels. In order to hold its place in the class, a stock must have the pecuniary temperament; otherwise its fortune would he dissipated and it would presently lose caste. Instances of this kind are sufficiently frequent.

The constituency of the leisure class is kept up by a continual selective process, whereby the individuals and lines of descent that are eminently fitted for an aggressive pecuniary competition are withdraw from the lower classes. In order to reach the upper levels the aspirant must have, not only a fair average complement of the pecuniary aptitudes, but he must have these gifts in such an eminent degree as to overcome very material difficulties that stand in the way of his ascent.

Barring accidents, the nouveaux arriv衢醩 are a picked body.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 日娱大导演

    日娱大导演

    穿越到平行时空的日本,依靠《魔法禁书目录》和《物语系列》赚够钱的桂木奉太朗想要成为一名大导演……
  • 擎月

    擎月

    背负着沉重的秘密,不知未来的方向。一个神秘的玉佩,带来一段另类的回忆。一个少年的成长历史,一段传奇的开始。
  • 鸾凤于归:最强美人鱼

    鸾凤于归:最强美人鱼

    凤于归怎么也没有想到,自己醒来的时候会变成一条浮在水面上的美人鱼!而且她的家,竟然是深海里的城堡?城堡里转来转去的美男鱼都是城堡里的守卫?不行,她的世界观已经被刷新了。她受不了了,她要回到她的人类世界,就算掉进宫斗圈也不要呆在这里...
  • 外星因子

    外星因子

    来自开普勒星系的超能生命,为了躲避灾难而闯入了地球,他们的身体只有微菌般大小,所以只能依附于地球生物身上才能生存。一个自闭症少年在万般囧境之下,渐渐的唤醒了依附于自己身体里的外星因子,然后开始了寻找外星同伴之旅,后来发现自己被送上地球本身就是一场特大的阴谋……
  • 天行

    天行

    号称“北辰骑神”的天才玩家以自创的“牧马冲锋流”战术击败了国服第一弓手北冥雪,被誉为天纵战榜第一骑士的他,却受到小人排挤,最终离开了效力已久的银狐俱乐部。是沉沦,还是再次崛起?恰逢其时,月恒集团第四款游戏“天行”正式上线,虚拟世界再起风云!
  • 老婆别皮了

    老婆别皮了

    有没有见过一言不合就打架的女生有没有见过动不动张口闭口就乱开腔的女生有没有见过凭着个人魅力就有一帮迷妹迷弟的女生有没有见过撩了你就跑的那种女生以上均是同一人,我老婆,不敢骂不敢打,只敢往死里去宠着的老婆大人
  • 寻索着

    寻索着

    三月的一天,她走了……主人公顾璎的亲姐姐两年后,一个女生闯入了她的世界梦里总有奇怪的影子,到底是什么......
  • 一世情不逝

    一世情不逝

    池嫣,晟京城里的第一美人儿,战场上战无不胜的女将军,出身高贵,文武双全,性格‘温婉’。一日,帝旨来,微笑入宫,然后,为报下旨入宫之仇,开始过上天天给某人添堵的日子。“陛下,娘娘她又爬到屋顶上去了!”“陛下,娘娘她,把御膳房给点着了!”“陛下,娘娘她,出宫了,说是再也不回来了!”皇帝沉下脸,怒发冲冠:“来人,备马,请娘娘回宫!”
  • 赠予你喜欢

    赠予你喜欢

    “我可以不送你花吗?”“我想把我的喜欢赠予你。”
  • 重生未来之全娱乐上帝

    重生未来之全娱乐上帝

    无幽默感,人际关系糟糕的秦朗一不小心穿越到平行世界。发现这个世界人们生活节奏火箭快,绝大多数人都存在或大或小的抑郁症。然而,这个世界能给人们带来快乐东西实在太少了。这里没有流行音乐,没有诸如四大天王、好莱坞巨星这里没有爽到爆的小说,没有诸如三少、西红柿、凡语等超级大神这里没有小品,没有诸如本山,丹丹,冯巩这样的小品大师。这里没有游戏,没有....秦朗觉得,自己要是没有“娱乐上帝系统”,自己也会变得抑郁。叮咚!系统奖励:微电影秘籍一本擦,终于可以让倒霉的王大锤降生了!