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Max Horkheimer (Hrsg.): Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung, 3. Jg 1933, Heft 3 |
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have been observed to defend their territory and to drive away any intruder. The feature has been particularly noted among monkeys, who invariably resent the intrusion of a stranger into their horde. In a study of bird life which has become a classic, Mr. Howard has elaborately shown that nidicolous birds are chiefly concerned with defending their territory, and that many of the types of behaviour which have been set down to mating affection or to jealousy arise in reality from a desire to retain a given territory[1].
That feature of animal behaviour is manifestly founded upon economic factors. It is the hunting ground or the pasture which is defended against rivals whose presence would increase competition in obtaining food. The size of all animal groups is determined by that economic factor. Herbivorous animals whose food supply is not seriously jeopardised by their associating in large numbers are commonly found in herds, while carnivora which depend upon the quarry scattered over a large region live in small groups or are altogether solitary. Within the same order and the same species, the relation of the size of the group to the requirements and opportunities of the animal is constant. Thus chimpanzees occur in large troups, while the gorilla, whose huge body requires a much larger supply of food and which moreover is not a climber, is restricted to aggregates of smaller size.
The same correlation is constant in human groups also. Hunting tribes, especially when living in forests, where game is very scattered, live in relatively small groups. Pastoral and agricultural tribes gather together in large societies. The size of the social aggregate is dependent upon the capacity of economic sources to support it. Organised civilised societies lead to a far greater density of population, and modern industrialism has caused the population density to become trebled and quadrupled at a rapid rate.
The motive which, in tribes of primitive hunters, determined the exclusion of strangers and antagonism toward them, and the correlated sentiments of solidarity toward the group itself are identical in kind with those which give rise to a similar behaviour in groups of quadrumana. Such societies have usually a definite territory. Intrusion into the territory is resented and its invasion by any member of a strange group is regarded as a hostile act. In such communities the members are generally spoken of as mankind, and all strangers as enemies. The sentiments toward the group and toward strange groups rest, like those of national
Max Horkheimer (Hrsg.): Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung, 3. Jg 1933, Heft 3. Librairie Felix Alcan, Paris 1933, Seite 366. Digitale Volltext-Ausgabe bei Wikisource, URL: https://de.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Seite:Zeitschrift_f%C3%BCr_Sozialforschung_Jahrgang_2_Heft_3.pdf/48&oldid=- (Version vom 6.6.2022)
- ↑ H. E. Howard, Territory in Bird Life.
