anization and development
of social life is mainly a study of the mental and physical activities
of individuals associated in permanent groups. Conditions change and
there is a continual shifting of contacts as in a kaleidoscope, but
the group is a fixed institution in the life of society. But besides
the permanent groups there are temporary unorganized associations that
have a place in social life too important to be overlooked. They vary
in size from a chance meeting of two or three friends who stop on the
street corner and separate after a few minutes of conversation, to the
great mass-meeting, that is called for a special purpose and interests
a whole neighborhood, but adjourns _sine die_. Such groups are subject
to the same physical and psychic forces that affect the family, the
community, and the nation, but they tend to act more on impulse,
because there is no habitual subordination to an established rule or
order. A simple illustration will show the influences that work to
produce these temporary groupings and that govern conduct.

20. =How the Group Forms.=--Imagine a working man on the morning of a
holiday. Without a fixed purpose how he will spend the day, his mind
works along the line of least resistance, inviting physical or mental
stimulus, and sensitive to respond. He is not accustomed to remain at
home, nor does he wish to be alone. He is used to the companionship of
the factory, and instinctively he longs for the association of his
kind. He is most likely to meet his acquaintances on the street, and
he feels the pull of the out-of-doors. The influences of instinct and
habit impel him to activity, and he makes a definite choice to leave
the house. Once on the street he feels the zest of motion and the
anticipation of the pleasure that he will find in the companionship
of his fellows. Reason assures him from past experience that he has
made a good choice, and on general principles asserts that exercise is
good for him, whatever may be the social result of his stroll. Thus
the various factors that produce individual activity are at work in
him. They are similarly at work in others of his kind. Presently these
factors will bring them together.

Unconsciously the working man and his friend are moving toward each
other. The attention and discrimination of each man is brought into
play with every person that he meets, but there is no recognition of
acquaintance until each comes within the range of vision of t