Show Guest Sociologist Sees Difference Between Political Conceptions of Democracy By Henry H. Instructor in Sociology Two pre-election discussions in this column dealt with the characteristics of and groups in a Since the the closely related topic of has become a chief theme of public How can we be united at the same time we are divided into majorities and To Professor our differences are matters of vital on the other suggests that we should agree on fundamentals and bicker only over If we take the latter where arc we to draw the line between fundamentals and trivialities It seems to me that there is much confusion no easy to be between two conceptions of the has already been discussed by the above-mentioned It is the process of majority The the conception of democracy is that which we vaguely call upon whenever we speak of democracy as a of It is this conception which defines the fundamentals on which we must if we are to attain national The moral conception leads us straight to the Bill of but it doesn't stop As Professor Pound suggested several years the time may come when we shall have to draft a Bill of and this the moral conception of democracy will have been given formal Perhaps part of the New Deal program is leading us in this For many people democracy and duty are incompatible So-called tampering without rights touches us to the and the very idea of duty suggests tampering to these Of every thinking person realizes that there are no rights without My right is your and vice the rights we usually have in mind imply negative duties you must not interfere with my my It is simply rugged individualism tempered with a traffic Society is a moral and a genuine moral duty is positive rather than negative in It involves something in the way of assistance not avoidance which I must do for and my you have a right to When we talk of democracy as a way of life it means much more than letting each other It means providing equality of opportunity for every man in the complicated business of Equality is the essential element in both the political and moral conceptions of But it is a radically different thing in each Political democracy implies merely a statistical or numerical equality of individuals each counts and only when public decisions are to be the position an individual takes in this counting process can be the product of undue influence by particularly when inequality of opportunity has made one wholly on Moral in requires that those who are successful in the business of living therefore have the duty of positively assisting those who have failed or will fail by virtue of circumstances out of their In the political-demo- cratic equality of counting as one in group is conditioned by the moral-democratic equality of being able to meet life's problems with something like similar changes with no of Political democracy requires but these will not destroy our unity if the latter is based upon a genuine moral When we have decided just how much responsibility we are willing to accept for the success or failure of the other fellow in various life and not till we shall know what it is that unites |