Primitive Human Institutions

69:0.1Emo­tion­ally, man tran­scends his an­i­mal an­ces­tors in his abil­ity to ap­pre­ci­ate hu­mor, art, and re­li­gion. So­cially, man ex­hibits his su­pe­ri­or­ity in that he is a tool­maker, a com­mu­ni­ca­tor, and an in­sti­tu­tion builder.

69:0.2When hu­man be­ings long main­tain so­cial groups, such ag­gre­ga­tions al­ways re­sult in the cre­ation of cer­tain ac­tiv­ity trends which cul­mi­nate in in­sti­tu­tion­al­iza­tion. Most of man’s in­sti­tu­tions have proved to be labor­sav­ing while at the same time con­tribut­ing some­thing to the en­hance­ment of group se­cu­rity.

69:0.3Civ­i­lized man takes great pride in the char­ac­ter, sta­bil­ity, and con­ti­nu­ity of his es­tab­lished in­sti­tu­tions, but all hu­man in­sti­tu­tions are merely the ac­cu­mu­lated mores of the past as they have been con­served by taboos and dig­ni­fied by re­li­gion. Such lega­cies be­come tra­di­tions, and tra­di­tions ul­ti­mately meta­mor­phose into con­ven­tions.