542 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
that, the dialectic ultimately produces an ideal of self which becomes a criterion of conduct, an ethical standard. This growth of personality through mutual imitation is, however, only one side of the process. The self, in subjectively appropriating projective personalities, and in spontaneously or reflectively recombining its acquisitions, makes new combinations or inventions, which in turn become projective for imita- tion by others. Thus the dialectic of personal growth produces not only uniformities, but novelties as well.
Once more these two aspects of development find expression in what is termed the "habitual self" the self of customary reactions, and the "accommodating self," which makes new adjustments to meet changed conditions. The former tends to become unconscious and automatic in its activities, the latter is reflective. Again, the person's growth, emotional and volitional, displays three stages the organic, the spontaneous, and the reflective. The first represents physical heredity ; the second reproduces chiefly acquisitions of social heredity ; the third is marked by conscious reflection upon the relation of the self to the environment, physical and social. Sanctions for conduct vary with the stage involved, from the sanction of impulse to that of desire, and ultimately to the sanction of right. This final sanction is realized only in connection with a consciousness of self, which includes social generalization or agreement. The self must be a "public self."
This summarized statement of the personal side of the problem, although it cannot do justice to the detailed development of the thesis, may serve to make reasonably clear the application to the social aspect. The "dialectic of social growth" takes as projective materials the inventions or innovations presented by individuals. By imitation these inventions are appropriated, modified, and generalized, i. e., ren- dered socially subjective. Finally, through education in its widest sense these generalizations become ejective in individuals. Thus the essential services, both of individual "particularizations" and of collective uniformities, are recognized and reconciled. A social judg- ment is gradually formed which expresses itself in a set of valuations. This judgment may be modified gradually, but it is also a criterion at any given time by which innovations are rejected or accepted. The true genius combines powers of invention with soundness of social judgment. The inventor, however, is dependent upon the materials which his society offers him, for the personal self must produce inno- vations rtiit of the elements which have been appropriated through
