CHAPTER VII

THE COMPENSATORY DRIVE IN THE GROUP

THE motivation scheme of inferiority-compensation may also be applied to social movements. Feelings of inferiority may be forgotten or overcome by one who joins a group. The smaller self is lost in the larger one which evolves out of the identification of oneself with an organization. Devotion to a great cause may be an effective measure for transcending the irritating limitations of weakness. It is only the part of discretion for one who is frail in his own right to combine with others, so that the strength of a united front may set aside barriers that would be too heavy for the individual to handle alone. Identification with a group, in meaning an extension of the self, provides an effective compensation for the sense of inadequacy. In an institution a person acquires over-individual dimensions and scope. Through identification, self-assertion and gregariousness are reconciled. The gregarious tendency, though it represses the narrower individuality, develops a sense of importance by substituting the broader individuality of the group. The man who finds isolation disastrous is a ready candidate for membership in any group that can help him overcome his inferiority. The negroes, for example, are extremely fond of secret organizations. Banding together calls for a pooling of resources which can be directed at the accomplishment

of compensatory programs. Bound together by the common end of compensation, any slur upon the standing of the group only serves to unite the members more firmly, for upon the honor of the group they have staked their salvation. Through organization is secured a united effort at compensation and the loyalty of each member depends upon how much discontent his inferiority stirs within him and how adequate an emancipation from that disquiet the society affords him in the execution of its policies.

LABOR

As our first social movement, let us study the rise of Labor, including in that term any organizations and programs aimed at the amelioration of conditions among the working classes. Modern industrialism has provided numerous factors which favor the nurture of deep-seated inferiority feelings, such as the monotonous, dirty, simplified work, the servile place of labor, the insecure tenure of the job, the labor turnover, and widespread destitution. From the time of the Industrial Revolution the laboring classes have rebelled against the evils that machinery introduced. The individual job is accorded little or no recognition in the large-scale production of the modern factory. The individual is lost in the meshes of overorganization. Conventional opinion concedes nothing to the pretentious dignity of labor. The servile position of the workingman confines him to the ranks. Specialization has robbed him of the independence necessary for selfexpression. It would almost seem that industry has conspired to impress upon the laborer the reality of

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The capitalist has been the victor too long in the strife between Capitalism and Labor. The domination of society by one economic class results in the thwarting of the desires of the subordinate class. The motivation behind the Labor Movement is the conviction on the part of the laborers that they have been downtrodden as the helots of the capitalists. The workingman has been terrorized by the insecurity of his job. Williams tells of a carpenter who lived in the continued fear that the boss would lay him off—"And not once, I tell you, did I ever get home ten minutes before my regular time but my wife, she seen me comin' down the street and ran out to the gate to meet me, asking me always with a catch in her throat, 'Has it come? Tom, tell me quick! Has it come?" "1 Since the margin of his savings is so small, the insecurity of his job has inspired the workingman with a profound dread of the autocrat, his boss. Labor naturally rebels at the unfairness of its subordination. The working classes demand some scope for their will to power and they have found means to solve the dilemma forced upon them by their inferior position.

The workingman objects to the denial of opportunity for adequate self-expression. Machinery has cramped the instinct of workmanship. "For through our work, if anywhere in all the universe, we may hope to become a person meaningful and valuable—aye, indispensable-to others." 2 The laborer clamors for property because property ensures to him the liberties

1

1 Whiting Williams: Mainsprings of Men, p. 81. 1925.
* Ibid., p. 224.