The social unit for man is the family. It is unlikely that a child
reared in a non-family circumstance would ever behave as a human in
human society, and this is probably true for other animals when they are
removed from their natural surroundings. The experience of Elsa, in
Born Free, demonstrated the difficulty of "teaching" a lion how
to become wild again after being raised in captivity. Without the
patient and persistent efforts of the individuals involved, it is almost
certain that Elsa would not have readapted to the wild state. Jokingly
we sometimes refer to our dogs as though they were people, and a dog
raised from puppyhood as a member of a human family often acquires
behavioral responses similar to those of the human members of the group.
This is not to argue that the dog really becomes human, for obviously it
cannot since its genetic makeup is that of a dog. Nevertheless, it has
learned social behavior that is acceptable in a human family, behavior
quite different from that acceptable to a pack of dogs. The habitat of
the orangutan in New Guinea is being destroyed by logging and
agricultural development. An organization established to save the
orangutan is finding that because the orangutan so quickly became
socialized to man, their future is uncertain when they are released to
the wild. Orangutans, of course, are by nature highly social animals and
man's efforts to save them must allow for this social behavior.
Contrary to popular belief, the principal difference in the
socialization of a human child and the socialization of an animal is not
the language component. With or without language man's offspring must be
socialized by him in order to function in the human community. The
rearing of an elephant is much the same as the rearing of a human child
and just as rigidly controlled biologically. For the first 6 months of
its life the infant elephant remains at its mother's side and is not
allowed to wander outside the circle of the herd. It is closely watched
by the mother for about 2 years, and does not join the herd as a
full-fledged member for about 11 years. The elephant's life span is
about 60 years, so this development process roughly corresponds to the
upbringing of a human in a similar life span. It should be noted that
before the advent of sanitary engineering and public health, the life
span of elephants was much longer than that of man. If behavior learned
in a social grouping is necessary to function in the group, then it
follows that an individual reared outside the group and deprived of the
proper learning experience will not fit into the group.
Families can form in any number of ways. In modern Western society
the typical family is the nuclear family consisting of the mother, the
father, and the children. In other parts of the world polygamous
marriages (both polyandrous and polygynous), matriarchies, and
patriarchies can be found, and in some of the "hippie" communes of the
United States group marriage is practiced. The particular arrangement of
the family does not seem to be very important as long as each member of
the family understands his or her status within the family and responds
behaviorally in ways that stabilize the social group.
The family as a social entity may have evolved independently in
several groups of hominoids, all having a common behavior pattern, who
fused into a single coherent species millions of years ago. Under these
circumstances it is reasonable to assume that different social groupings
arose very early among these closely related hominoids. These
relationships must have been much closer than the relationship between
man and the higher apes. Man is the only species, of several tens of
millions of species that have existed on the face of the earth, to have
developed a language-based technology. If language-based technology
occurred in more than one biological grouping, it is very likely that
the groups in which this capacity appeared would be so closely related
to each other as to be virtually the same species. Moreover, if the
pattern of family association and grouping reflects a social evolution,
one that responds to language and technology and economic effects, then
the social groupings that would tend to fill the requirements of
biological survival may be the limiting factors of social evolution.
Nevertheless, wherever man exists he is found in a family setting and
the family is the context in which he is socialized. Man is taught to
live in a social group, to accept group values and norms, and to behave
in a manner prescribed by the group. The concept of socialization simply
means teaching the biological organism, in this case man, to live in a
social grouping of his own species.
The family, therefore, is the primary biological grouping of man, and
all subsequent social organization is dependent upon this fact. From the
standpoint of the biological requirements for survival, the family unit
provides reproductive continuity for the preservation of the species,
and for survival in a manner compatible with reproductive continuity.
Moreover, the family unit gives social satisfaction beyond mere
survival, for it provides for comfort, security, and well-being. Other
animal species may or may not be organized in a fashion similar to that
of man, but the fact that family groupings are prevalent in most, if not
all, higher animals indicates that it must be a stable
biological-ecological configuration. This is particularly true during
the formative years of the young when the number of lessons to be
learned by a new member of the group is quite extensive. In many cases
the social groupings of animals occur only at seasonal times of the year
and seem to be related primarily to reproductive functions. Moose seem
to be loners except during the breeding season, and male grizzly bears
do not associate with female grizzly bears except during the mating
season. Their offspring may remain with the mother until the
sub-adulthood of the offspring is reached, at which time they may be
replaced in the social grouping by newborn. The social grouping then
becomes that of the new offspring and the mother, who again form a
relatively short-term stable association.
Since man evolved in the biological environment of the earth's
biosphere, his existence depends upon his existence with other living
things. Man's primary requirement for his biological and psychological
well-being are other people and the natural setting of vegetation,
together with the animals found there, i.e., birds, butterflies,
rabbits, deer, and so on. All animals, including man, must be
preoccupied with the gathering of food, and hence man's environment must
also provide him with the plants and animals that constitute food. Since
hunting is a basic elementary social pattern for the survival of man, it
is not surprising that the excitement of the hunt still survives in
modern society as a very strong social behavioral pattern.
In recent times it may appear that man has abandoned the concept of
surrounding himself with living organisms in favor of the bricks and
mortar of the cities. But places like New York and Tokyo are not merely
bricks, mortar, plastic, glass, and steel; they are also millions of
people. And further, prior to the development of food storage and
refrigeration devices, large cities like London, Paris, and Peking must
have teemed with plant and animal life brought to the city to feed the
population.
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