are unimportant, however, but only that they appear to present no special
problems for the organization of a peace-oriented social system. They include
the following:
War as a general social release. This is a psychosocial function, serving the
same purpose for a society as do the holiday, the celebration, and the orgy for
the individual---the release and redistribution of undifferentiated tensions. War
provides for the periodic necessary readjustment of standards of social behavior
(the "moral climate") and for the dissipation of general boredom, one of the
most consistently undervalued and unrecognized of social phenomena.
War as a generational stabilizer. This psychological function, served by other
behavior patterns in other animals, enables the physically deteriorating older
generation to maintain its control of the younger, destroying it if necessary.
War as an ideological clarifier. The dualism that characterized the traditional
dialectic of all branches of philosophy and of stable political relationships stems
from war as the prototype of conflict. Except for secondary considerations,
there cannot be, to put it as simply as possible, more than two sides to a
question because there cannot be more than two sides to a war.
War as the basis for the international understanding. Before the development
of modern communications, the strategic requirements of war provided the only
substantial incentive for the enrichment of one national culture with the
achievements of another. Although this is still the case in many international
relationships, the function is obsolescent.
We have also forgone extended characterization of those functions we assume
to be widely and explicitly recognized. An obvious example is the role of war as
controller of the quality and degree of unemployment. This is more than an
economic and political subfunction; its sociological, cultural, and ecological
aspects are also important, although often teleonomic. But none affect the
general problem of substitution. The same is true of certain other functions;
those we have included are sufficient to define the scope of the problem.
problems for the organization of a peace-oriented social system. They include
the following:
War as a general social release. This is a psychosocial function, serving the
same purpose for a society as do the holiday, the celebration, and the orgy for
the individual---the release and redistribution of undifferentiated tensions. War
provides for the periodic necessary readjustment of standards of social behavior
(the "moral climate") and for the dissipation of general boredom, one of the
most consistently undervalued and unrecognized of social phenomena.
War as a generational stabilizer. This psychological function, served by other
behavior patterns in other animals, enables the physically deteriorating older
generation to maintain its control of the younger, destroying it if necessary.
War as an ideological clarifier. The dualism that characterized the traditional
dialectic of all branches of philosophy and of stable political relationships stems
from war as the prototype of conflict. Except for secondary considerations,
there cannot be, to put it as simply as possible, more than two sides to a
question because there cannot be more than two sides to a war.
War as the basis for the international understanding. Before the development
of modern communications, the strategic requirements of war provided the only
substantial incentive for the enrichment of one national culture with the
achievements of another. Although this is still the case in many international
relationships, the function is obsolescent.
We have also forgone extended characterization of those functions we assume
to be widely and explicitly recognized. An obvious example is the role of war as
controller of the quality and degree of unemployment. This is more than an
economic and political subfunction; its sociological, cultural, and ecological
aspects are also important, although often teleonomic. But none affect the
general problem of substitution. The same is true of certain other functions;
those we have included are sufficient to define the scope of the problem.
