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3. That though in their early undeveloped states there exists in them scarcely any mutual dependence of parts, their parts gradually acquire a mutual dependence, which becomes at last so great that the activity and life of each part is made possible only by the activity and life of the rest.

4. That the life of a society is independent of, and far more prolonged than, the lives of any of its component units, who are severally born, grow, work and reproduce and die, while the body politic composed of them survives generation after generation, increasing in mass, in completeness of structure, and in functional activity.

It is the third peculiarity which deserves special attention here. It is in fact the core of social integration which deserves a thorough treatment.

When a large number of small social groups are put together to form a large uniform social group, then the resultant process which brings about the rearrangement of the molecules of society with the object of creating new structure is called integration. The tribes which come together and form large groups do not always succeed in the effort. In order to free the individual by shattering the tribal chains, and enclose him in the circle of the nation, it takes a great deal of effort. The federation of tribes before it reaches the final stage of a large tribe or a nation has to pass through a series of steps; and these steps may be easily discovered if one surveys the peoples in the world. Those steps are illustrated in caste systems, empires and hereditary classes, which may be given as examples of societies where the social integration has not been completed.