The Sociometric View of the Community

Author(s): Jacob L. Moreno

Source: Journal of Educational Sociology, Vol. 19, No. 9, Autonomous Groups: A New Field for
Adult Education (May, 1946), pp. 540-545
Published by: American Sociological Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2263771
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THE SOCIOMETRIC
VIEW OF THE COMMUNITY
JacobL.Moreno
The discoverythathumansocietyhasan actual,dynamic central
structurepenetratingandencompassingall itsformalandinformal,
underlyingand peripheralgroupingsmay one day be considered
the cornerstoneof all socialscience.The underlyingand surface
structurescannotbe separated;everyunderlyingstructurepartakes
of the surfacestructureand vice versa.Sometimesrelationshipson
the formallevel areidenticalwith thoseon the informallevel, but
more often they arenot, and the resultis socialtensionand stress.
This centralstructure,onceit hasbeenidentified,is eitherfoundor
discerniblein everyformof humansociety,fromthe mostprimitive
to the most civilized.It is presentfrom the beginningand persists
throughoutthe developmentof everysociety.It exertsa decisive
influenceuponeverysphereof socialactionin which humaninterrelationsare the corefactor-in economics,biology,socialpathology, politics,government,and similardivisionsof socialbehavior.
the structurewhich has been
By methodscalled"sociometric,"
designatedaboveas "central"-whichhas alwaysbeenoperatingin
humansocietyandwill continueto do so-has beeneitherisolated
or demonstrated,and seemsto have been establishedbeyondany
reasonabledoubt.It has been subjectedto exhaustiveanalysisand
its component elements identified. These are distinguishedby
sociometristsas: the factor of spontaneity;the tele factor; the
socialatom;groupformations,or coteries,which are intermediate
between atoms and more inclusive configurations;the psychosocial networksand their patternings;the sociodynamiceffect;
theprincipleof sociogeneticevolution.Everyothergenuinemethod
bentuponthe studyof socialprocessesshouldbe ableto verifytheir
existence.
Theseterms,on firstreading,may soundstrange,evenfantastic,
buttheircorrespondence
with everydayrealityis instantlyapparent

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THE SOCIOMETRICVIEW OF THE COMMUNITY

541

once their meaningis comprehended.As it is the purposeof this

articleto directthe attentionof adulteducators,recreationleaders,
socialworkers,high-schooland collegeteachersto thesenewerinsightsinto the natureof humangroupingsin the community,the
realitieswhich these termsdescribewill here be brieflyindicated.
Fromthe standpointof professionalswho workwith humanbeings, such as educatorsand socialworkers,group formations, the
third item on the foregoinglist is of signalimportance.Why this
is so canbe readilyunderstoodfromthe followingsummarysketch
of the meaningof the terms.
A. Humanbeingsdevelopa tendencyto feel attractedto, or repelledby, mostotherindividualswith whom they comein contact.
Toward the remainder,they feel indifferent.This feeling, projected into distance-toward other persons-sociometriststerm
tele. The wordis familiar,beinga componentof telephone,teleperceptor.It is the simplestcurrentof feelingtransmittedfrom one individualto another.'
B. Humanbeingsarealsoendowedwith a sensefor spontaneity,
a functionthat enablesthem to respondto a new situationor to
makea new responseto an old situation.This response-characterized by lessor morespontaneity-mustbe moreor less adequateif
the individualis to survive.He is calleduponto useit fromthe moment of birth.Althoughthe genesmay determinethe majorityof
the new and plasticways in
physicaland mental characteristics,
which eachindividualcombinesanddirectsthem canbe attributed
to spontaneity.Eachindividual'sintensityof feeling,the increaseor
decreaseof teleprojectionaboveor below a certainlevel, is influencedby his spontaneity.Mutualinteractionof the two createsthe
1J. L. Moreno, Who Shall Survive (New York: BeaconHouse, 1934), pp. 158-164. Urie
Bronfenbrenner,The Measurementof SociometricStatus, Structureand Development (New
York: Beacon House, 1945, Sociometry Monograph No. 6). Jacob L. Moreno and H. H.
Jennings, Sociometric Measurement of Social Configurations (New York: Beacon House,
1945, SociometryMonographNo. 3).

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542

THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL SOCIOLOGY

characterof the interrelationsbetween any individualand those

with whom he comesin contact.!
C. Each human being needs otherhuman beings to help him
accomplishhis ends. In respectto these ends-called criteria by
the individualswho atsociometrists-hechoosesas collaborators
tracthim. Thosewho do not,he rejects.Likewise,otherhumanbeThe sumtotalof relationingschooseorrejecthim asa collaborator.
shipscreatedby the feelingsof like or dislikethusprojectedtoward
a human being by othersand the relationshipshe establishesby
virtueof the feelingsof like or dislike which he projectstoward
them makeup what sociometristscall his social atom.8 This is the
smallestconstellationof psychologicalrelationsthat we can comprehend.
D. When the social atoms of any numberof individualswho
contactswithin a specificgeographicenvironment
haveface-to-face
-a community,a school,a factory,an institution-are chartedby
sociometricmethods,a varietyof differentpatternsof relationship
emerges.Feelingsof attractionamongindividualsshowup aspairs,
triangles,circles,chains,stars,squares,etc. Feelings of repulsion
form similarpatterns.These patternsare the group formations
or coteries within the given environment.(Note: Rough approximationsof suchgroupformationsarecalledautonomousgroupsby
the Committeeon AutonomousGroups.) The majorityof these
patternsare interlinkedthroughindividualswho belong to more
than one coterie.Often, however,the chart shows one or more
coteries isolated from the balance of the community,forming
cliques.In addition,also,therearealwaysa numberof individuals
isolatedfrom the community,belongingto no coteriesor cliques.
In orderto visualizethesecoteriesin a given community,we must
closeour eyesto the surfaceconfigurationswhich societypresents:
' J. L. and F. B. Moreno,SpontaneityTheory of Child Development (New York: Beacon
House, PsychodramaMonographsNo. 8, 1944).
'J. L. Moreno, Who Shall Survive, op. cit., pp. I41-146. Helen H. Jennings, Leadership
and Isolation (New York: Longmans, Green and Company, I944).

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THE SOCIOMETRICVIEW OF THE COMMUNITY

543

families, factories,schools, religious and racial groupings,and

others.Underlyingall of them are the intimaterelationshipsof
whose
coteriesand cliques,with their mutual interrelationships,
functioningaffectsprofoundlythe behaviorof the superficialconfigurations.'
E. The interlinkingsbetweenthe coteriesand the socialatoms
in a communityfall largelyinto chainformations,the psychosocial
networks.Individualscomprisingcertainlinks in the chainsmay
be unacquaintedwith those in more distantlinks, but they exert
an influenceon othersby indirection.
Throughsuch chains,opinionsand suggestionsare transmitted
from one part of the communityto another.These networksdo
not correspondwith any of the surfaceconfigurationspresented
by a superficialview of the community,yet they arethe structures
within which publicopinionis formedand the prestigeof general
communityleadersdetermined!
Lack of spaceprohibitsamplificationof the meaningof the two
other elementsin the centralstructureof society-sociodynamic
effectandthe principleof sociogeneticevolutions-butenoughhas
been said here to show that the findingsand conceptsofferedby
sociometryyield valuablenew insight to practicalworkersin the
fields wherehumanrelationsareof paramountimportance.It appearscertainthat in the light of these findingsthe termsapplied
to human groupingsneed criticalredefinition.Such formations,
for example,as socialatomsand coteriesappearto constitutethe
primaryunits of society,ratherthan family and neighborhood,
as earliersociologistsheld.
In thepast,whenthe individualscomposinga humansocietywere
thoughtof aspassiveagents-more or lessimmobileentitiescarried
hither and thither by fate or circumstancedirectedby the will
4 J. L. Moreno, Who Shall Survive, op. cit., chaps. VII and VIII.
5Ibid., chap. XIII. J. L. Morenoand H. H. Jennings,SociometryMonographNo. 3, op. cit.

'J. L. Moreno, Sociometry and the Cultural Order (New York: Beacon House,
SociometryMonographNo. i), especially pp. 303-308.

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I943,

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THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL SOCIOLOGY

of God, or regardedas productsof impersonal"culturalforces"

-these underlyingelementsin the structureof societywere not
soughtfor.Sincetheydo not overtlymanifestthemselvesin society,
a reagent-a catalyzer-is necessaryin order to bring them into
view. This catalyzeris the spontaneity of all the individualsin the
givensurfaceconfiguration:school,community,factory,or family.
Up to the adventof sociometricexplorationof humansociety,the
socialscientistwas beginningto comeinto contactwith the life situationswhich were to be explored,but the subjects-the human
materialof the investigations-wereleft out of anyparticipationin
the studyof theirown life situations.This meantshuttingoff the
spontaneityof the subjects,the most importantsourceof informadon. In otherwords,the methodsusedto explorethe subjectswere
thosewhich had been successfulin physical,chemical,geological,
speaking,the
exploration,where,metaphorically
and astronomical
spontaneityof the subjectsstudieddid not enterinto or disturbthe
and in humansociety,the
experiment.Butin humaninterrelations
spontaneityof theindividualis the alphaandthe omega,the nexus,
of everysocialsituationandof the whole experiment.
The taskof the socialscientistis to inventadequatetoolsfor the
explorationof a chosendomain.On the level of human interrelations,this domainis madeup of the interactivespontaneitiesof all
the individualscomposingit. Therefore,the taskof the socialscientist becomesthe shapingof toolsin sucha fashionas to enablehim
to arousethe individualsto the requiredpoint of spontaneityon a
scalewhich runsall the way to the maximum.But individualscannot be aroused-or only to an insignificant degree-by undynamic

and automaticmeans.The individualsmust be adequatelymotivated so that the full strengthof their spontaneousresponsesis
evoked.Thus, the inventionand shapingof methodsfor socialinvestigationand the stirringup of the reactions,thoughts,and feelings of the peopleon whomtheyareusedmustgo handin hand.
Finally,knowledgeof the centralstructureof humaninterrela-

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THE SOCIOMETRICVIEW OF THE COMMUNITY

545

of hutionsis essentialto any generalplanningand reconstruction

man society.In fact, this was well-nighimpossibleso long as the
remainedhidden.Manbelievedthatthe regeneration
keystructures
of societywasoutsidehisprovince-evenmoreso thanthe regenerationof thepersonality.Sociometryopensup the possibilityof reconstitutinghumansociety,for the reasonthat the factorof spontaneity, the initiativeand the immediategraspof the individualsconcerned,is madethe essenceof the methodof explorationand of the
investigationitself.
In a sociometricsystem,the essenceof everyprocessof planning
is total and completespontaneity,including all membersof the
group,not,asheretofore,thespontaneityof a smallnumberof leadersor individualschosenatrandom.The totalsumof the individual
spontaneitiesdetermineseverydirectionof planningand selection
of everykey individualor leaderto whom specificfunctionsor reareto be entrusted.Thus all the functionsand actions
sponsibilities
of the group-on everylevel betweenthe peripheryand the center
-bear a harmoniousrelationto the coreor centralstructure.
sociometry, gives
The new philosophyof humaninterrelations,
us a methodologyand guidefor determinationof the centralstructure of societythroughthe evocationof the spontaneityof the huThese factorsonce locatedand diagrammed
man subject-agents.
supplyus with the basisupon which the planningof all the many
facetsand activitiesof societymay be undertaken-fromjuvenile
and world states.
and adulteducationto supergovernments
Jacob L. Moreno, M.D., is the pioneer in psychodramaand group psychotherapy.He is
Physician-in-Chargeat Beacon Hill Sanitarium, Beacon, New York, and the founder of
Sociometry, a journal of interpersonalrelations.

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