It appears from an
earlier passage in this discussion that for the purpose of the
collective life of today, especially so far as concerns the
industrial efficiency of the modern community, the characteristic
traits of the devout temperament are a hindrance rather than a
help. It should accordingly be found that the modern industrial
life tends selectively to eliminate these traits of human nature
from the spiritual constitution of the classes that are
immediately engaged in the industrial process. It should hold
true, approximately, that devoutness is declining or tending to
obsolescence among the members of what may be called the
effective industrial community. At the same time it should appear
that this aptitude or habit survives in appreciably greater vigor
among those classes which do not immediately or primarily enter
into the community's life process as an industrial factor.
It has already been pointed out that these latter classes, which
live by, rather than in, the industrial process, are roughly
comprised under two categories (1) the leisure class proper,
which is shielded from the stress of the economic situation; and
(2) the indigent classes, including the lower-class delinquents,
which are unduly exposed to the stress.
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