Outward Face/hidden Man

Because we are by nature social beings, we live in societies. It is in the nature of man to prefer the security and stability of organized society over the risks inherent in total independence. But societies are not organized and perpetuated helter-skelter. Societies exist because their members are more or less congenial to a common attitude and approach to life. Sociologists use technical terms like “mores,” “norms,” “folkways,” “standards,” “values,” to define various aspects of this unifying force. But, in simplest terms, what we are saying is that the members of any enduring society have a lot in common, a body of common customs.

In Western Societies it is customary to eat with a fork. In China, the custom is to use chopsticks. In some Western Societies cars are driven on the right side of the road; in others the left side is customary. In some societies, one’s ancestry is traced through the mother; in others it is traced through the father. In most…