§ 4. Influence of the Social Factor. — Ideal construction is, as we have seen, a social product. Hence the beliefs of the individual are to an immense extent shaped and determined by the beliefs current in the community in which he lives. This is an objective factor of paramount importance. But its logical value of course depends on the process by which current beliefs at first came into being. When these have no adequate basis in fact, their social endorsement simply serves to safeguard them against doubts to which the experience of individuals might otherwise give rise. If a belief in witchcraft, for instance, is already established in a community, those persons who think they have in their own experience evidence for its reality will have an immense advantage over any individuals who may venture to oppose them. The most acute reasoning and exhaustive research will have little chance against the most flimsy and prejudiced tale of old women causing sickness in children or preventing the cows from yielding milk. It must seem futile and perverse to put forward other explanations of these phenomena when there already exists an established explanation which, so to speak, forms part of the social order.

The adverse critic is an eccentric person who sets his individual fancy in opposition to the whole community. He is promptly suppressed. It is however a very rare thing that such a critic should arise within the community itself apart from the intrusion of foreign influences.

The people of a community often maintain their beliefs by trusting each other, as the inhabitants of the Scilly Islands are said to have eked out a precarious livelihood by taking in each other's washing.