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Today, automated equipment can be found in all parts of the world. In the industrial countries, automation has gone beyond the experimental stage and has turned into a rapidly growing movement. In the developing countries, in dividual examples of automation exist, but they are still rare and isolated. Technically, automation is everywhere alike. But the reasons for its utilization, and its social and economic impact, vary between countries according to their stage of de velopment, international trade factors, employment situation, skill level of the labor force, and other factors. So far, there has been little evidence that automation causes unemployment, particularly in Europe where labor shortages are on the in crease, although a certain amount of dislocation is inevitable in the transitional stages. A variety of social measures, com bined with early consultation of the workers affected, should help effect a reasonably smooth transition until the benefits of higher productivity may be reflected in the economy in the form of more job opportunities. The International Labour Organisation has devoted much attention to the social impact of automation and expects this field to remain at the forefront of its preoccupations for many years to come.

In 1898, Mr. Justice Brewer measurably strengthened his claim to immortality by publicly inviting criticism of the Supreme Court. His words are well-worn now, for generations of professors have gratefully quoted them in journal and classroom; and during the 20th century the challenge he issued has evoked a response that may give his shade occasional second thoughts. The Supreme Court has had many problems in the years since he spoke, but a shortage of critics has not been one of them. Journalists, academicians, and politicians have, in their several ways, poured out a steady stream of reproach which from time to time has swelled into a torrent.

This essay is a comparative study in the dynamics of doctrinal conflicts. It deals with two organized international movements overtly committed to spreading and carrying out a doctrinal program of action, theological or ideological, on the basis of both the individual commitment of their respective members and their collective goals as organized bodies. Its purpose is to generalize from the experience of these organizations in handling deviations involving a unit of the movement differing or clashing either with the acknowledged center, or with another unit of the movement—in both cases over theological or ideological issues, but within the common doctrine, and accompanied by mutual doctrinal recriminations. A brief and selective analysis of the historical experience of one such movement, Catholicism, might contribute to a more sophisticated understanding of some recent developments within a contemporary international movement, Communism.

Analysis of the dynamic properties of two or more interrelated systems is a recurrent problem in social science theory. A particular problem frequently arises (although it often goes unrecognized) in assessing the validity of an analysis of a system, some variables of which are causally related to other variables, which latter, in turn, are either not explicitly taken into account or are assumed constant. Examples are easy to find: economists may study the behavior of a single country's economy with only secondary regard for the rest of the world; studies of group behavior may pay only secondary attention to the other roles played by the group members in other contexts; two more examples are worked out below and others may be found in the works about to be cited. Indeed, in a larger sense, the division of social science itself (or of natural science, for that matter) into separate disciplines is an example, for the variables taken as given by one discipline are the very subject matter of another and vice versa. In all these examples, the very real problem is present that if variables taken as given are causally affected by the variables of the system being analyzed, or if variables assumed not to affect that system actually do affect it, the results of the analysis may have little relevance for the study of real problems.