definite curved contours. These boundaries, in fact, are merely diagrammatic, serving to indicate the loci of the points where culture stands half way between that of the contiguous centers. While it may be difficult to empirically locate these points, our analysis of the several areas demonstrates the correctness of the interpretation and makes the approximate location of such points practical. Yet the important thing is not the precise location of these boundaries, but the determination of the centers by analytic methods.
It will be recalled that we have taken a new point of regard for this chapter, for whereas, in the others we singled out culture-trait complexes and sought their distributions, we now isolate social units in order to compare their individual cultures as wholes. What precedes is merely introductory to what is to follow. Already our experience with the social group as a unit in the social complex, leads us to suspect that the mere social unit has little distinctive value as a culture unit. Thus, if we turn to one of these centers, select the social unit appearing to have the most typical culture, and then move outward, we find the culture changes from one social unit to the next, not abrupt, but gradual or transitional.
These facts suggest that progress with our problem will be accelerated if we recognize that the social units are one kind of phenomena and culture complexes another. We are no doubt somewhat confused because our own culture is largely coincident with political grouping and nationalism, and so is characterized by territorial uniformity. This uniformity is due to national standardizations of culture. If we look at the natives of the New World as a whole, it appears that only when a close political organization develops, as among the Maya, Nahua and Inca, do we find a tendency toward territorial uniformity in culture. It thus appears that in their original states, culture and political organization are independent phenomena, but that when the latter reaches a certain status, it seizes upon culture and standardizes it. On the other hand, it is by no means clear what causes led to the curious gradations of culture in regions occupied by many small political units. Standardization is a deliberate conscious
