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During his pre-natal months, Man is enclosed and protected in the maternal womb; thus also in his early years, he is enclosed and protected in the familial womb. Psychologists now tell us that the impressions received in Man's early years are far the most important. If so, the understanding of Political Man calls for the study of the attitudes acquired in childhood.
Parents give, the child receives. From parents to child, there is a downward flow of services and goods, without return. What the parents do for the child is not in fulfilment of a contract passed with it, or in expectation of a quid pro quo. At all times, in all societies, parents attend to and provide for their children, feed, protect and cherish them: any exception arouses scandal. Indeed the human being is never so diligently served as while he is incapable of 'bargaining' or 'standing up for his rights'. Naturally, therefore, we carry over into our existence as grown men some remnant of the expectation to be liked, humoured and helped which was fostered in our childhood.
This expectation is overlooked in those pictures of society which seem to assume a club of celibates: here human relations are all bargaining, making and carrying out of contracts, observance of commutative justice. It seems forgotten that mankind could not go on if there were no giving; that the boon is more essential than the exchange.
No idea of a 'return' due for the kindness received enters the child's mind. Proof of this assertion is easily adduced: if parents unwisely seek to foster such a notion, they surprise and antagonize the child.1 He takes for granted the role of the parent. On the other hand he quite early begins to mimic that role in relation to some toy, pet, or younger child. He thus displays his ability to think himself into a part: the first which he tries out, that of mock-parent, is highly significant. It denotes that a non-circular flow of free services underlies in any society relations of exchange. The child will never
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