Defunct The Mind and Society (Italian: Trattato di Sociologia Generale, lit.

In this book Pareto presents the first sociological cycle theory, centered on the concept of an elite social class.

However, it notes how people try to explain such conduct as logical anyway, and these explanations have developed into many magical, metaphysical, and moral theories.

The author identifies categories of instinctive tendencies behind such theories, including 'combinations' (creative syntheses, such as superstitious associations) and 'group-persistences' (deeply held preconceptions, such as belief in a god or reified abstraction like Justice or Progress).

Here, the author sees the relative intensities of these sentiments in a population, especially those of combinations versus those of group-persistences, as an important social force.