Reviewing the orientation expressed in The Individual and His Society and The Psychological Frontiers of Society, Gouldner takes Kardiner and Linton to task for neglecting the 'social level of integration'. This level, 'while not apart from the psychological level, is at least conceptually separable from it. Social phenomena cannot be reduced to psychological for much the same reason that a reduction of psychological to physiological is scientifically not permissible; namely, the distinguishing or unique characteristics of the former are eliminated.' This neglect, specifically the neglect of the class society aspect of our culture, is implied in glossing over differences in child-rearing patterns among subgroups in our culture and treating the family structure essentially as a causal agent while neglecting to interpret the family also as effect, as a social product. This is shown to lead to erroneous reasoning about the conditions of social stability.