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GEORG SIMMEL
(1858-1918)
Philosopher/Sociologist
Georg Simmel was a German
sociologist, philosopher, and critic.
Simmel was one of the first
generation of German sociologists:
his neo-Kantian approach laid the
foundations for sociological
antipositivism.
GEORG SIMMEL
1858 – 1918
A Summary of Ideas
The Person
Introduction
The Academic Outsider
A Virtuoso on the Platform
Simmel's Writing Career
Introduction
Formal Sociology
Social Types
The Dialectical Method in Simmel's Sociology
The Significance of Numbers for Social Life
Simmel's Ambivalent View of Modern Culture
A Note on the Philosophy of Money
The Original Work
The Stranger
Conflict as Sociation
GEORG SIMMEL
1858-1918
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Born in Berlin, Germany (an area similar to New York City’s Times Square)
His family was business-oriented, prosperous, and Jewish
His father converted to Christianity--died in Simmel’s youth
Earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy, 1881
Denied a regular academic position he taught as an adjunct, 1885-1914
During this period he was a popular public lecturer
Appointed Assistant Professor in 1914 at age 56
Career interrupted by WWI, during which he served as a hospital
administrator
A modern urban man--without roots in traditional folk culture
How is Society Possible? (American Journal of Sociology, vol. 16,
1910-11)
A Chapter in the Philosophy of Value (American Journal of
Sociology vol. 5, 1900)
Simmel
Texts in
English
Translation
Superiority and Subordination as Subject-matter of Sociology
(American Journal of Sociology 2 1896: 167-189).
The Persistence of Social Groups (American Journal of Sociology
3 1897: 662-698).
The Number of Members as Determining the Sociological Form
of the Group. (American Journal of Sociology 8 1902: 1-46).
The Sociology of Conflict: (American Journal of Sociology 9
1903) 490-525).
A Contribution to the Sociology of Religion" (American Journal
of Sociology : 10 1904 359-376.)
The Metropolis and Mental Life (adapted by D. Weinstein from
Kurt Wolff (Trans.) The Sociology of Georg Simmel. New York:
Free Press, 1950, pp.409-424)
The Stranger (From Kurt Wolff (Trans.) The Sociology of Georg
Simmel. New York: Free Press, 1950, pp. 402 - 408)
The Sociology of Secrecy and Secret Societies (American Journal
of Sociology 11, 1906: 441-498.)
GEORG SIMMEL
SOCIAL RELATIONS:
• super-ordinate/sub-ordinate
• conflict/cooperation
• distance/intimacy
• social/individual
SOCIAL TYPES:
• competitor
• miser
• adventurer
• coquette
• stranger
GEORG SIMMEL
SOCIETY =
THE INTRICATE WEB OF PATTERNED, MULTIPLE RELATIONS
BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS IN CONSTANT INTERACTION.
THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE GROUP ARE MUTUALLY
CONSTITUTIVE VIA SOCIAL FORMS, I.E., CRYSTALLIZED
PATTERNED INTERACTIONS.
SOCIATION
ASSOCIATION
(cooperation)
DISSOCIATION
(conflict)
(both functional)
Dialectical & Paradoxical Dynamic Tension
between Individual and Group/Society
• Incorporated Within – Standing Against
• Product of Society – Self-Determined
• Dependent – Autonomous
• Acted Upon – Self-Activating
• Incorporated into Social Membership –
Reacting out of Unique Individuality
For Simmel
“... fashion represents nothing more than one of the
many forms of life by the aid of which we seek to
combine in uniform spheres of activity the tendency
towards social equalization with the desire for
individual differentiation and change.”
In each social relation there are two forces at work: one pushing us to bind ourselves to
others through imitation, and another pushing us to unbind ourselves from others, to
undo the social network, through distinction. But social life changes in so far as the
balance between the socialising force and the de-socialising force is always unstable and
provisional.
Fashion is an example of the way in which actual social life always includes in some way
its own opposite, an asocial life.
from Georg Simmel, in On Women, Sexuality, and Love:
Consider the charms of the simultaneous
For and Against, the Perhaps,
the protracted reservation of the decision
which permits a foretaste of the enjoyment
of both its aspects
which in their realization
are mutually exclusive.
(the original does not appear structured thus, but as a straightforward sentence)
And famously:
Flirtation also does no more than play with reality,
yet it is still reality with which it plays.
CONFLICT as a SOCIAL FORM
CONFLICT as a SOCIAL FORM
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CONFLICT
•Conflict instinctual for humans
•Unique feature of conflict for humans: it is goal oriented
•Opens up opportunities for negotiation and
different types and levels of conflict
VARIABILITY OF VIOLENCE
•Clearly expressed with rational goals  less violence
•Higher emotional involvement  increased violence
•Transcendent goals  greatly increased violence
Reciprocal Nature –
the Functions of Social Conflict
• Hostility as Helpful
• Group Binding
• Group Preserving
• Internal Cohesion
• Achieves Internal Unity
• Generates Energy, Effort, & Purpose
• Creates Satisfaction
• Binds Individuals to the Whole
• Establishes Group Identity
Reciprocal Nature –
the Functions of Social Conflict
• Hostility as Helpful
• Group Binding
• Group Preserving
• Defines Structure
• Achieves Stability
• Provides Baselines
• Establishes Knowledge of Power
Reciprocal Nature –
the Functions of Social Conflict
• Hostility as Helpful
• Group Binding
• Group Preserving
• Creates Associations & Coalitions
• Combines Antagonists against an Other
“An enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
“If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favorable
reference to the devil in the House of Commons.”
• Produces Enemies
• Produces Unity in the Other
What’s at Issue
in the Conflict…?
• Differences in:
• Material Goods
• Social Services
• Cultural Values
• Social Esteem
• Political Power
• Degree: Small or Great
• Degree: Peripheral or Central
• Degree: Rational or Emotional
• Real or Perceived Difference
(Absolute or Relative)
• Procedure or Purpose
(Process or Goal)
Historical Typology – Types of Society
SWEEP OF HISTORY
GEMEINSCHAFT
Theological
Metaphysical
Militaristic
Feudalism
Mechanical
Solidarity
Traditional
Subjective Culture
(more life)
Primary Group
Ferdinand Tonnies
August Comte
Herbert Spencer
Karl Marx
Emile Durkheim
Max Weber
Georg Simmel
Chicago School
RECAPITULATION
GESELLSCHAFT
Positivist Scientific
Industrial
Capitalism
Organic
Solidarity
Rational-Legal
Objective Culture
(more-than life)
Secondary Group
DRIFT OF HISTORY
SUBJECTIVE CULTURE
(more-life/species being)
OBJECTIVE CULTURE
(more-than-life/alienating)
SOCIALLY CREATED STRUCTURES:
from few nested concentric circles to
many
partially
intersecting
TRIBE
CLAN
individual
CIRCLES
23.5%
EXTENDED
FAMILY
Individual
FAMILY
SOCIAL FORMS/emergent web of group affiliations
• monad
• dyad
• triad
Emergence of “society”
• quadrad
formula: X = y – y/2
where y = # of group members
• etc.
& X = # of relationships/emergent web
• small group
• large group
2
IF TWO’S COMPANY,
AND THREE’S A CROWD, THEN
FOUR’S THE EMERGENCE OF SOCIETY
FORMULA:
(where R is the number of relationships and
M is the number of group members)
2–M
M
R=
2
EFFECTS OF
GROUP SIZE
ON THE NUMBER
OF
RELATIONSHIPS
Members
2
(triad, still fragile) 3
(first emergence of society) 4
(upper limit of span of control) 8
(max size of small group) 12
25
(approx size of this class) 50
(considered ideal community size) 200
(approx size of PSU) 30,000
(dyad, extremely fragile)
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
Relationships*
1
3
6
28
66
300
1,225
19,900
449,985,000
*not including any coalition or sub-group relationships
Significance of Numbers for Social Structure
• Dyad – fragile, no supra-personal level
• Triad – first suggestions of social structure, the suprapersonal possibility of coalitions, combinations
• Quadrad – first real emergence of social structure
• Small Group –
• total involvement of the individual
• personal valuation
• intense, frequent interaction
• highly personal
• emotional, subjective
Significance of Numbers for Social Structure
• Large Group –
• greater social distance
• reduced intimacy
• greater freedom
• increase in delegation, formality, formal offices
• increase in inequality
• segmental involvement
• greater resilience to internal conflict
• power alien and/or distant
SIMMEL’S DYNAMIC OF SOCIETAL DEVELOPMENT
the Drift of History
urbanization-money markets-commodification
SUBJECTIVE
CULTURE
OBJECTIVE
CULTURE
Personalistic
Organic
Subjective
Involved
Impersonal
Rational
Objective
Blasé
GREAT TRANSFORMATIONS
RELIGIOUS REFORMATIONS – POLITICAL REVOLUTIONS – INDUSTRIALIZATION – SCIENTIFIC PROCESS – DIGITAL REVOLUTION
EVER INCREASING
SIZE
DENSITY
DIVERSITY
COMPLEXITY
SPECIALIZATION
SOPHISTICATION
TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
THE
PARADOX
of
MONEY
$ MONEY $:
• UNIVERSAL AND ABSTRACT NATURE EFFECTS:
- INCREASES INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM
- FOSTERS TENUOUS AND OBJECTIVE CONNECTIONS
- DISCOURAGES INTIMATE TIES WITH PEOPLE
- DECREASES MORAL CONSTRAINT, INCREASES ANOMIE
• SOCIAL EFFECTS:
- CREATES EXCHANGE RELATIONSHIPS OVER DISTANCE
AND TIME
- INCREASES SIMILARITY/CONTINUITY AMONG GROUPS
- STRENGTHENS LEVEL OF SOCIAL TRUST
- INCREASES CENTRALIZED AUTHORITY
• CREATES DISTANCE FROM OBJECTS WHICH THEN
• BECOMES THE MEANS TO OVERCOME THAT DISTANCE
• CREATES THE FINANCIAL MARKET WHICH THEN
• ACQUIRES A LIVE OF ITS OWN
• ENCOURAGES ABSTRACT OF RATIONALIZATION WHICH THEN
• EXPANDS THE CAPACITY FOR INTELLECTUAL PROCESS
• ACTS AS A TOOL OR A MEANS WHICH THEN
• BECOMES AN END ITSELF
• ACTS AS AN EXTERNAL IMPOSITION WHICH THEN
• IMMEASURABLY INCREASES FREEDOM
• CREATES A REIFIED WORLD BUT THEN
• PROVIDES THE MEANS TO NEGOTIATE THAT WORLD
• INTRODUCES A VALUELESS DIMENSION WHICH THEN
• BECOMES THE ULTIMATE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS
THE 9/11 VICTIM COMPENSATION CALCULUS
• First, the government will estimate how much a victim would have
earned over his or her lifetime had the planes never crashed. (That
means a broker’s wife will qualify for a vastly higher award than a
window washer’s wife.)
• To estimate this amount, each family was handed an easy-to-read
chart: find your loved one’s age and income and follow your finger
to the magic number.
Administered by Special Master of the U.S.
government's September 11th Victim Compensation
Fund, Kenneth Feinberg (subsequently Special
• Each estimate of lifetime earnings was boosted by a flat $250,000 for
Master for TARP Executive Compensation) who
“pain and suffering” (non-economic loss).
had sole authority in applying the calculus.
To participate in this process and receive
compensation, each survivor had to agree to waive
any rights to pursue further compensation for their
loss through legal procedures.
• Add an extra $50,000 in pain and suffering for a spouse and each child.
•Then subtract all the money survivors received from other sources
except charities: deduct life insurance, pensions, Social Security death
benefits, and worker’s compensation.
The result – the total award the government offers for the loss of a life.