The Sociology of Georg Simmel

The Sociology of Georg Simmel
Georg Simmel, Kurt H. Wolff (Ed.)
The Free Press (1950)
Format PDF 21.9 MB
Pages 513

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii

Introduction xvii

1. Fragments of Simmers Life and Mind xviii

2. Simmel in America xxiv

3. The Translations xxv

4. Simmers "Field of Sociology" xxvii

(A) "SOCIETY" AND "INDIVIDUAL" xxviii

(B) SOCIOLOGY xxxi

(C) SOCIOLOGY AS A METHOD xxxi

(D) "GENERAL" SOCIOLOGY xxxii

(E) "FORMAL" SOCIOLOGY xxxiv

(F) "PHILOSOPHICAL" SOCIOLOGY xxxiv

(G) SIMMEL'S SOCIOLOGY AS THE EXPRESSION OF AN ATTITUDE xxxv

(H) SIMMEL'S PROBLEMS xxxv

(i) THE "SOCIALIZATION OF THE SPIRIT" vs. SOCIOLOGY AS A METHOD xxxvi

(j) "GENERAL" vs. "FORMAL" SOCIOLOGY xxxvii

(K) THE "SOCIETAL FORMS" xxxviii

(L) THE RELATION OF SIMMEL's PHILOSOPHICAL TO HIS SOCIOLOGICAL CONCERNS

5. The Methodological and Philosophical Importance of- Simmers Sociology

Notes

Appendices

(A) LITERATURE ON SIMMEL

(B) THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SIMMELS WRITINGS

(C) SIMMEL'S MAJOR WORKS

(D) SIMMEL'S WRITINGS AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH

(E) DISCUSSIONS, IN ENGLISH, OF SIMMEL AS A SOCIOLOGIST

(F) SOURCES OF THE TRANSLATIONS CONTAINED IN THIS VOLUME

(G) A NOTE ON THE TRANSLATION

PART ONE: Fundamental Problems of Sociology (Individual and Society)

I. THE FIELD OF SOCIOLOGY 3

1. Society and Knowledge of Society 3

2. The Abstract Character of Sociology 11

3. Sociology as a Method 13

4. The Problem Areas of Sociology 16

(A) THE SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF HISTORICAL LIFE ("GENERAL SOCIOLOGY") 16

(B) THE STUDY OF SOCIETAL FORMS ("PURE, OR FORMAL, SOCIOLOGY") 21

(C) THE STUDY OF THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND METAPHYSICAL ASPECTS OF SOCIETY

("PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIOLOGY") 23

II. THE SOCIAL AND THE INDIVIDUAL LEVEL (AN EXAMPLE OF GENERAL SOCIOLOGY) 26

1. The Determinateness of the Group and the Vacillation of the Individual 26

2. Individual vs. Group Member 28

3. Esteem of the Old and of the New 29

4. The Sociological Significance of Individual Similarity and Dissimilarity 30

5. The Individual's Superiority over the Mass 31

6. The Simplicity and Radicalism of the Mass 34

7. The Emotionality of the Mass Appeal and of the Mass 34

8. The Level of Society as the Approximation to the Lowest Common Level of Its Members 36

III. SOCIABILITY (AN EXAMPLE OF PURE, OF FORMAL, SOCIOLOGY) 40

1. Contents (Materials) vs. Forms of Social Life 40

2. The Autonomization of Contents 41

3. Sociability as the Autonomous Form, or Play-Form, of Sociation 43

(A) UNREALITY, TACT, IMPERSONALITY 45

(B) "SOCIABILITY THRESHOLDS" 46

(C) THE "SOCIABILITY DRIVE" AND THE DEMOCRATIC NATURE OF SOCIABILITY 47

(D) THE ARTIFICIAL WORLD OF SOCIABILITY 48

(E) SOCIAL GAMES 49

(F) COQUETRY 50

(G) CONVERSATION 51

(H) SOCIABILITY AS THE PLAY-FORM OF ETHICAL PROBLEMS AND OF THEIR SOLUTION 53

(l) HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS 54

(J) THE "SUPERFICIAL" CHARACTER OF SOCIABILITY 55

IV. INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY IN EIGHTEENTH- AND NINETEENTHCENTURY

VIEWS OF LIFE (AN EXAMPLE OF PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIOLOGY) 58

1. Individual Life as the Basis of the Conflict between Individual and Society 58

2. Individual Egoism vs. Individual Self-Perfection as an Objective Value 59

3. The Social vs. the Human 61

4. The Eighteenth Century 64

(A) THE FREEDOM OF THE INDIVIDUAL 64

(B) THE ANTINOMY BETWEEN FREEDOM AND EQUALITY 65

(C) "NATURAL MAN" 67

(D) INDIVIDUALISM IN KANT 69

(E) THE DUAL ROLE OF "NATURE" 70

(F) KANT'S "CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE": INDIVIDUALITY AS

THE SYNTHESIS OF FREEDOM AND EQUALITY 72

5. The Nineteenth Century 73

(A) SOCIALISM 73

(B) THE NEW INDIVIDUALISM: THE INCOMPARABILITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL 78

PART TWO: Quantitative Aspects of the Group

I. ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF NUMBERS FOR SOCIAL LIFE 87

1. Small Groups 87

(A) SOCIALISM 87

(B) RELIGIOUS SECTS 89

(C) ARISTOCRACIES 90

2. Large Groups: The Mass 93

3. Group Size, Radicalism, and Cohesiveness 94

4. Paradoxes in Group Structure 96

5. Numerical Aspects of Prominent Group Members 97

6. Custom, Law, Morality 99

II. THE QUANTITATIVE DETERMINATION OF GROUP DIVISIONS

AND OF CERTAIN GROUPS 105

1. Introduction 105

2. Numerically Equal Subdivisions 105

3. The Number as a Symbol of Group Division 107

4. Group Organization on Numerical Principles and Its Effect upon the Individual 109

5. The Social Gathering ("Party") 111

6. The Extended Family 114

7. Quantity and Quality 115

III. THE ISOLATED INDIVIDUAL AND THE DYAD 118

1. Introduction 118

2. The Isolated Individual 118

3. Isolation 119

4. Freedom 120

5. The Dyad 122

6. Characteristics of the Dyad 125

(A) TRIVIALITY 125

(B) INTIMACY 126

7. Monogamous Marriage 128

8. Delegation of Duties and Responsibilities to the Group 133

9. The Expansion of the Dyad 135

(A) THE TRIAD VS. THE DYAD 135

(B) TWO TYPES OF INDIVIDUALITY AND THEIR CONNECTION

WITH DYADIC AND OTHER RELATIONSHIPS 137

(C) DYADS, TRIADS, AND LARGER GROUPS 138

(D) THE FORMAL RADICALISM OF THE MASS 142

IV. THE TRIAD 145

1. The Sociological Significance of the Third Element 145

2. The Non-Partisan and the Mediator 145

3. The Tertius Gaudens 154

4. Divide et Impera 162

V. THE IMPORTANCE OF SPECIFIC NUMBERS FOR RELATIONS  AMONG GROUPS ' 170

1. Group Subdivisions 170

2. The Decimal Principle 171

3. The Outside Regulation of Groups According to Their Maximum and Minimum Sizes 174

PART THREE: Superordination and Subordination

I. INTRODUCTION 181

1. Domination, a Form of Interaction 181

2. Authority and Prestige 183

3. Leader and Led 185

4. Interaction in the Idea of "Law" 186

II. SUBORDINATION UNDER AN INDIVIDUAL 190

1. Three Kinds of Subordination 190

2. Kinds of Subordination under an Individual 190

3. Unification of a Group in Opposition to the Ruler 192

4. Dissociating Effects of Subordination under an Individual 194

5. The "Higher Tribunal" 195

6. Domination and Leveling 197

7. Domination and Downward Gradation 206

8. Domination and Upward Gradation 209

9. Mixture of Downward and Upward Gradation 210

10. Strength and Perseverance of Domination by One 213

11. Subordination of the Group to a Member or to an Outsider 216

12. Coordination of Parties in Case of Arbitration 221

III. SUBORDINATION UNDER A PLURALITY 224

1. Consequences for the Subordinates of Subordination under a Plurality 224

2. Subordination under a Heterogeneous Plurality 229

3. Subordination under Mutually Opposed Superordinates 229

(A) TOTAL SUBORDINATION 229

(B) RELATIVE SUBORDINATION 232

4. Subordination under Stratified Superordinates 234

(A) CONTACT BETWEEN TOP AND BOTTOM OF THE STRATIFICATION SYSTEM 234

(B) TRANSMISSION OF PRESSURE 236

(C) SEPARATION BETWEEN TOP AND BOTTOM OF THE STRATIFICATION SYSTEM 237

5. The Phenomenon of Outvoting 239

IV. SUBORDINATION UNDER A PRINCIPLE 250

1. Subordination under a Principle vs. a Person 250

2. Subordination under Objects 253

3. Conscience 254

4. Society and "Objectivity" 256

5. The Effect of Subordination under a Principle upon

the Relations between Superordinance and Subordinates 261

V. SUPERORDINATION AND SUBORDINATION AND DEGREES OF DOMINATION AND FREEDOM 268

1. Superordination without Subordinates 268

2. Superordination in Lieu of Freedom 273

3. The Sociological Error of Socialism and Anarchism 282

4. Super-Subordination without Degradation 283

5. Coordination and Reciprocal Super-Subordination 286

6. Super-Subordination as a Form of Social Organization

and as an Expression of Individual Differences; Person vs. Position 291

7. Aristocracy vs. Equality 295

8. Coercion 298

9. The Inevitably Disproportionate Distribution of Qualifications and Positions 300

PART FOUR: The Secret and the Secret Society

I. KNOWLEDGE, TRUTH, AND FALSEHOOD IN HUMAN RELATIONS 307

1. Knowledge of One Another 307

2. Knowledge of External Nature vs. Knowledge of Persons 309

3. Truth, Error, and Social Life 310

4. The Individual as an Object of Knowledge 310

5. The Nature of the Psychic Process and of Communication 311

6. The Lie 312

II. TYPES OF SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS BY DEGREES OF RECIPROCAL

KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR PARTICIPANTS 317

1. Interest Groups 317

2. Confidence under More and Less Complex Conditions 318

3. "Acquaintance" 320

4. Discretion 320

5. Friendship and Love 324

6. Marriage 326

III. SECRECY 330

1. The Role of the Secret in Social Life 330

2. The Fascination of Secrecy 332

3. The Fascination of Betrayal 333

4. Secrecy and Individualization 334

5. Adornment 338

IV. THE SECRET SOCIETY 345

1. Protection and Confidence 345

2. Silence 349

3. Written Communication 352

4. Secrecy and Sociation 355

5. Hierarchy 356

6. Ritual 358

7. Freedom 360

8. Features of the Secret Society as Quantitative Modifications

of General Group Features 361

(A) SEPARATENESS, FORMALITY, CONSCIOUSNESS 362

(B) EXCLUSION: SIGNS OF RECOGNITION 363

(C) THE ARISTOCRATIC MOTIVE; ARISTOCRACY 364

(D) DEGREES OF INITIATION! FORMAL AND MATERIAL SEPARATION FROM THE OUTSIDE 366

(E) GROUP EGOISM 367

(F) INCLUSIVENESS AND EXCLUSIVENESS AS GROUP PRINCIPLES 368

(G) SECLUSION FROM THE OUTSIDE AND INTERNAL COHESION 369

(H) CENTRALIZATION 370

(l) DE-INDIVIDUALIZATION 372

(j) EQUALITY OF MEMBERS 374

(K) THE SECRET SOCIETY AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT 375

PART FIVE: Faithfulness and Gratitude; Negativity of Collective Behavior; the Stranger; Metropolis

I. FAITHFULNESS AND GRATITUDE 379

II. THE NEGATIVE CHARACTER OF COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR 396

III. THE STRANGER 402

IV. THE METROPOLIS AND MENTAL LIFE 409

INDEX 427