122 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL 
sults, makes it also extremely valuable to the wider social 
circle to which the competitors belong. Conflicts which re- 
sult from subjective pugnacity, or which are fought for 
something that one of the opponents possesses, are of no 
benefit to the group as a whole. But if a competitive strug- 
gle is fought without the intermixture of other conflict ele- 
ments and for something the group has to give, the results 
will be most beneficial. For the group as a whole, the com- 
petition will then be a way to stimulate the creation of ob- 
jective values by means of subjective motives. For the 
parties concerned, the competition forces an increased pro- 
duction of objective values as a means to subjective satis- 
factions. This is the situation in the modern business 
world, where the producers fight their competitive strug- 
gles by the production of better and cheaper goods. 
But apart from these indirect advantages for the larger 
circle, competition has immediate sociological results of 
no less importance. As the objects for which the competi- 
tion exists are in the hands of the group and can be ob- 
tained only by incurring its favor, the contesting parties 
are forced to establish intimate relationships with the 
group and to anticipate its wishes and desires. Competi- 
tion is therefore a socializing force. It is a synthetic force 
weaving a whole network of threads through the social 
structure, and adds to the strength of its texture. It seems 
that since the breaking up of the small group and the re- 
sulting disappearance of solidarity, individuals act in the 
interest of other individuals only if they are forced or stim- 
ulated to it by competition. Competition produces results 
which could otherwise be brought about only through love 
and altruism. In its modern form it is not merely a strug- 
gle of all against all, but also a struggle of all for all. This 
latter formal synthetic aspect is often overlooked by the