176 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL 
The first type of social self-preservation is character- 
istic of groups which contain widely divergent elements. If 
these divergent elements are not sufficiently integrated and 
not adjusted to a harmonious co-operation, there is a dan- 
ger that any change or innovation will drive them farther 
apart. That danger is especially great in cases of rigid 
social stratification and complete separation between the 
social classes. The reason for this is that any change is 
likely to begin in one social class, or at least to affect that 
one class more immediately and more strongly. If inter- 
mediate classes exist, the change can spread gradually 
through the whole group, extending slowly over wider 
circles and at the same time decreasing in intensity. If 
such classes fail, the change will attack also the classes 
least disposed to it in a much more violent and ruthless 
manner. The middle class or classes fulfil the function of 
buffers and shock-breakers. They absorb the inevitable 
dislocations which result from sudden changes, reduce 
them, and distribute them over the whole group. This is 
one of the formal sociological reasons why aristocracies, 
in so far as they are based on sharp class distinctions, are 
also essentially conservative. A social group consisting of 
clearly separated castes, or a political combination con- 
sisting of distinct ethnic groups, is also faced with the same 
problem. 
A similar conservatism is found in groups or structures 
which have lost their actual functional relationship with 
the larger social unit. Changes and innovations in the 
sociological forms can be borne and sustained only by liv- 
ing social forces. Obsolete social structures have long lost 
that sustaining force. They persist as empty forms, as hol- 
low husks which even the smallest change might destroy 
and demolish. The life has gone out of them. The vital or- 
ganic relationships bave disappeared, and they can main-