THE CONCEPT OF SOCIETY 33 m- {u- ely of ra- der | als in- “he on ese lis- the im- m- the on- tel- the > in her are lali- ape nite ‘On- ion, ‘ious- roup that acip- may take various forms. In these forms the individuals grow into a unity on the basis of various interests; and these interests, sensuous or ideal, momentary or permanent, functioning as causes or as purposes, are satisfied and find their realization within the framework of these socializa- tions. In every social phenomenon, content and social form constitute a unitary actuality. A social form can no more attain existence detached from all content than a spatial form can exist without substance. In actuality they are together the inseparable elements of which every social fact and occurrence is made up. They consist of an inter- est, a purpose, or a motive on the one side, and, on the other side, of a form or manner of reciprocity between the individuals through which this content attains social actuality.! That these purposes and interests, however, attain to realization in the form of a society, in the form of a reci- procity between individuals, is the subject-matter of spe- cial scientific consideration. That men build a society means that they live for the attainment of those purposes in definite forms of interaction. If there is to be a science of society as such, it must therefore abstract these forms from the complex phenomena of social life, and it must make them the subject of determination and explanation.? Such a science, therefore, can only apply the term “society” either to the abstract general concept of the so- cial forms, to the genus of which they are the species, or to the aggregate of these forms in operation at a given time. 1 Ibid., pp. 6-7. 2 “The Number of the Members as Determining the Sociological Form of the Group,” 4. J. S., VIIL, 1. 8 Soz., p. 11.