192 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL different professions and the difference in interests among those in similar professions ultimately lead to a psychologi- cal differentiation and a sociological separation of the orig- inal all-inclusive group into separate and distinct associa- tions.! These two types of group formation, these two aspects of social differentiation. are manifest in all group life, but in our modern world more than ever before. New social circles are being formed incessantly, sometimes as superor- dinated circles out of smaller groups, sometimes as separa- tions from existing circles, as new groupings within existing groups. Social circles with a specific content, like religious associations, have sometimes been formed by the latter process, sometimes by the former process. The religious life has at one time differentiated itself from the whole life of the community. At other times religious sects have been formed by individuals out of the most divergent social circles. In a complicated social structure with a great many concentric and intersecting circles, new circles are usually formed by a process of differentiation which partakes of the two aspects. Viewed in relation to existing smaller circles, the new circles look like superordinated circles. Viewed in relation to existing larger circles. they look like separated, specialized circles. It is this incessant process of differentiation and inte- gration that is the purely sociological manifestation of the vital dynamic character of social life. It creates the mani- fold complexity of the modern social structure and gives the individual a chance to express his individual peculiar- ity in his freely chosen place at the intersection of selected social circles. He differentiates himself from some and combines with others, he combines with some against the \ Soz., pp. 445-48.