The social Theory of Georg Simmel

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1024612627

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-166627

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Spykman, Nicholas J. http://d-nb.info/gnd/124229867

Title:: The social Theory of Georg Simmel

Place of publication:: Chicago

Publisher:: Univ. of Chicago Press.

Year of publication:: 1925

Scope:: XXIX, 297 S

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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CHAPTER 1 SUBMISSION SUPERORDINATION AND SUBORDINATION! HE most important form of relationship in the whole Tei world is the relationship between the leader and his followers, between the superior and his subor- dinates. It is a form of socialization without which no so- cial life would be possible, and the main factor sustaining the unity of groups. Superiority and subordination con- stitute the sociological expression of psychological differ- ences in human beings, and wherever these are associated, there they appear in a more or less pronounced form. This relationship between the superior and the inferior assumes oftentimes the appearance of a one-sided opera- tion. It seems as if the superior exerts an influence which the inferior merely undergoes. But the latter is by no means a purely passive agent. The subordinate in turn exerts an influence on the superior, and it is only by virtue of this interaction of the two that in the relationship the one takes the position of superior and the other the posi- tion of subordinate. The relationship of superior to infe- rior is a form of interaction between individuals and there- fore a form of socialization. It always allows a certain amount of independence and spontaneity on the part of the subordinate. In some cases of superiority and inferi- ority the amount of spontaneity and independence of the subordinate is great, in others small; but it is never wholly absent. Even in a case of the worst tyranny, the subordi- \ Adapted from Soz., chap. iii, pp. 134-246.

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