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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il 0 N eR D yam 2 | ® Dad >f nn nr yt le n X= 2, 1t on 18 SUBMISSION 109 the qualities of a ruler. He is called a ruler on account of subjective, psychological characteristics which would fit him for the position of ruler in an actual interrelation. The history of Spain shows an interesting illustration of the persistence of the psychological characteristic long after the actual sociological relationships had disappeared. The Spaniards felt themselves rulers and had as a nation the characteristics of a ruling group long after the Moors and the Jews, whom they once actually ruled, had been driven out of the country. This occurs, however, only in excep- tional cases. The more prevalent form of a society having a char- acter which contrasts with that of the subordinate group is the society which allows great freedom and liberty to all its members. Freedom and liberty, however, usually do not mean a static condition, a mere absence of subordina- tion. Liberation from subjection has usually meant at the same time a gaining of superiority, either over existing groups or over new groups. Struggles for freedom have usually ended in struggles for supremacy. The liberation of the third estate in France has meant the gaining of su- periority both over the new fourth estate and over the older circles to which it was once subordinated. Equality with the superior group is but the first step on the road to the desired dominion over the former superior. Gaining liberty therefore usually means gaining authority. A spe- cial instance of liberation through the gaining of authority occurs in the case where a smaller group obtains from a larger group the full jurisdiction over its members. In this case liberation means that the small group as a whole, as a superindividual unity, becomes master over its individual members. A social structure free from all relationships of supe- riority and subordination has been for many an ideal. But

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