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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130 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL sociological. But the situation which is expressed by the concept “isolation” does not consist of this fact alone. Iso- lation does not signify merely the absence of all society. For the isolated individual, society exerts a long-distance influence either as echo of the past or as anticipation of future relationships, either as a longing for socialization or as a voluntary renouncement of it. He has not the same characteristics as a man who has been from his birth the only inhabitant of the world. Socialization, even if it be only with a negative sign, is also a determining factor even for his condition. It is of importance for the configuration of a group whether it favors or allows isolation of individuals. Close and intimate communities do not permit such intercellular vacuums in their structure. But in larger groups a certain quantity and quality of social life will produce a distinct number of temporarily or chronically isolated existences. They form a social deficit in the same way as the forlorn. the criminal, and the suicide. Isolation in these cases takes the form of a relationship within the mind of the individual between himself and a specific group or between himself and group life in general. It has sociological significance in another way when it oc- curs as a periodic differentiation or an interval within one and the same relationship. A monogamic marriage in which husband and wife occasionally enjoy the pleasures of isolation. even though happy in their relationship, is different from one in which such isolation would be consid- ered as a lack of faithfulness or as a danger to the relation- ship. Thus isolation, apparently confined to the single indi- vidual and consisting in a negation of socialization, is in reality a phenomenon of positive sociological significance. It is important for the agent in whom it is present as an

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