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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{] a) ir n | J=— 1e a. Rv le 1- EN a A in om l= Se gS. ly re- m ne C= MM ed €- 0 nt ON d- N= SPATIAL RELATIONS OF SOCIAL FORMS 157 damental equality and lack of differentiation is apparent among the elements of all moving groups. The traveling merchants of the Middle Ages had communistic types of organization as long as they were actually on the road, and sometimes continued their communistic form of living even during their stay in foreign parts. The organization of the factories of the Hanseatic league is an illustration of this tendency. On the other hand, the despotic element is usually not entirely lacking, as is manifest in the absolute and unlimited authority of the caravan leader and the cap- tain of a ship. The wandering of certain elements in otherwise seden- tary groups presents two important phenomena. The first is the movement of elements which contributes to the uni- fication of the group. The second is the wandering of ele- ments which is harmful to the preservation of the group. The groups which are dispersed over a wide territory maintain their natural unity in modern civilization by means of different dynamic relationships between their elements. The similarity of objective culture which is ac- companied by the knowledge that it is identical for all points of the area, the uniformity of law and language, the functional organizations and the scientific associations, all contribute to the creation of a sociological unity. In so far as these socializations are effective, they need only to a very small extent the actual movement of individuals. Modern life succeeds in creating a consciousness of social unity through factual similarities, knowledge of common interests, fixed institutions, and written communication. But in periods when such an objective organization and technique have not yet been developed, the movement of individuals through the territory of the group is of great significance for an effective unification. During the Middle Ages the merchant, the scholar, the

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