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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cN-~ ‘he uf- out OW * in fa er- CHAPTER V SOCIAL CONSERVATION Tae PERSISTENCE OF Social CIRCLES! OCTAL groups, once formed, have a tendency to per- S sist. This persistence of the group unity results from the permanence of the interactions between the group elements and manifests itself in the continuity of the life of the group. This permanent coherence between the com- posing elements suggests the existence of a special vital force. But an understanding of the life-process of the group requires more than the mere assumption of the existence of a vital force. Upon further analysis, the apparently uni- fied force appears to consist of a great many separate and distinct processes of interaction. The apparently unitary process of social self-preservation must therefore be ana- lyzed and resolved into the actual primary processes. These primary processes will by no means prove to be con- servative processes only. At all times there are destruc- tive forces which menace the persistence of the group both from within and from without. If these could operate un- hampered, the group unity would soon be destroyed. But, apart from these destructive forces, there are conserva- tive tendencies which produce permanent interactions be- tween the elements and thereby maintain the group unity. This unity persists for a longer or shorter time, until it yields at last to the disintegrating forces. The group appears to have a life of its own relatively ! Adapted from Soz., chap. viii, pp. 494-613. 163

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