The social Theory of Georg Simmel

Bibliographic data

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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1p il SOCIAL CONSERVATION tribution to the conservation of group life will require a short explanation.! = 1 | a YN Is n- 1d n al “ne e~ e. as of ip at n- 1e 1e P= K - ‘Fo rd W~ ly a= ns al Ne Permanence of Locality The first and most obvious factor which contributes to the preservation of the group unity is the permanence of the locality or of the soil on which it lives. The state, the city, and numerous other associations owe their persistence first of all to this abiding substratum. This permanence of the locality alone is not sufficient to guarantee the pres- ervation of the group, but it forms an important contribu- tion. It is of a physical character, while the life of the group is of a psychical character. But it functions as a per- manent point of attachment. Permanence of locality, how- ever, is only one factor leading to the preservation of group life, and it fulfils this function only for special groups. There are a great many associations which are entirely independent of any attachment to a definite locality. The most characteristic example of this function of the permanence of the locality for the persistence of the group is seen in the case of the feudal state. That state as a par- ticular kind of association of human beings derived its permanence from the indestructibility of its soil. The in- habitants were subject to the authority of the state be- cause they were immediately attached to the soil. It was in and through the soil that the unity of the feudal state existed and persisted. 1 Soz., pp. 494-97. 2 See Book II, chapter iv. * Soz., p. 498. In a modified form, this theoretical attachment to the soil is still one of the basic characteristics of the state. It is still a territorial organiza- tion. Since the feudal period, however, different functional groups have differ- entiated from the territorial group. This gives the modern state an entirely dif- ferent aspect. The recent literature on the pluralistic state is in the last instance but a subsequent justification of this process of differentiation. See Book II, chapter vi.

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