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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166 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL The Gradualness of Change More important for the persistence of the group unity is the physiological concatenation of successive genera- tions and the element of kinship. The significance of this factor lies in the fact that the displacement of one genera- tion by the following does not take place all at once. The number of individuals that leave and enter the group at any given time is relatively small compared to the number of those that remain. The change takes place so gradually that the group persists as a unit in a manner not unlike that in which the organism persists in spite of the change in its cells. This physiological concatenation and the fact of inher- itance, which is immediately related to it, are practically the only factors in modern times which preserve the family in the larger sense. Of all the elements that formerly con- tributed to the persistence of the family, such as occupa- tion, religion, tradition, etc., only the physiological factor remains. The gradualness of this change and its contribution to the persistence of the group unity is most evident in case the latter rests on procreation. But the same form of change occurs in cases where the physical agency is ex- cluded. The Catholic clergy is an illustration of such a case. Here the continuity is secured by the fact that enough individuals are in office at a certain time to initiate the neophytes. The physiological basis gives place to a psychological one. The old members belonging to the group at any given moment separate from the organiza- tion only after the new members have been fully assimi- lated to the form and the spirit of the group. It is this fact that makes bureaucracies so tenacious and that preserves their character and spirit in spite of all the shifting of in- dividuals. The persistence of this kind of group depends,

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