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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172 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL system are objective structures relatively independent of the individual priest, civil servant, or merchant. As indi- viduals, they carry out the functions which these struc- tures possess as organs of the group, but they do not pro- duce them. Although the bearers of the special social structures, they remain none the less subject to the group as a whole and to the special conditions which the func- tioning activity of these organs imposes upon the group as a whole. The merchant must buy the articles of his per- sonal use, the judge is subject to law, the tax-collector to taxes, and the priest to confession. But over and above their individual elements, these special organs embody and objectify the forces that hold the group together. They further consolidate the group elements into a unit and give to the group coherence, apart from its functional aspect, an objective structural existence. The formation of special organs has great advantages and contributes considerably to a better preservation of the group. It permits a greater flexibility in policies and a quicker and more efficient adaptation to changing con- ditions. The transference of special functions to smaller groups opens the possibility for the use of expert knowledge and a higher average intelligence, while, on the other hand, it reduces the dangers of emotional excesses resulting from increased collective suggestibility.! These specialized structures for the fulfilment of spe- cific social functions contribute, therefore, greatly to the preservation of the group. But, on the other hand, this preservation also requires that the differentiated organs shall not attain complete independence. They serve their purpose only if they remain structural condensations of the formerly direct reciprocities between the elements of the larger group. They fulfil their function only if they give L Soz., pp. 537-56.

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