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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for the rn- is- Hie ary pe. ns, the ans nd- ble uc- all ion nal ent nd- the ctive nmel rob- » the gree hism ture, olled him ‘gan. also ce of eco- 1 50- ~tion ig ON SOCIAL CONSERVATION 175 The Functional Forms of Social Self-Preservation Up to this point the process of social self-preservation has been treated mainly from its structural aspect. The structural elements, personal, material, ideal, and social, by means of which the group secures and protects its per- sistence have been enumerated and considered. But apart from this structural aspect, there is a purely functional aspect. The life-processes of social groups show, namely, two clearly distinet types. They can be distinguished on the basis of the rhythm of the sociological changes within the group. On the one hand there is the conservative, the stable group. It preserves itself by conserving its form with the utmost tenacity and by an absolute rigidity of structure. It meets any opposition with active resistance and tries to maintain the same forms of interactions between the ele- ments throughout all the changes in external conditions. On the other hand there is the unstable group. It pre- serves itself by its flexibility of form. It adapts itself to changes in external conditions by corresponding changes in internal structure. It is capable of immediate and im- portant changes in its sociological form without disrupting its unity. account of their functional relationships to the group as a whole, but fully au- tonomous in their internal relations. The syndicalist and the Marxist also consider the structural aspect of the system of production as an organ of the larger group. But because it is the most important organ and includes all individuals, it should dominate the group as a whole. Their ideal group organization is another social absolutism, with the eco- nomic structure successor to the political structure as absolute sovereign. The anarchist, being an extreme individualist, ignores the functional rela- tionship between associations and the larger group. Associations are for him only voluntary combinations of free individuals, not structural elements functionally related to a larger group. As they have only internal relations, they should be fully autonomous and independent. free from any external restraint. His organi- zation is an individual absolutism.

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