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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176 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL The first type of social self-preservation is character- istic of groups which contain widely divergent elements. If these divergent elements are not sufficiently integrated and not adjusted to a harmonious co-operation, there is a dan- ger that any change or innovation will drive them farther apart. That danger is especially great in cases of rigid social stratification and complete separation between the social classes. The reason for this is that any change is likely to begin in one social class, or at least to affect that one class more immediately and more strongly. If inter- mediate classes exist, the change can spread gradually through the whole group, extending slowly over wider circles and at the same time decreasing in intensity. If such classes fail, the change will attack also the classes least disposed to it in a much more violent and ruthless manner. The middle class or classes fulfil the function of buffers and shock-breakers. They absorb the inevitable dislocations which result from sudden changes, reduce them, and distribute them over the whole group. This is one of the formal sociological reasons why aristocracies, in so far as they are based on sharp class distinctions, are also essentially conservative. A social group consisting of clearly separated castes, or a political combination con- sisting of distinct ethnic groups, is also faced with the same problem. A similar conservatism is found in groups or structures which have lost their actual functional relationship with the larger social unit. Changes and innovations in the sociological forms can be borne and sustained only by liv- ing social forces. Obsolete social structures have long lost that sustaining force. They persist as empty forms, as hol- low husks which even the smallest change might destroy and demolish. The life has gone out of them. The vital or- ganic relationships bave disappeared, and they can main-

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