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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202 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL groups and the manifold differentiation among the ele- ments of large groups may be observed in coexisting social circles as well as in the subsequent phases of the develop- ment of one group. It seems to result from a general and fundamental principle which can be expressed in the fol- lowing formulation: The individual appears to maintain a certain fixed proportion between the social and the indi- vidual aspects of his existence, which merely changes its form. If he is a member of a small group, he has little op- portunity for the expression of his individual uniqueness. But his little group has an individuality of its own. If the group or the circle extends, the individual can express his individual uniqueness, but the group loses its individual distinctness. The personality of the individual gains in individual uniqueness, but loses in social uniqueness. As part of a whole, he is less characterized by membership in the larger group than by membership in the smaller group. [n other words, the elements of differentiated groups are undifferentiated, while those of undifferentiated groups are differentiated. This is not a formulation of a natural law. It is merely a formulation of a phenomenological correla- tion. It is a synthetic formulation in one single concept of the uniform results of uniform series of contingent events. The formulation does not indicate the cause of the phenomenon, but merely the phenomenon which results from a specific co-ordination of a great many formative forces. The first part of the formulation is exemplified in the social organization of the Quakers. The group as a whole is extremely individualistic, as is manifest in its religious principle. It separates itself sharply from other groups and lacks an understanding of the higher political unity and its purposes. On the other hand, it binds the individuals strictly to a uniform type of group life that leaves little or

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