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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i '$ | nl Oo 207 hand an increased friction and opposition among these ele- ments. The full realization of the potential contrasts. and oppositions would not have resulted were it not for this!" compression within a unitary frame. In this way the world policy of the medieval empire stimulated the particularism of kings, tribes, and peoples. The attempted and partially realized synthesis created and stimulated the individual- ism which finally destroyed it.! The most suggestive example of this correlation be- tween social expansion and individual differentiation is to be found in economic history. The introduction of the money economy has had results both for the form and for the content of social and individual life which illustrate per- fectly the general correlation. The natural economy shows small, relatively self-contained economic circles. The dif- ficulty of transportation limits their size, and the tech- nique of the natural economy, therefore, does not permit a far-going differentiation in occupations. The introduc- tion of the money economy changes this situation in two aspects. The general acceptance of money, its easy trans- portation, and finally its transformation in a credit system enable it to function over an ever expanding area until it unites all peoples in one economic circle with interlocking interests, supplementary activities, and similar usages. On the other hand, the money economy permits a far-going differentiation and specialization. The money wage makes the worker more independent of his employer. The posses- sion of money gives the individual a greater freedom of movement. As the result of the full penetration of the money economy, the individual is brought into free com- petition with all other individuals within the larger circle and is allowed an amount of overspecialization and one- sidedness which is possible only within a very wide frame. t Soz., pp. 709-32.

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