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

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

264 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL training and his native ability gave him a critical attitude toward presuppositions that seems to be lacking in a great many social scientists. The relativistic viewpoint has led Simmel to conceive of society as the sum of the interactions between the indi- viduals. The group unity is for him a functional unity, not a substantial unity; society is a process, not a thing. This conception is in harmony with the modern tendency which places the emphasis on the functional rather than on the substantial and on the dynamic rather than on the static aspect. But Simmel has not only gone farther than most of his contemporaries; he has also taken more pains to de- fine his basic concepts and to show their validity and use- fulness. This relativistic viewpoint which sees the group unity as a functional unity has naturally led to a strong emphasis on the individual elements, which are the actual bearers of the processes of socialization. The individual has once more become of importance in social theory. He is not, as for many sociologists, merely a social product, or merely a social factor. He is at the same time social product and social factor, the result of socialization and the producer of socialization; and it is this double capacity that determines him as a social being. This conception yields a better ap- proach toward an understanding of the social actuality than can be obtained by viewing only one aspect and neg- lecting the other. The essence of social life and group unity is reciprocity. and that essential characteristic is ignored if the approach toward an understanding is based on a one- sided view. If the individual is regarded solely as the social agent, the influence of the social environment is ignored. If the individual is regarded solely as a social product, the fact that individuals create that social environment is ignored,

Access restriction

Copyright

fullscreen: The social Theory of Georg Simmel

Monograph

Table of contents

Download

Monograph

This page

Image fragment

Citation links

Citation recommendation