100 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL 
vented them from preserving the supreme power, for the 
power which is exercised over a large group is never a con- 
stant possession. It must be constantly acquired and de- 
fended anew if anything more than its shadow and name is 
to remain. 
The second way in which a group may obtain a social 
structure consisting of graded classes is by the accumula- 
tion of power from below. This occurs if out of a group of 
comparatively equal elements a certain number gain a 
special significance and out of this group there differentiate 
again a smaller number of especially powerful persons and 
so on until the development accommodates itself to a single 
leader. This type of development is the characteristic 
form in the economic world and in political life, but it is 
also manifest in the world of science. In the first process 
the resulting pyramid of superiority and inferiority was 
developed from above downward. In this latter form it is 
built from below upward. 
The classical example of a social structure resulting 
from a combination of both tendencies is the feudal state. 
As long as the full citizen—Greek, Roman, or Teutonic— 
knew no subordination to an individual, he was, on the one 
hand, on an equal footing with his fellow-citizens and, on 
the other hand, sharply differentiated from all below him. 
In the feudal state, the gap between the unfree and the 
free was bridged by a long series of intermediate classses. 
The king gave a part of his property and power to the 
nobles in exchange for service. There occurred a distribu- 
tion of power from above downward. But. on the other 
hand, the free farmer gave his land to the lord in exchange 
for protection. There was also an accumulation of power 
from below upward. 
These two sociological formations of unification 
through leveling and unification through gradation also