110 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL

their existence is justified by the fact that the psychological
 differences between individuals create them, and by the
fact that the technique for the realization of social purposes
 requires them. The motive for abolishing them results
 from the fact that the social superiority or inferiority
is felt as a personal superiority or inferiority. The superior
or inferior position in one social relationship is felt as a superiority
 or inferiority of the whole personality. There
would, however, be no reason to abolish the sociological
relationships if this psychological by-product could be
avoided. This might presumably be the case if the relationships
 within the social structure became wholly objectified
 and allowed a complete withdrawal of personal feelings
 and sentiments from the impersonal social functions.
Something similar is already happening in the relationships
 in the economic world. The feeling of personal superiority
 and inferiority resulting from the social relationships
 may also disappear if a further social differentiation
and integration creates a structure in which the individual
is at the same time in a great many superior and inferior
sositions.
Apart from the foregoing difficulty resulting from the
existence of superior-inferior relationships, there exists a
problem of even wider import. Originally these relationships
 were the immediate expression of psychological differences
 between individuals. In modern society the organization
 of the group has taken definite shape, and a
great many of these relationships have become objectified
in a more or less fixed social structure. The result has been
the formation of a relatively fixed system of superior and
inferior positions which are to a large extent independent
of the individuals that hold them at any given time. They
have not created these positions, they merely fill them.
On the other hand. the stratification of society in classes