120 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL

possession of a great many common qualities and characteristics.
 The second is the consensus which is due to a
common participation and absorption in a unitary social
group. The first contributes to the bitterness of the conflict
 because an opposition between elements which have
otherwise much in common receives by contrast a strong
light and leads to profound subjective reactions. The second
 contributes to the bitterness of the conflict because
there arises a social hatred in addition to the personal
hatred.
In some cases falling under this category the separation
is not the result of a conflict, but the conflict is the result
of the separation. There will then be an antagonism between
 the parties not only on account of the difference in
attitude toward the issue in question, but also on account
of the fact that each considers the other as an enemy of the
group and a danger to its unity. The resulting bitterness
will be strongest in the cases in which the actual dismemberment
 of the group has not yet taken place or is unlikely
to take place. If the dissociation has taken place, it signifies
 a partial termination of the conflict. The individual
difference has found its sociological termination, and the
stimulus to constantly renewed friction is removed. The
tension which results from the combination of this dualism
and unity can be resolved only by complete unity or separation.
 Where the latter is impossible, the efforts to obtain
the first will be made with greater strength. Hence the
severity of the actual struggle. It is an ordeal to live in
enmity with a person to whom one is nevertheless bound
and from whom one cannot be freed even if one desires a
dissociation. A similar situation arises if an individual is
unwilling to give up or incapable of giving up his membership
 in a group whose unity he values as an objective good
and for whose persistence he feels that he must fight and