180 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL

The individual is at first more or less completely absorbed
 in the family group. It is a community group, an
inclusive association of widely divergent elements. Later
each individual enters into relationships with persons outside
 of his circle on the basis of a similarity in character,
tendencies, and activities. The association based on objective
 coexistence is replaced by one which is based on
subjective relations. The higher concept synthesizes what
is common in a great many different phenomenal complexes.
 In the same way the practical viewpoint brings together
 from different and unrelated groups individuals
with similar interests. There arise new social circles which
intersect the existing “natural groups” at different angles.
Examples of this development may be found in many
fields. The relatively independent groups which originally
combined into universities were based at first on the nationality
 of the students. Later the students combined on
the basis of common study, and the university became a
combination of “faculties.” This was a radical replacement
of a local or racial solidarity by a solidarity based on a
common interest and purpose. A similar development,
though more complicated in form, is visible in the history
of trade unionism. The local organizations of workingmen
have practically disappeared, and in their place have come
srganizations based on the common trade or industry.
This change is accompanied on the one hand by an increase
 in individual liberty. It does not abolish restraint,
but it leaves the individual an element of choice as to what
he shall be bound to, as to the association that shall exert
that restraint. On the other hand, the new type of association
 requires a greater active participation and thereby
allows a more conscious expression of individual characterstics.

These results are clearly visible in the changes in the