182 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL

political, or military interests; but in all these cases their
content is created by more or less conscious deliberation
and according to a rational design. This formal character
of secondary formation finds its most complete expression
in associations of intellectuals. Rational intellectuality is
in that case not only the formal characteristic of the group,
but it has become the content itself.
The number of social circles to which an individual
belongs is to a certain extent a measure for the development
 of civilization. In modern times a man belongs to his
paternal family, to his own, and to that of his wife. He is
related through his profession to a great number of professional
 and business circles. He may be an officer in the
reserve army and a member of half a dozen social clubs.
Many of these circles are concentric circles. In that case
membership in the smaller circle leads more or less automatically
 to membership in the larger circle. But membership
 in a great many other circles is the result of a differentiation
 from primary groups on the basis of individual
characteristics and a combination with others having similar
 characteristics. In many instances the original relationships
 with the primary groups remain effective notwithstanding
 these partial differentiations. They do not
disappear; they merely appear less important than the relationships
 with those circles which are expressions of individual
 characteristics.
The importance of this type of association lies in the
fact that it brings about a social integration of individual
differentiations. It does not combine similar individuals,
but it yields a combination of divergent elements on the
basis of a differentiated similarity in these elements. It
enables individual differences to become significant for
the life of the group, a goal that could not be obtained as
long as corporations absorbed the whole of the individual.