192 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL
different professions and the difference in interests among
those in similar professions ultimately lead to a psychological
 differentiation and a sociological separation of the original
 all-inclusive group into separate and distinct associations.!

These two types of group formation, these two aspects
of social differentiation. are manifest in all group life, but
in our modern world more than ever before. New social
circles are being formed incessantly, sometimes as superordinated
 circles out of smaller groups, sometimes as separations
 from existing circles, as new groupings within existing
groups. Social circles with a specific content, like religious
associations, have sometimes been formed by the latter
process, sometimes by the former process. The religious
life has at one time differentiated itself from the whole life
of the community. At other times religious sects have been
formed by individuals out of the most divergent social
circles.

In a complicated social structure with a great many
concentric and intersecting circles, new circles are usually
formed by a process of differentiation which partakes of
the two aspects. Viewed in relation to existing smaller
circles, the new circles look like superordinated circles.
Viewed in relation to existing larger circles. they look like
separated, specialized circles.
It is this incessant process of differentiation and integration
 that is the purely sociological manifestation of the
vital dynamic character of social life. It creates the manifold
 complexity of the modern social structure and gives
the individual a chance to express his individual peculiarity
 in his freely chosen place at the intersection of selected
social circles. He differentiates himself from some and
combines with others, he combines with some against the
\ Soz., pp. 445-48.