260 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL 
toward the social aspect of their result. It was based on a 
point of view which saw sociology as the study of associa- 
tion, sociation, socialization, reciprocal determination, or 
whatever other term was used for indicating the unique 
sociological subject-matter. 
The actual historical development has not, of course, 
followed this schematic simplicity. Certain theories can 
just as easily be classified under one heading as under an- 
other. But the general trend has been more or less in this 
direction. Our aim here, moreover, is not the careful trac- 
ing of exact historical sequences, but the understanding 
of a period. For that reason we feel justified in using this 
simplified schema, although we are fully conscious of the 
distortion of historical reality which results from it. 
The organic school of sociologists fulfilled two func- 
tions of considerable importance. It gave the concept of 
social unity a concrete expression and imbedded it for all 
time in social thought. Apart from this contribution, it 
functioned as an antidote to one-sided romanticism. It 
directed attention toward that which is timeless and uni- 
versal in social life instead of toward that which is histori- 
cal and unique, and thereby took the first step in the liber- 
ation of sociology from the philosophy-of-history tradi- 
tion. 
Within the organic school there occurred a gradual 
change of emphasis from a biological to a psychological 
viewpoint. Not even Spencer has ever pretended that 
social processes are of a physical nature, but he was too 
much interested in structural analysis to pay much atten- 
tion to the nature of social functions. With Schiiffle the 
emphasis came to be placed on the functional aspect of 
social life, and this resulted in a definite change toward a 
psychological point of view. He suggested that the bond 
of social unity consists of psychical processes of interaction