THE CONCEPT OF SOCIETY 33 
m- 
{u- 
ely 
of 
ra- 
der 
| als 
in- 
“he 
on 
ese 
lis- 
the 
im- 
m- 
the 
on- 
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the 
> in 
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‘On- 
ion, 
‘ious- 
roup 
that 
acip- 
may take various forms. In these forms the individuals 
grow into a unity on the basis of various interests; and 
these interests, sensuous or ideal, momentary or permanent, 
functioning as causes or as purposes, are satisfied and find 
their realization within the framework of these socializa- 
tions. 
In every social phenomenon, content and social form 
constitute a unitary actuality. A social form can no more 
attain existence detached from all content than a spatial 
form can exist without substance. In actuality they are 
together the inseparable elements of which every social 
fact and occurrence is made up. They consist of an inter- 
est, a purpose, or a motive on the one side, and, on the 
other side, of a form or manner of reciprocity between 
the individuals through which this content attains social 
actuality.! 
That these purposes and interests, however, attain to 
realization in the form of a society, in the form of a reci- 
procity between individuals, is the subject-matter of spe- 
cial scientific consideration. That men build a society 
means that they live for the attainment of those purposes 
in definite forms of interaction. If there is to be a science 
of society as such, it must therefore abstract these forms 
from the complex phenomena of social life, and it must 
make them the subject of determination and explanation.? 
Such a science, therefore, can only apply the term 
“society” either to the abstract general concept of the so- 
cial forms, to the genus of which they are the species, or 
to the aggregate of these forms in operation at a given 
time. 
1 Ibid., pp. 6-7. 
2 “The Number of the Members as Determining the Sociological Form of the 
Group,” 4. J. S., VIIL, 1. 
8 Soz., p. 11.