44 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL

of a special science seldom occurs in the purity and isolation
 in which it is scientifically treated. In reality it is always
 mixed and entangled with phenomena to which other
sciences are devoted. Each special science treats an abstraction,
 and the case of sociology is not different.! That
abstraction is the form of socialization. To describe the
different types of social forms and to find the laws according
 to which the members of a group and the groups themselves
 interact, sociology may draw its material from other
sciences. In so far it is an eclectic science. but it is not a
synthetic science.?
Sociology is a special and a limited science. It is a special
 science, not because its object belongs with other objects
 under a higher general concept, as is the case for classical
 philology, but because it approaches an entire field of
objects from a special point of view. It is differentiated
from other social sciences, not by its object, but by the special
 viewpoint which guides the abstraction of its subjectmatter
 from the social actuality.® It is neither a social
philosophy, a philosophy of history. nor a synthesis of the
social sciences. It is a special science with a well-defined
field of investigation and a clearly formulated task: the
study of the forms of socialization.

1 “Superordination and Subordination,” 4. J. S.. II. 176-77, note
2 Soz. Diff., pp. 2, 4.
3 Soz., p. 10.