174 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL 
lation between parliament and the cabinet, provides for 
a sufficient dependency of the special organs upon the 
group. Every revolution which disposes of the govern- 
ment in power and returns the legislation and adminis- 
tration to the immediate initiative of the individual mem- 
bers shows this form of sociological change. But not every 
group can perform such a reversion to the original type. 
In large groups which live under complicated conditions, 
the administrative function cannot be taken over by the 
group as a whole. Under those conditions special organs 
are inevitable, and their immediate response to and depend- 
ence on the larger group is usually limited to a possible 
substitution of different individuals as bearers of the struc- 
ture. These facts constitute the essential difficulty of all 
group life. The social self-preservation and the protection 
of the group unity require, on the one hand, functional 
differentiation and the formation of relatively independent 
structures, while, on the other hand, too large an independ- 
ence or too rigid a structure immediately threatens the 
safety of the group form.! 
1 Soz., pp. 563-78. For the larger aspect of this conflict between the objective 
structure and the living forces of social life, see also Book III, chapter ii. Simmel 
touches here upon the fundamental sociological aspect of some of the great prob- 
lems represented in controversial literature on social reform. What shall be the 
relation between the special social organs and the group as a whole; what degree 
of independence and autonomy shall be given to them? 
Revisionist socialism, guild socialism, syndicalism, Marxism. and anarchism 
have each a different answer to that question. 
The revisionist sees in the system of production, considered as a structure, 
a functional organ of the group, and he wants that structure to be fully controlled 
by the group as a whole. The structural aspect of the group as a whole is for him 
the state. He is a social absolutist and wants complete dependence of the organ. 
The guild socialist conceives not only of the system of production, but also 
of the state, as a functional organ of the group. He wants the independence of 
the latter curtailed, its dominion abolished, and the independence of the eco- 
nomic organ increased. His ideal is a functional organization. He renounces so- 
cial absolutism. The organs are to be equally independent, but are to function 
in co-operation. Thev will be mutually dependent in their external relations on