132 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL 
The Dyadic Group 
That such apparently individual qualities as isolation 
and freedom are in reality sociological relationships can, 
however, be pointed out only by referring to indirect and 
complicated connections. The simplest sociological for- 
mation is therefore the reciprocity which occurs in the case 
of the interaction between two elements. 
That the dyadic group has a typical sociological form 
is evident from the fact that the most divergent individuals 
uniting for the most varied motives will show combinations 
of the same formation. And not only is this form character- 
istic for pairs of individuals, but it is identical in the case of 
an association between pairs of groups like families, states, 
or combinations of various sorts. 
Its specific character is determined by the fact that 
for the participants the relationship does not appear as a 
special structure over and above them. It may appear to 
an outsider as an independent, superindividual unity; this 
is not the case for the individuals concerned. They are 
aware of the fact that it rests immediately upon the one 
and the other. The whole does not obtain a superpersonal 
life independent of its bearers. The group ceases to exist 
if one individual departs, which is not the case with com- 
binations of more than two elements. The individual has 
not beside him a multiplicity of other individuals which 
ultimately constitutes a higher unity. He has beside him 
only one other individual, and the dependence of the whole 
apon himself and his co-responsibility for all collective 
action is more clearly visible. He cannot hide behind the 
group either in omission or in commission, and the result 
is that the individual enters into the relationship with a 
much greater part of his personality than is the case in 
large groups. The dyadic group, in contrast with all other 
groups of more numerous elements, is characterized by the