SPATIAL RELATIONS OF SOCIAL FORMS 153 
1t 
re- 
rn 
ral 
ng 
(= 
re- 
ic. 
er- 
ent 
lo- 
uld 
up. 
"es- 
der 
Tro- 
nce 
om 
the 
ity, 
me 
.ar- 
are 
ns, 
for 
-on- 
als, 
sed 
the 
its 
the 
on 
of its unity is not only a spatial expression, but also a pow- 
erful means of further strengthening and preserving that 
unity. Not only is the men’s house in primitive communi- 
ties the spatial expression of the formation of a special 
class, but this class formation could never have taken place 
without the house as its objectivation and the focal point 
for its reciprocities.! 
Distance and Proximity 
Not only the spatial relations to a focal point, but also 
the spatial relations between the elements themselves, are 
of importance for the form of the socialization. Socializa- 
tions between persons at a distance would be greatly modi- 
fied if the individuals were brought into spatial proximity. 
A business combination, a friendship, a society of stamp- 
collectors, and a religious community can temporarily or 
permanently dispense with personal contact. But the ties 
which unite the members would be quantitatively and 
qualitatively modified if there were no intervening space 
to be bridged. 
The relationships of a purely factual and impersonal 
character and the relationships of a purely emotional char- 
acter apparently overcome the disadvantages of spatial 
separateness in the most successful manner. In the case 
of the former, such as scientific and commercial transac- 
tions, this is due to the fact that their content can be fully 
expressed in logical forms and can therefore be transferred 
in writing. In the case of the latter, such as relationships 
whose content is a religious feeling or a personal love and 
devotion, it is due to the fact that emotion and imagina- 
tion often overcome the conditions of time and space in a 
mystical manner. For relationships which are not of such 
an extreme tvoe. but which partake of both characteristics, 
1 Soz., pp. 630-40.