182 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL 
political, or military interests; but in all these cases their 
content is created by more or less conscious deliberation 
and according to a rational design. This formal character 
of secondary formation finds its most complete expression 
in associations of intellectuals. Rational intellectuality is 
in that case not only the formal characteristic of the group, 
but it has become the content itself. 
The number of social circles to which an individual 
belongs is to a certain extent a measure for the develop- 
ment of civilization. In modern times a man belongs to his 
paternal family, to his own, and to that of his wife. He is 
related through his profession to a great number of pro- 
fessional and business circles. He may be an officer in the 
reserve army and a member of half a dozen social clubs. 
Many of these circles are concentric circles. In that case 
membership in the smaller circle leads more or less auto- 
matically to membership in the larger circle. But member- 
ship in a great many other circles is the result of a differen- 
tiation from primary groups on the basis of individual 
characteristics and a combination with others having simi- 
lar characteristics. In many instances the original rela- 
tionships with the primary groups remain effective not- 
withstanding these partial differentiations. They do not 
disappear; they merely appear less important than the re- 
lationships with those circles which are expressions of indi- 
vidual characteristics. 
The importance of this type of association lies in the 
fact that it brings about a social integration of individual 
differentiations. It does not combine similar individuals, 
but it yields a combination of divergent elements on the 
basis of a differentiated similarity in these elements. It 
enables individual differences to become significant for 
the life of the group, a goal that could not be obtained as 
long as corporations absorbed the whole of the individual.