156 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL 
The best illustration of the first instance can be found 
in the organization of nomadic tribes and in the special 
formations of otherwise sedentary peoples during their 
actual migrations. The effect seems to be a suppression 
or a dissolution of internal differentiation, often accom- 
panied by a strong personal despotism. 
The patriarchal organization of the family among no- 
madic people finds its counterpart in a despotism of the 
group over the individual in times of actual migration. 
It resulted immediately from the fact that these migra- 
tions, even if not directly for war purposes, required none 
the less a military form of organization. But it was a mili- 
tary organization of a character different from the one that 
is found among sedentary people. The latter means a spe- 
cial fixed organization intersecting all existing group forma- 
tions, and presupposes a far-going differentiation and an 
advanced division of labor. A differentiation and division 
of labor presupposes, however, either a narrow spatial con- 
tact or an intensive functional contact of elements. Those 
conditions did not exist among primitive nomadic tribes. 
They consisted of dispersed families which were largely 
self-contained and self-sufficient and in no functional re- 
lations with one another. The food conditions drove them 
to spatial dispersion and forced them to separate. Only the 
need of mutual protection drove them to spatial contrac- 
tion and brought them together. Their actual combination 
during such periods of migration was therefore not based 
on an organic synthesis, but it took the form of a mere me- 
chanical aggregation of equal elements held together by a 
more or less personal despotism. 
The members of a wandering group are very dependent 
on one another, and this temporary but immediate common 
interest overshadows the existing differences which a sed- 
entary life would bring to full expression. A certain fun-