georg_simmel v2 sp 2012

8/10/2019 Georg_Simmel V2 Sp 2012

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Thursday, April 19,

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2000-2006 by Ronald Keith

Bolender 1

Sociological Theory:

Georg Simmel


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Bolender 3

Georg SimmelHow is society possible?

Sociologists should focus on people inrelationships.

Society--thepatterned interactionsamong members of a group


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Georg Simmel

As with Durkheim and Weber, Simmel

resisted reducing social behavior toindividual personality.

Nor could social relationships be fullyexplained by larger collective patternssuch as the economy.

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Bolender 5


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Georg Simmel

Self-conscious attempt to reject the

organicist theories of Comte & Spencer

And the historical description of uniqueevents that was cherished in his native

German


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Georg Simmel

Suggested that society consists of

A web of patterned Interactions

The task of sociologyto study the forms

of these interactions as they occur and

reoccur in diverse historical periods and

cultural settings.

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Bolender 8


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Bolender 9

Georg Simmel

Society is the name for a number of

individuals connected by interactions.

The major field of study for student of

society issociation:

The particular patterns & formsin

which people associate and interact with

one another.


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Bolender 10

Georg Simmel:

Formal Sociology (Social Forms)

Distinct human phenomena may beunderstand by reference to the same

formal concept


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Formal Sociology

(Social Forms)

For example: The student of warfare

and the student of marriage investigate

qualitatively different subject matters,

Yet the sociologist can find essentially

similar interactive forms in martialconflictand in marital conflict.

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Bolender 11

F l S i l


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Formal Sociology

(Social Forms)

Little similarity between the behavior

displayed at the court of Louis XIV

And that displayed in the offices of an

American corporation

A study of the forms of subordination

and superordinationin each revealssimilar underlying patterns

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Bolender 12


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Bolender 13

Georg Simmel:


Social Processes

Conflict and Cooperation

Subordination and Superordination

Centralization and Decentralization


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Bolender 14

Georg Simmel:


The term formwas perhaps not the best

choice

Had Simmel used the term social structure

which is quite close to his use of formhe

may have encountered less resistance


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Georg Simmel:


Modern sociological terms such asstatus, role, norms, and expectations

Elements of social structure are close tothe formal conceptualizations that

Simmel employed

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Bolender 15


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Bolender 16

Georg Simmel:

Social Types

Simmel constructed a gallery of social typesto

complement his inventory of social forms: The Stranger

The Mediator

The Poor

The Adventurer

The Man in the Middle The Renegade


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Bolender 17

Georg Simmel:

Social Types

Simmel conceives of each particular social

type as being caused by specific reactionsand the expectations of other.

The typebecomeswhat he is through hisrelations with others who:

Assignhim a particular position

Expecthim to behave in specific ways.


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Georg Simmel:

Social TypesThe Stranger

The stranger in Simmels terminology, is not just a wanderer who comes

today and goes tomorrow, having no specific structural position. On thecontrary, he is a person who comes today and stays tomorrowHe is fixedwithin a particular spatial groupbut his positionis determinedby thefact that he does not belong to it from the beginning, and that he may

leave again. The stranger is an element of the group itself while notbeing fully part of it. He therefore is assigned a role that no other membersof the group can play. By virtue of his partial involvement in group affairshe can attain an objectivity that other members cannot reachMoreover,being distant and near at the same time, the stranger will often be called

upon as a confidantIn similar ways, the stranger may be a better judgebetween conflicting parties than full members of the group since he is nottied to either of the contenders

(Coser 1971:182)


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Bolender 19

Georg Simmel:

Social Types

The Poor

Once the pooraccept assistance, they are removed fromthe preconditions of their previous status, they aredeclassified, and their private trouble now becomes a

public issue. The poor come to be viewed not bywhat they do--the criteria ordinarily used insocial categorization--but by virtue of what isdone to them. Society creates the social type of thepoor and assigns them a peculiar status that is markedonly by negative attributes, by what the status-holdersdo not have.

(Coser 1971:182)


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Bolender 21

Georg Simmel:

The Dialectical Method

To Simmel, sociationalways involvesharmony and conflict, attraction andrepulsion, love and hatred. He saw human

relations as characterized by ambivalence;precisely those who are connected in

intimate relations are likely to harbor forone another not only positive but alsonegative sentiments.


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Georg Simmel:

The Dialectical Method

Erotic relations, for example, strike us as woven

together of love and respect, or disrespectoflove and an urge to dominate or the need fordependenceWhat the observer or the participant

himself thus divides into two intermingling trendsmay in reality be only one.

Because conflict can strengthen existingbonds or establish new ones, it can be considereda creativerather than a destructiveforce.

(Coser 1971:184-185)


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Georg Simmel:

4/19 The Significance of Numbers for Social Life

Simmels emphasis on the structural

determinants of social action is perhaps bestexemplified in his seminal essay

Quantitative Aspects of the Group.

Goal of writing a grammar of social lifebyconsidering one of the most abstract

characteristics of a group: the mere numberof its participants.


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The Significance of

Numbers for Social Life

He examines forms:

Group processes and

Structural arrangements

As these derive from sheer quantitativerelationships

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Bolender 24


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Georg Simmel:

The Significance of Numbers for Social Life

Dyad versus Triad

A dyadic relationship differsqualitativelyfrom other types of

groups

Each of the two participants isconfronted by only oneother andnot by a collectivity


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Dyad versus Triad

This type of group depends only on

two participants, the withdrawal ofone would destroy the whole

A dyad depends on each of its twoelements alone--in its death though

not in its life For its lifeit needs both, but for its

death, only one.

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Georg Simmel:


The triad is the simplest structure in

which the group as a whole can achievedomination over its componentmembers

It provides a social framework thatallows the constraining of individualparticipants for collective purposes

.


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Significance of Numbers

Thus, the triad exhibits in its simplest

form the sociological drama thatinforms all social life:

The dialectic of:

freedom and constraint, autonomy and heteronomy

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Georg Simmel:


When a third member enters a dyadic

group, various processes becomepossible that previously could not takeplace.

A third member may:

Mediate

Rejoice

Divide and Rule


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Bolender 31

Georg Simmel:


Real WorldApplications of theDyadic/Triadic

Social Form

G S


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Georg Simmel:

The Philosophy of Money

Economic exchange, Simmel argues,

can best be understood as a formofsocial interaction.

When monetary transactions replaceearlier forms of barter, significantchanges occur in the forms ofinteractions between social actors.


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Money is subject to precise divisionand manipulation

Permits exact measurement of

equivalents

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The Philosophy of Money It is impersonal in a manner in which

objects of barter, like crafted gongs andcollected shells, can never be.

It thus helps promote rationalcalculation in human affairs andfurthers the rationalization that ischaracteristic of modern society.

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When money becomes theprevalent

link between people

It replaces personal ties anchored indiffuse feelings

By impersonal relations that arelimited to a specific purpose

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georg_simmel v2 sp 2012

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