Presentation

1. Philosopher/Sociologist
Georg Simmel was a German
sociologist, philosopher, and critic.
Simmel was one of the first
generation of German sociologists:
his neo-Kantian approach laid the
foundations for sociological
antipositivism.
GEORG SIMMEL
(1858-1918)

2. GEORG SIMMEL
1858 – 1918
The Person
Introduction
The Academic Outsider
A Virtuoso on the Platform
Simmel's Writing Career
A Summary of Ideas
Introduction
Formal Sociology
Social Types
The Dialectical Method in Simmel's Sociology
The Significance of Numbers for Social Life
Simmel's Ambivalent View of Modern Culture
A Note on the Philosophy of Money
The Original Work
The Stranger
Conflict as Sociation

3. GEORG SIMMEL
1858-1918
• Born in Berlin, Germany (an area similar to New York City’s Times Square)
• His family was business-oriented, prosperous, and Jewish
• His father converted to Christianity--died in Simmel’s youth
• Earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy, 1881
• Denied a regular academic position he taught as an adjunct, 1885-1914
• During this period he was a popular public lecturer
• Appointed Assistant Professor in 1914 at age 56
• Career interrupted by WWI, during which he served as a hospital
administrator
A modern urban man--without roots in traditional folk culture

4. How is Society Possible? (American Journal of Sociology, vol. 16,
1910-11)
A Chapter in the Philosophy of Value (American Journal of
Sociology vol. 5, 1900)
Superiority and Subordination as Subject-matter of Sociology
(American Journal of Sociology 2 1896: 167-189).
The Persistence of Social Groups (American Journal of Sociology
3 1897: 662-698).
The Number of Members as Determining the Sociological Form
of the Group. (American Journal of Sociology 8 1902: 1-46).
The Sociology of Conflict: (American Journal of Sociology 9
1903) 490-525).
A Contribution to the Sociology of Religion" (American Journal
of Sociology : 10 1904 359-376.)
The Metropolis and Mental Life (adapted by D. Weinstein from
Kurt Wolff (Trans.) The Sociology of Georg Simmel. New York:
Free Press, 1950, pp.409-424)
The Stranger (From Kurt Wolff (Trans.) The Sociology of Georg
Simmel. New York: Free Press, 1950, pp. 402 - 408)
The Sociology of Secrecy and Secret Societies (American Journal
of Sociology 11, 1906: 441-498.)
Simmel
Texts in
English
Translation

5. GEORG SIMMEL
SOCIAL RELATIONS:
• super-ordinate/sub-ordinate
• conflict/cooperation
• distance/intimacy
• social/individual
SOCIAL TYPES:
• competitor
• miser
• adventurer
• coquette
• stranger

6. GEORG SIMMEL
SOCIETY=
THE INTRICATE WEB OF PATTERNED, MULTIPLE RELATIONS
BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS IN CONSTANT INTERACTION.
THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE GROUP ARE MUTUALLY
CONSTITUTIVE VIA SOCIAL FORMS, I.E., CRYSTALLIZED
PATTERNED INTERACTIONS.
SOCIATION
ASSOCIATION DISSOCIATION
(cooperation) (conflict)
(both functional)

7. Dialectical & Paradoxical Dynamic Tension
between Individual and Group/Society
• Incorporated Within – Standing Against
• Product of Society – Self-Determined
• Dependent – Autonomous
• Acted Upon – Self-Activating
• Incorporated into Social Membership –
Reacting out of Unique Individuality

8. In each social relation there are two forces at work: one pushing us to bind ourselves to
others through imitation, and another pushing us to unbind ourselves from others, to
undo the social network, through distinction. But social life changes in so far as the
balance between the socialising force and the de-socialising force is always unstable and
provisional.
Fashion is an example of the way in which actual social life always includes in some way
its own opposite, an asocial life.
For Simmel
“... fashion represents nothing more than one of the
many forms of life by the aid of which we seek to
combine in uniform spheres of activity the tendency
towards social equalization with the desire for
individual differentiation and change.”

9. from Georg Simmel, in On Women, Sexuality, and Love:
Consider the charms of the simultaneous
For and Against, the Perhaps,
the protracted reservation of the decision
which permits a foretaste of the enjoyment
of both its aspects
which in their realization
are mutually exclusive.
(the original does not appear structured thus, but as a straightforward sentence)
And famously:
Flirtation also does no more than play with reality,
yet it is still reality with which it plays.

10. CONFLICT as a SOCIAL FORM

11. CONFLICT as a SOCIAL FORM
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CONFLICT
•Conflict instinctual for humans
•Unique feature of conflict for humans: it is goal oriented
•Opens up opportunities for negotiation and
different types and levels of conflict
VARIABILITY OF VIOLENCE
•Clearly expressed with rational goals  less violence
•Higher emotional involvement  increased violence
•Transcendent goals  greatly increased violence

12. Reciprocal Nature –
the Functions of Social Conflict
• Hostility as Helpful
• Group Binding
• Group Preserving
• Internal Cohesion
• Achieves Internal Unity
• Generates Energy, Effort, & Purpose
• Creates Satisfaction
• Binds Individuals to the Whole
• Establishes Group Identity

13. Reciprocal Nature –
the Functions of Social Conflict
• Hostility as Helpful
• Group Binding
• Group Preserving
• Defines Structure
• Achieves Stability
• Provides Baselines
• Establishes Knowledge of Power

14. Reciprocal Nature –
the Functions of Social Conflict
• Hostility as Helpful
• Group Binding
• Group Preserving
• Creates Associations & Coalitions
• Combines Antagonists against an Other
“An enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
“If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favorable
reference to the devil in the House of Commons.”
• Produces Enemies
• Produces Unity in the Other

15. • Degree: Small or Great
• Degree: Peripheral or Central
• Degree: Rational or Emotional
• Real or Perceived Difference
(Absolute or Relative)
• Procedure or Purpose
(Process or Goal)
What’s at Issue
in the Conflict…?
• Differences in:
• Material Goods
• Social Services
• Cultural Values
• Social Esteem
• Political Power

16. Historical Typology – Types of Society
GEMEINSCHAFT Ferdinand Tonnies GESELLSCHAFT
Theological
Metaphysical
August Comte
Positivist -
Scientific
Militaristic Herbert Spencer Industrial
Feudalism Karl Marx Capitalism
Mechanical
Solidarity
Emile Durkheim
Organic
Solidarity
Traditional Max Weber Rational-Legal
Subjective Culture
(more life)
Georg Simmel
Objective Culture
(more-than life)
Primary Group Chicago School Secondary Group
R E C A P I T U L A T I O N
S W E E P O F H I S T O R Y

17. SOCIALLYCREATED STRUCTURES:
from few nested concentric circles
TRIBE
CLAN individual
EXTENDED
FAMILY
FAMILY
23.5%
many
partially
intersecting
CIRCLES
Individual
to
DRIFT OF HISTORY
SUBJECTIVE CULTURE OBJECTIVE CULTURE
(more-life/species being) (more-than-life/alienating)

18. SOCIAL FORMS/ emergent web of group affiliations
• monad
• dyad
• triad
• quadrad
• etc.
• small group
• large group
Emergence of “society”
formula: X = y2
– y/ 2
where y = # of group members
& X = # of relationships/ emergent web

19. IF TWO’S COMPANY,
AND THREE’S A CROWD, THEN
FOUR’S THE EMERGENCE OF SOCIETY
FORMULA:
(where R is the number of relationships and
M is the number of group members)
M2 – M
2
R =

20. EFFECTS OF
GROUP SIZE
ON THE NUMBER
OF
RELATIONSHIPS

21. Members Relationships*
(dyad, extremely fragile) 2 = 1
(triad, still fragile) 3 = 3
(first emergence of society) 4 = 6
(upper limit of span of control) 8 = 28
(max size of small group) 12 = 66
25 = 300
(approx size of this class) 50 = 1,225
(considered ideal community size) 200 = 19,900
(approx size of PSU) 30,000 = 449,985,000
*not including any coalition or sub-group relationships

22. • Dyad – fragile, no supra-personal level
• Triad – first suggestions of social structure, the supra-
personal possibility of coalitions, combinations
• Quadrad – first real emergence of social structure
• Small Group –
• total involvement of the individual
• personal valuation
• intense, frequent interaction
• highly personal
• emotional, subjective
Significance of Numbers for Social Structure

23. Significance of Numbers for Social Structure
• Large Group –
• greater social distance
• reduced intimacy
• greater freedom
• increase in delegation, formality, formal offices
• increase in inequality
• segmental involvement
• greater resilience to internal conflict
• power alien and/or distant

24. SIMMEL’S DYNAMIC OF SOCIETAL DEVELOPMENT
the Drift of History
urbanization-money markets-commodification
SUBJECTIVE OBJECTIVE
CULTURE CULTURE
Personalistic Impersonal
Organic Rational
Subjective Objective
Involved Blasé
GREAT TRANSFORMATIONS
RELIGIOUS REFORMATIONS – POLITICAL REVOLUTIONS – INDUSTRIALIZATION – SCIENTIFIC PROCESS – DIGITAL REVOLUTION
EVER INCREASING
SIZE
DENSITY
DIVERSITY
COMPLEXITY
SPECIALIZATION
SOPHISTICATION
TECHNICAL EXPERTISE

28. THE
PARADOX
of
MONEY

29. $ MONEY $:
• UNIVERSAL AND ABSTRACT NATURE EFFECTS:
- INCREASES INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM
- FOSTERS TENUOUS AND OBJECTIVE CONNECTIONS
- DISCOURAGES INTIMATE TIES WITH PEOPLE
- DECREASES MORAL CONSTRAINT, INCREASES ANOMIE
• SOCIAL EFFECTS:
- CREATES EXCHANGE RELATIONSHIPS OVER DISTANCE
AND TIME
- INCREASES SIMILARITY/CONTINUITY AMONG GROUPS
- STRENGTHENS LEVEL OF SOCIAL TRUST
- INCREASES CENTRALIZED AUTHORITY

30. • CREATES DISTANCE FROM OBJECTS WHICH THEN
• BECOMES THE MEANS TO OVERCOME THAT DISTANCE
• CREATES THE FINANCIAL MARKET WHICH THEN
• ACQUIRES A LIVE OF ITS OWN
• ENCOURAGES ABSTRACT OF RATIONALIZATION WHICH THEN
• EXPANDS THE CAPACITY FOR INTELLECTUAL PROCESS
• ACTS AS A TOOL OR A MEANS WHICH THEN
• BECOMES AN END ITSELF
• ACTS AS AN EXTERNAL IMPOSITION WHICH THEN
• IMMEASURABLY INCREASES FREEDOM
• CREATES A REIFIED WORLD BUT THEN
• PROVIDES THE MEANS TO NEGOTIATE THAT WORLD
• INTRODUCES A VALUELESS DIMENSION WHICH THEN
• BECOMES THE ULTIMATE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS

31. Administered by Special Master of the U.S.
government's September 11th Victim Compensation
Fund, Kenneth Feinberg (subsequently Special
Master for TARP Executive Compensation) who
had sole authority in applying the calculus.
To participate in this process and receive
compensation, each survivor had to agree to waive
any rights to pursue further compensation for their
loss through legal procedures.
THE 9/11 VICTIM COMPENSATION CALCULUS
• First, the government will estimate how much a victim would have
earned over his or her lifetime had the planes never crashed. (That
means a broker’s wife will qualify for a vastly higher award than a
window washer’s wife.)
• To estimate this amount, each family was handed an easy-to-read
chart: find your loved one’s age and income and follow your finger
to the magic number.
• Each estimate of lifetime earnings was boosted by a flat $250,000 for
“pain and suffering” (non-economic loss).
• Add an extra $50,000 in pain and suffering for a spouse and each child.
•Then subtract all the money survivors received from other sources
except charities: deduct life insurance, pensions, Social Security death
benefits, and worker’s compensation.
The result – the total award the government offers for the loss of a life.