7/27/2019 Georg Simmel An Introduction & Overview

1/15

27/07/2013 Dr Craig Hammond (UCBC) 1

Modernity to Postmodernity

Week 3: Georg Simmel

7/27/2019 Georg Simmel An Introduction & Overview

2/15

27/07/2013 Dr Craig Hammond (UCBC) 2

Georg Simmel

1858-1918

Born in Berlin, Germany

His family wasbusiness-oriented,prosperous, andJewish

His father converted toChristianity--died inSimmels youth

7/27/2019 Georg Simmel An Introduction & Overview

3/15

27/07/2013 Dr Craig Hammond (UCBC) 3

Georg Simmel

Simmels approach to sociology rejects the organicisttheories of Comte and Spencer

As well as the historical description of unique events (such

as the Marxist Historical Materialism)

Instead he suggests that society consists ofa web ofpatterned interactions, and that it is the task ofsociology to study the formsof these interactions as

they occur and reoccur in diverse historical periods andcultural settings.

(Coser 1971:177)

7/27/2019 Georg Simmel An Introduction & Overview

4/15

27/07/2013 Dr Craig Hammond (UCBC) 4

Georg Simmel

As with Durkheim and Weber, Simmel resistedreducing social behavior to individual personality.

Nor, for Simmel, could social relationships be fully

explained by larger collective patterns such as theeconomy.

Rather, the results of everyday interaction creates alevel of reality in its own right--an interaction

order that is never totally fixed and is thereforealways problematic and capable of change.

7/27/2019 Georg Simmel An Introduction & Overview

5/15

27/07/2013 Dr Craig Hammond (UCBC) 5

Georg Simmel

How is society possible?

Simmel proposed that sociologists focus on

people in relationships.Society, for Simmel, was thepatterned

interactions among members of a

group,the sum of responses to ordinary lifeevents.

7/27/2019 Georg Simmel An Introduction & Overview

6/15

27/07/2013 Dr Craig Hammond (UCBC) 6

Georg Simmel

Simmel began with the elements of everyday life:

playing games,

keeping secrets,

being a stranger, forming friendships

Opening a door

Picking up a jug

And arrived at insights into the qualityof relationships.

7/27/2019 Georg Simmel An Introduction & Overview

7/15

27/07/2013 Dr Craig Hammond (UCBC) 7

Georg Simmel

Societyis merely the name for a numberof individuals connected by interactions.

The Dyad

The Triad

And the Complexity of the City (Metropolis)

7/27/2019 Georg Simmel An Introduction & Overview

8/15

27/07/2013 Dr Craig Hammond (UCBC) 8

Georg Simmel:

The Significance of Numbers for Social Life

Dyad versus Triad

Adyadic relationship differs from all other typesof groups: the two participants are confronted

by only oneother and not by a collectivity.Because this type of group depends only on two

participants, the withdrawal of one woulddestroy the whole: A dyad depends on each ofits two elements alone for its life it needsboth, but for its death, only one.

7/27/2019 Georg Simmel An Introduction & Overview

9/15

27/07/2013 Dr Craig Hammond (UCBC) 9

Georg Simmel:

The Significance of Numbers for Social Life

When a dyad is transformed into a triad, theapparently insignificant fact that one memberhas been added actually brings about a majorqualitative change.

In the triad, all associations involve more thantwo persons, the individual participant is

confronted with the possibility of being outvotedby amajority.

7/27/2019 Georg Simmel An Introduction & Overview

10/15

27/07/2013 Dr Craig Hammond (UCBC) 10

Georg Simmel:

The Significance of Numbers for Social Life

When a third member enters a dyadicgroup, various processes become possible

where previously they could not takeplace. A third member may:

Mediate

RejoiceDivide and Rule

7/27/2019 Georg Simmel An Introduction & Overview

11/15

27/07/2013 Dr Craig Hammond (UCBC) 11

Georg Simmel:

The Dialectical Method

To Simmel, sociationalways involvesharmony and conflict, attraction and

repulsion, love and hatred. He saw humanrelations as characterized by ambivalence;precisely those who are connected in

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

7/27/2019 Georg Simmel An Introduction & Overview

12/15

27/07/2013 Dr Craig Hammond (UCBC) 12

Georg Simmel:

Formal Sociology (Social Forms)

Social Processes

Conflict and Cooperation

Subordination and Superordination

Centralization and Decentralization

Bridge & Door

The Handle

The Fragmentary Character of Everyday Life

Fashion (and the Maverick)

7/27/2019 Georg Simmel An Introduction & Overview

13/15

27/07/2013 Dr Craig Hammond (UCBC) 13

Georg Simmel: The Stranger as a

Social Type (Form)

The Stranger

The stranger in Simmels terminology, is not just a wanderer whocomes today and goes tomorrow, having no specific structuralposition. On the contrary, he is a person who comes today andstays tomorrowHe is fixed within a particular spatial groupbuthis positionis determinedby the fact that he does not belong toit from the beginning, and that he may leave again.

The stranger is an element of the group itself while not being fullypart of it. He therefore is assigned a role that no other members ofthe group can play. By virtue of his partial involvement in groupaffairs he can attain an objectivity that other members cannotreach being distant and near at the same time, (Coser 1971:182)

7/27/2019 Georg Simmel An Introduction & Overview

14/15

A Simmelean Stranger?

27/07/2013 Dr Craig Hammond (UCBC) 14

7/27/2019 Georg Simmel An Introduction & Overview

15/15

27/07/2013 Dr Craig Hammond (UCBC) 15

Georg Simmel:

Social Types

The Stranger

What are the limitations of Simmels approach to

social theory

Explanations of society

Would you say that he is a modernity or a postmodernist (andwhy?)