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On Individuality and Social Forms
"Of those who created the intellectual capital used to launch the enterprise of professional sociology, Georg Simmel was perhaps the most original and fecund. In search of a subject matter for sociology that would distinguish it from all other social sciences and humanistic disciplines, he charted a new field for discovery and proceeded to explore a world of novel topics in works that have guided and anticipated the thinking of generations of sociologists. Such distinctive concepts of contemporary sociology as social distance, marginality, urbanism as a way of life, role-playing, social behavior as exchange, conflict as an integrating process, dyadic encounter, circular interaction, reference groups as perspectives, and sociological ambivalence embody ideas which Simmel adumbrated more than six decades ago."—Donald N. Levine
Half of the material included in this edition of Simmel's writings represents new translations. This includes Simmel's important, lengthy, and previously untranslated "Group Expansion and Development of Individuality," as well as three selections from his most neglected work, Philosophy of Money ; in addition, the introduction to Probleme der Geschichtsphilosophie , chapter one of the Lebensanschauung , and three essays are translated for the first time.
Half of the material included in this edition of Simmel's writings represents new translations. This includes Simmel's important, lengthy, and previously untranslated "Group Expansion and Development of Individuality," as well as three selections from his most neglected work, Philosophy of Money ; in addition, the introduction to Probleme der Geschichtsphilosophie , chapter one of the Lebensanschauung , and three essays are translated for the first time.
412 pages, Paperback
First published February 15, 1971
About the author
Georg Simmel
398 books197 followersGeorg Simmel was a major 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, asking 'What is society?' in a direct allusion to Kant's question 'What is nature?', presenting pioneering analyses of social individuality and fragmentation. For Simmel, culture referred to "the cultivation of individuals through the agency of external forms which have been objectified in the course of history". Simmel discussed social and cultural phenomena in terms of "forms" and "contents" with a transient relationship; form becoming content, and vice versa, dependent on the context. In this sense he was a forerunner to structuralist styles of reasoning in the social sciences. With his work on the metropolis, Simmel was a precursor of urban sociology, symbolic interactionism and social network analysis. An acquaintance of Max Weber, Simmel wrote on the topic of personal character in a manner reminiscent of the sociological 'ideal type'. He broadly rejected academic standards, however, philosophically covering topics such as emotion and romantic love. Both Simmel and Weber's nonpositivist theory would inform the eclectic critical theory of the Frankfurt School.
Simmel's most famous works today are The Problems of the Philosophy of History (1892), The Philosophy of Money (1907), The Metropolis and Mental Life (1903), Soziologie (1908, inc. The Stranger, The Social Boundary, The Sociology of the Senses, The Sociology of Space, and On The Spatial Projections of Social Forms), and Fundamental Questions of Sociology (1917). He also wrote extensively on the philosophy of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, as well on art, most notably his book Rembrandt: An Essay in the Philosophy of Art (1916).
Simmel was one of the first generation of German sociologists: his neo-Kantian approach laid the foundations for sociological antipositivism, asking 'What is society?' in a direct allusion to Kant's question 'What is nature?', presenting pioneering analyses of social individuality and fragmentation. For Simmel, culture referred to "the cultivation of individuals through the agency of external forms which have been objectified in the course of history". Simmel discussed social and cultural phenomena in terms of "forms" and "contents" with a transient relationship; form becoming content, and vice versa, dependent on the context. In this sense he was a forerunner to structuralist styles of reasoning in the social sciences. With his work on the metropolis, Simmel was a precursor of urban sociology, symbolic interactionism and social network analysis. An acquaintance of Max Weber, Simmel wrote on the topic of personal character in a manner reminiscent of the sociological 'ideal type'. He broadly rejected academic standards, however, philosophically covering topics such as emotion and romantic love. Both Simmel and Weber's nonpositivist theory would inform the eclectic critical theory of the Frankfurt School.
Simmel's most famous works today are The Problems of the Philosophy of History (1892), The Philosophy of Money (1907), The Metropolis and Mental Life (1903), Soziologie (1908, inc. The Stranger, The Social Boundary, The Sociology of the Senses, The Sociology of Space, and On The Spatial Projections of Social Forms), and Fundamental Questions of Sociology (1917). He also wrote extensively on the philosophy of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, as well on art, most notably his book Rembrandt: An Essay in the Philosophy of Art (1916).
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 12, 2015
It’s a real shame that such a genius who profoundly affected more popular sociologists like Max Weber and Emile Durkheim doesn’t even have a review here.
Simmel is one of the most fascinating thinkers I’ve ever read, taking a neo-Kantian approach to sociological study and the occasional digression into German idealist philosophy. With 24 essays in this collection on a wide variety of subjects, it’s difficult to pinpoint a general idea within the text, but Simmel has four basic presuppositions that editor Donald Levine outlines in his wonderful introduction.
1. Form and Content: The world is made up of innumerable contents constantly in flux that are given meaning and structure through the imposition of forms.
2. Reciprocity: Nothing has a fixed meaning. Objects’ meanings only emerge through interaction with other objects.
3. Distance: The properties and meanings of forms are a function of the relative distances between individuals and other individuals or objects.
4. Dualism: The world is best understood through the conflicts and contrasts between opposed categories.
With these in mind, Simmel tackles subjects like the stranger’s paradox of being both inside and outside the group, how charity creates the concept of “poor people” itself, and how individualism and independence are often directly opposed. Simmel was greatly interested in the individual in society and the idea of being an individual. There are so many things that create who we are: our culture, our interests, that cool trick we can do to make us the life of the party. Yet how do all of these attributes combine to form our personalities, who we are as unique individual human beings? How can we ever be understood if no one could ever know all the factors that play into our individualities? These are the kinds of questions Simmel wants to answer.
Although his prose is challenging and abstract(especially in the essays that aren’t analyses of specific social examples, but more philosophical), it can sometimes be really beautiful. For example, in “Eros, Platonic, and Modern,” he argues how love is something that can’t be understood through mere reason.
“The great themes of Plato’s thought have been infinitely fruitful in the course of intellectual history. But what mankind grown old, differentiated, and sophisticated can no longer support is this: to transform the world in its reality, its love, its meaning, and its spiritual values into a logical structure of abstract concepts and analogous metaphysical essences and to perceive this as the deepest happiness of the spirit; to derive from logical thought those tremors and awesome relations to the ground of things which later times can attain precisely only by rejection of pure thought, through a cleavage between logical structure and that living, feeling existence whose immediacy is caught neither in the Platonic concepts nor in ours, but can only be experienced in its own depths.”
One of the things that hindered him in academia was his individualistic style and choice of subjects that were considered “unacademic,” but these ultimately add tremendously to the text.
The entire collection is incredible and I couldn’t begin to do it justice with this review, but I’d particularly suggest “Exchange,” “The Poor,” “The Stranger,” “Fashion,” and “The Metropolis and Mental Life.”
Simmel is one of the most fascinating thinkers I’ve ever read, taking a neo-Kantian approach to sociological study and the occasional digression into German idealist philosophy. With 24 essays in this collection on a wide variety of subjects, it’s difficult to pinpoint a general idea within the text, but Simmel has four basic presuppositions that editor Donald Levine outlines in his wonderful introduction.
1. Form and Content: The world is made up of innumerable contents constantly in flux that are given meaning and structure through the imposition of forms.
2. Reciprocity: Nothing has a fixed meaning. Objects’ meanings only emerge through interaction with other objects.
3. Distance: The properties and meanings of forms are a function of the relative distances between individuals and other individuals or objects.
4. Dualism: The world is best understood through the conflicts and contrasts between opposed categories.
With these in mind, Simmel tackles subjects like the stranger’s paradox of being both inside and outside the group, how charity creates the concept of “poor people” itself, and how individualism and independence are often directly opposed. Simmel was greatly interested in the individual in society and the idea of being an individual. There are so many things that create who we are: our culture, our interests, that cool trick we can do to make us the life of the party. Yet how do all of these attributes combine to form our personalities, who we are as unique individual human beings? How can we ever be understood if no one could ever know all the factors that play into our individualities? These are the kinds of questions Simmel wants to answer.
Although his prose is challenging and abstract(especially in the essays that aren’t analyses of specific social examples, but more philosophical), it can sometimes be really beautiful. For example, in “Eros, Platonic, and Modern,” he argues how love is something that can’t be understood through mere reason.
“The great themes of Plato’s thought have been infinitely fruitful in the course of intellectual history. But what mankind grown old, differentiated, and sophisticated can no longer support is this: to transform the world in its reality, its love, its meaning, and its spiritual values into a logical structure of abstract concepts and analogous metaphysical essences and to perceive this as the deepest happiness of the spirit; to derive from logical thought those tremors and awesome relations to the ground of things which later times can attain precisely only by rejection of pure thought, through a cleavage between logical structure and that living, feeling existence whose immediacy is caught neither in the Platonic concepts nor in ours, but can only be experienced in its own depths.”
One of the things that hindered him in academia was his individualistic style and choice of subjects that were considered “unacademic,” but these ultimately add tremendously to the text.
The entire collection is incredible and I couldn’t begin to do it justice with this review, but I’d particularly suggest “Exchange,” “The Poor,” “The Stranger,” “Fashion,” and “The Metropolis and Mental Life.”
April 12, 2024
زمیل فیلسوف جدید موردعلاقهام.
September 5, 2014
ترجمه اش چنگی به دل نمی زند و خواننده را گیج می کند اما زیمل آن قدر نبوغ آمیز و دقیق بحث فرم های اجتماعی را با نمونه های عملی چون خسیس و ولخرج ، غریبه ، مد ، عشق افلاطونی و عشق مدرن و غیره شرح میدهد که به نظر تنها مارکس را می توان همتای او در نظریات جامعه شناسی دوران دانست و انگار این دو از آینده ی دور آمده اند. خوشبختانه فصل بسیار مهم کلانشهر و حیات ذهنی را یوسف اباذری با ترجمه قابل قبولی در ارغنون چاپ کرده است
در این کتاب زیمل بحث می کند در روزگار مدرن چگونه آدم ها در پی یافتن فردیت خود فرم های اجتماعی (ساختار ) را شکل می دهند و به نوعی بحث او ترکیبی است از روانکاری اجتماعی ، فلسفه و جامعه شناسی
برای نمونه زیمل می گوید خسیس و ولخرج هر دو از حیث نگاه انتزاعی به پول از یک قماش اند و معکوس هم نیستند و بعد نشان می دهد چطور خسیس نگاهی شاعرانه به پول دارد و بدون خرج کردن آن در ذهن خود دنیایی رویایی می سازد و از توانایی بالقوه داشتن پول و خرج نکردن آن لذت می برد. تقریبن در هیچ جای کتاب زیمیل وارد بحث ارزش گذاری تیپ ها نمی شود و مثل یک جراح تیپ را می شکافد و بافت اش را زیر میکروسکپ بزرگش نگاه می کند
در بحث خواستگاه روانکاوانه مد گویی زیمیل صد سال از زمان خود جلوتر است و چیزهایی را می بیند که ما امروز هم با وجود رسانه و اینترنت و اطلاعات فراوان به سختی قادریم ببینینم و بشکافیم
در این کتاب زیمل بحث می کند در روزگار مدرن چگونه آدم ها در پی یافتن فردیت خود فرم های اجتماعی (ساختار ) را شکل می دهند و به نوعی بحث او ترکیبی است از روانکاری اجتماعی ، فلسفه و جامعه شناسی
برای نمونه زیمل می گوید خسیس و ولخرج هر دو از حیث نگاه انتزاعی به پول از یک قماش اند و معکوس هم نیستند و بعد نشان می دهد چطور خسیس نگاهی شاعرانه به پول دارد و بدون خرج کردن آن در ذهن خود دنیایی رویایی می سازد و از توانایی بالقوه داشتن پول و خرج نکردن آن لذت می برد. تقریبن در هیچ جای کتاب زیمیل وارد بحث ارزش گذاری تیپ ها نمی شود و مثل یک جراح تیپ را می شکافد و بافت اش را زیر میکروسکپ بزرگش نگاه می کند
در بحث خواستگاه روانکاوانه مد گویی زیمیل صد سال از زمان خود جلوتر است و چیزهایی را می بیند که ما امروز هم با وجود رسانه و اینترنت و اطلاعات فراوان به سختی قادریم ببینینم و بشکافیم
September 17, 2017
يهندس مفهوم الغريب في المدنية العلاقة مع المكان ، الغريب يستدعي البعيد الذي أصبح قريباً ويستدعي فكرة ال��حن ،
الغريب فئة محددة لدى سيمل ، على أطراف البناء ، عبر وتاجر وسائح ، غير متجذر في أرض التواجد ، مفهوم مناسب لعصر القوميات الواضحة ، الآن الفئة اتسعت وأصبح حضورها كبيراً وغائماً في مدن تتحرك بلا انقطاع وتهدم الحواجز لعبور رؤؤس المال والبشر واعادة تعريف المتحرك والثابت...
الغريب فئة محددة لدى سيمل ، على أطراف البناء ، عبر وتاجر وسائح ، غير متجذر في أرض التواجد ، مفهوم مناسب لعصر القوميات الواضحة ، الآن الفئة اتسعت وأصبح حضورها كبيراً وغائماً في مدن تتحرك بلا انقطاع وتهدم الحواجز لعبور رؤؤس المال والبشر واعادة تعريف المتحرك والثابت...
March 28, 2020
“Bilinen bir şey olarak insan, doğa ve tarih tarafından oluşturulur; ama bilen olarak insan doğayı ve tarihi oluşturur.”
December 31, 2017
Read selections on The Stranger, Group Expansion, Conflict
November 3, 2020
probably a 5
June 19, 2021
Ulus Baker okurlarının karşılaştığı kitaplardan biri bu. Simmel’in dili çok ağır, neredeyse okunmamayı hedefler gibi. Ama sadece ‘Yabancı’ başlıklı bölüm için okunmalı. Teşekkürler Ulus…
August 11, 2021
Sigma male
July 19, 2022
Quite simply -- and I say this without exaggeration -- some of the most thoughtful and generative reflections of social life I've ever read.
Read
June 13, 2024University made me do it
Read
November 21, 2009None
August 15, 2011
really on-point insights into the emotional landscapes bred in cosmopolitan settings
July 23, 2019
Simmel is a genius and I am a true fan.
December 19, 2016
Bir Kentin en büyük dekonstrüksiyonu. Ha Berlin ha İstanbul.
December 20, 2016
difficult but interesting
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews