georg simmel an introduction & overview
TRANSCRIPT
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7/27/2019 Georg Simmel An Introduction & Overview
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Modernity to Postmodernity
Week 3: Georg Simmel
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Georg Simmel
1858-1918
Born in Berlin, Germany
His family wasbusiness-oriented,prosperous, andJewish
His father converted toChristianity--died inSimmels youth
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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)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Georg Simmel
Societyis merely the name for a numberof individuals connected by interactions.
The Dyad
The Triad
And the Complexity of the City (Metropolis)
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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)
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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)
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A Simmelean Stranger?
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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?)