Georg Simmel (1858-1918)
Youngest of seven kids. Father died when he was young. Family friend appointed Guardian. Was not close with mother, no strong family ties.
Weber’s friend, Lecturer, never got to teach in a full professorship position. (Landed one but then the war happened. Was a Jew in anti-Semitic Germany. Was marginal throughout his life, one could argue he theorized from this position.
Started with supposition that people engaged in action on the basis of conscious processes. People have the capacity to confront themselves mentally and set themselves apart from their own actions. They can take in an external stimuli, mentally rehearse different courses of action, and decide what to do. Not totally enslaved to external stimuli (like stimuli/response).
We do have a tendency to Reify- to endow social structures, which are created by people, with a separate and real existence.
The individual is constituted by, yet stands in opposition to society. There is a dynamic tension between individuals and their society.
1. They are both within it and outside of it.
2. They are both subjects and objects within networks of communicative interaction.
3. Individuals seek an integrated self concept. Society also tries to integrate itself, though this may stand in opposition to individual integrity.
Social Geometry: Conflict and the Web of Group Affiliations Group size can make a crucial difference in interaction possibilities.
Dyad- two person group. No meaning beyond its meaning to the two people in it. No independent group structure dynamics emerge. Easy to maintain individuality.
Triad- three person group. Emergence of independent group structure is possible. Strategy, competition, and alliances possible.
Yet 3 is a more stable group than 2. Why?
There is less individuality. Reduced to being members of the group-- Leveling effect.
2 can dominate 1, 1 can play 2 against each other for personal gain or to become the object of competition (Divide and Rule).
Can have the start of authority structure and stratification.
The smaller the group, the more the individual can be totally controlled.
Larger group, the person becomes a member of many groups.
The larger the group, the looser the bonds, because the norms differ from group to group.
Greater possibility of role conflicts.
Stranger – defined by distance. Ever spill your guts to someone you don’t know and figure you will never see again? Neither too close nor too far. Too close, a member of the group. Too far away, the person is not on your radar, would not have contact.
Stranger more objective in group interactions. Lack of emotional involvement. Others can confide in this person.
The value of something is determined by its distance from us. If it is too close, too easy to obtain, it is of no great value to us. If it is too far away, this is also true. Too hard, to expensive, too far to travel, etc. What is most valuable to us are things that are attainable, but only with considerable effort.
Secrercy: condition in which one person has the intention of hiding something while the other is seeking to reveal what is being hidden.
People do not reveal all the information about themselves because there is too much of it. They intentionally pick and choose what to reveal and what to conceal about themselves.
Lie- a situation where someone intentionally hides the truth from others.
We can accept a lie better from those we have distance from than those who are closest to us. Thus a politician can get away with lying better than your spouse or parent.
All relationships have commonly known things between the two and things known by only one or the other. Secrecy is an integral part of all relationships. When a secret becomes known it may destroy a relationship.
Simmel believed that in marriage, while you may be tempted to tell all, you should not. Complete self revelation would make marriage too matter-of-fact and remove all possibility of the unexpected. Excessive self revelation becomes boring. All marriages must have some strangeness to keep them interesting, distance.
Objective Culture- things people produce, arts, sciences, philosophy that become pare of culture. Always growing.
Subjective Culture- The capacity of the individual to produce, absorb, and control, the elements of objective Culture.
The Tragedy of Culture- Over time objective culture grows while individual culture and the ability to produce it increases marginally. We can’t keep pace with our cultural products. We are doomed to understanding the world less AND being controlled by that world more.
Internet example.
We reify ourselves into a corner.