Simmel, Georg

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SIMMEL, GEORG

SIMMEL, GEORG (1858–1918), German sociologist.

Georg Simmel is now primarily known as one of the founders of sociology and as a brilliant commentator on the emergence of modernity in nineteenth-century Europe. He was born into a Jewish middle class family in Berlin, a city where he spent most of his life and that he deeply loved. While very much appreciated by his contemporaries, Simmel had a notoriously difficult academic career.

At the University of Berlin, Simmel studied ethnography, history, philosophy, psychology, and art history. Both his first dissertation (1881) and his second dissertation to qualify as a lecturer (Habilitation; 1885) were on the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. From 1885 to 1914, when he finally succeeded in getting a full professorship at the somewhat marginal University of Strasbourg (in philosophy), Simmel worked as an unpaid lecturer at the University of Berlin. Although he was soon known all over Europe as well as in the United States, his colleagues at the University of Berlin kept blocking Simmel's academic career. One important reason for this was their anti-Semitism; other reasons were that Simmel refused to attach himself to a single academic discipline and that he had little taste for academic formalities. As an example of the latter, it is often mentioned that his books and articles typically lack references and footnotes.

Simmel wrote in a variety of fields and on a variety of topics, and altogether he produced more than twenty books and two hundred articles. The topics that he covered ranged from Rembrandt, Goethe, and Nietzsche to psychology, moral philosophy, and philosophy of history. One central theme in many of these writings is Simmel's fascination with the work of Immanuel Kant, especially his epistemology. Kant's notion that one should distinguish between the forms of the human mind and its contents plays a major role not only in Simmel's philosophy but also in his sociology and his approach to modern culture. Another important theme in Simmel's work is his emphasis on the individual and his belief that the true meaning of culture is to develop the individual.

Since his death, Simmel has mainly been cast as a sociologist, and his two works The Philosophy of Money (1900) and Sociology (1908) are today regarded as classics in the field of sociology. The most important of these is Sociology, which contains Simmel's famous program for sociology as well as a dazzling set of illustrations of what a sociological analysis may look like. Sociology is more than seven hundred pages long and covers the topics of faithfulness, fashion, adornment, the stranger, and much, much more.

In the introductory theoretical chapter to Sociology, Simmel states that sociology should deal with interaction and in particular with the social forms that these interactions create. The content of these forms has to be taken into account but is primarily studied by the other social sciences, such as economics, history, and psychology. As examples of forms of interaction, Simmel mentions conflict, sociability, and subordination and superordination. A concrete phenomenon usually consists of several forms of interactions.

One of the most famous chapters in Sociology is entitled "The Quantitative Determination of Groups"; Simmel here suggests that numbers may influence the social structure of groups. When a group, for example, goes from having two members (a dyad) to three members (a triad), it changes dramatically. A majority can now be formed, and one member may play the other two members against each other (tertius gaudens). Modern network analysis often includes Simmel among its founders.

The Philosophy of Money can be characterized as a mixture of philosophy, cultural analysis, and economic sociology. According to Simmel, money is closely related to the cultural temper of modern society, which he characterizes as relativistic and restless. Money equalizes all values and also sets things in perpetual motion. Sociological insights in The Philosophy of Money include the observation that trust is central to the modern economy and that money is only as valid as the political authority that vouches for its value.

Simmel's work is extremely rich in ideas and highly enjoyable to read. While Simmel had few disciples in the ordinary sense of the word, he nonetheless influenced many intellectuals. He was well aware of the special influence he had on other thinkers, and has famously characterized it in the following way:

I know that I shall die without spiritual heirs (and that is good). The estate I leave is like cash distributed among many heirs, each of which puts his share to use in some trade that is compatible with his nature but which can no longer be recognized as coming from that estate.

See alsoDurkheim, Émile; Modernism; Sociology; Weber, Max.