Sociology is the systematic study of society and social interaction. In order to carry out their studies, sociologists identify cultural patterns and social forces and determine how they affect individuals and groups. They also develop ways to apply their findings to the real world.
a particular form of interaction. Simmel proposed that sociology would be the study
of the social forms that recur in different contexts and with different social contents.
The same play form governs the interaction in two different contexts with two
different contents of interaction: one is the free-ranging content of polite
conversation; the other is sexual desire. Among other common forms that Simmel
studied were superiority and subordination, cooperation, competition, division of
labour, and money transactions. These forms can be applied in a variety of different
contexts to give social form to a variety of different contents or specific drives:
erotic, spiritual, acquisitive, defensive, playful, etc. The emphasis on forms is why
Simmel called his approach to the study of society “formal sociology.”
Simmel’s focus on how social forms emerge became very important for
microsociology, symbolic interactionism, and the studies of hotel lobbies, cigarette
girls, and street-corner societies, etc. popularized by the Chicago School in the
mid20th century. His analysis of the creation of new social forms was particularly
tuned in to capturing the fragmentary everyday experience of modern social life that
was bound up with the unprecedented nature and scale of the modern city. In his
lifetime, the city of Berlin where he lived and taught for most of his career had
become a major European metropolis of 4 million people by 1900, after the
unification of Germany in the 1870s. However, his work was not confined to micro-
level interactions. He developed an analysis of the tragedy of culture in which he
argued that the cultural creations of “subjective culture”—like the emergent social
forms created by people in their face-to-face interactions, as well as art, literature,
political analyses, etc.—tended to detach themselves from lived experience and
become fixed and elaborated in the form of “objective culture”— the accumulated
products of human cultural creation. There are intrinsic limits to an individual’s
ability to organize, appreciate, and assimilate these forms. As the quantity of
objective culture increases and becomes more complex, it becomes progressively
more alienating, incomprehensible, and overwhelming. It takes on a life of its own
and the individual can no longer see him- or herself reflected in it. Music, for
example, can be enriching, but going to an orchestral performance of contemporary
music can often be baffling, as if you need an advanced music degree just to be able
to understand that what you are hearing is music.
In his famous study “The Metropolis and Mental Life,” Simmel described how the
built environment and the sheer size and anonymity of the city had become a social
form, which he called the “metropolitan way of life.” Although the metropolis, its
architecture, and the variety of ways of life it contained were products of human
creation and expression, as an entity it confronted the individual as a kind of
overwhelming monstrosity that threatened to swallow him or her up in its “social
technological mechanism” (Simmel 1903). As a means of self-protection against the
city’s overpowering sensory input, people cut themselves off from potentially
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller susanwanjiku. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $7.99. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
