Sociology : inquiries into the construction of social forms

Georg Simmel's highly original take on the newly revived field of sociology succeeded in making the field far more sophisticated than it had been beforehand. He took insights from dialectical thought and Kantian epistemology to develop a "form sociology" method that remains implicit in the field a century later. Forms include such patterns of interaction as inequality, secrecy, membership in multiple groups, organization size, and coalition formation. While today texts and professional societies are organized around "contents" rather than "forms," a fresh reading of Simmel's chapters on forms suggests original avenues of inquiry into each of the contents--family, business, religion, politics, labor relations, leisure.

Foreword by Georg Simmel Acknowledgments A Note on the Translation Introduction to the Translation, by Horst J. Helle I. The Problem of Sociology Excursus on the Problem: How is Society Possible? II. The Quantitative Conditioning of the Group III. Superior and Subordinate Excursus on Being Overruled IV. Conflict V. The Secret and the Secret Society Excursus on Adornment Excursus on Written Communication VI. The Intersection of Social Circles VII. The Poor Excursus on the Negativity of Collective Action VIII. The Self-Preservation of the Group Excursus on the Hereditary Office Excursus on Social Psychology Excursus on Loyalty and Gratitude IX. Space and the Spatial Ordering of Society Excursus on Social Boundaries Excursus on the Sociology of the Senses Excursus on the Stranger X. The Expansion of the Group and the Development of Individuality Excursus on the Noble Excursus on the Analogy between Individual Psychological and Sociological Relationships