Georg Simmel's concept of society

David P. Frisby

pp. 39-55

in: Michael Kaern, Bernard S. Phillips, Robert S. Cohen (eds), Georg Simmel and contemporary sociology, Berlin, Springer, 1990

Abstract

I would like to draw attention to the diversity of Simmers conceptions of what was once viewed as a foundational question in sociology, without whose satisfactory answer it was often claimed the discipline could not exist: namely, the concept of society. Simmel is one of the first sociologists who sought to secure grounds for the new discipline of sociology without having recourse to the then — and often subsequently — seemingly unproblematical answer: sociology is the study of society. Indeed, Simmel maintained that only by abandoning society as a hypostatized and totalized object could sociology develop successfully as an independent academic discipline.

Cited authors

Simmel Georg