Simmel on memory

Paolo Jedlowski

pp. 131-154

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

Abstract

This paper is concerned with memory and modernity¹. Memory as such is not one of Simmel's proper topics². However, Simmel's insights on experiencing modernity may suggest a sociological approach to memory. Not only does Simmel's work provide a framework that gives legitimacy to a sociological study of the inner life of individuals in modern society (and so of their personal memory, too), but, through his stress on the contrast between subjective and objective culture, it also provides a point of view to develop the dialectic between individual and collective memories. Furthermore, Simmel's analysis of the rhythm of metropolitan life and of the "intellectualization" of inner life is consistent with the hypothesis that modern individuality is confronted with a particularly problematic relationship with the past.

Cited authors

Simmel Georg