The vision of the social theorist

Simmel on space

Lawrence A. Scaff

pp. 45-61

in: Cécile Rol, Christian Papilloud (eds), Soziologie als Möglichkeit, Wiesbaden, Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2009

Abstract

In modern social theory time and temporality, space and spatiality have become ubiquitous categories. Conceptualizations of a subject matter that emphasize development, evolution, adaptation, genealogy, sequences, stages, transitions, breakthroughs, emergent properties, innovations and continuities, or archaeologies of knowledge inevitably employ notions of unfolding relationships through time, often enriched with temporal metaphors. On the other hand conceptualizations that highlight structure, systems, functions, social position, linkages, domains, boundaries, horizons, formal properties, or networks invariably rely upon images of structured relationships on a "field," often stylized spatially. Using visual imagery, we might say the former resembles a layered excavation, a tracing of processes through time; the latter an architectural edifice, a mapping of forms in space. The one conveys the sense of a moving series or sequence, the other an interconnected framework or grid.

Cited authors

Simmel Georg