Georg Simmels’‚ The Stranger‚ gives us an in depth view of who strangers are and how they affect the community they are apart of. It combines the seemingly contradictory qualities of nearness and farness and how they connect to the broader social communities. The behavior of a normal or "inside" group within a society is standard‚ thus causing every other behavior that is different to this norm to be negative. The stranger is valued for his or her objectivity‚ for being able to take a distanced
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THEORIST: GEORG SIMMEL 1. Briefly summarize the theorist’s main assumptions/theories: • SOCIAL FORMS-The individual is born with certain ways of thinking and feeling and most interactions are motivated by individual needs and desires.Encounters with others are molded to social forms in order to facilitate exchanges. These forms constitute society for simmel • OBJECTIVE CULTURE-Culture becomes objective as its size diversity of components and complexity increase. It leads to anomie and the
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Simmel‚ G. ([1908] 2012) The Stranger in Calhoun et al. Classical Sociological Theory‚ Wiley/Blackwell‚ pp. 361-365 ‘Objectivity does not simply involve passivity and detachment; it is a particular structure composed of distance and nearness‚ indifference and involvement.’ Simmel is referring to the implied objectivity of the stranger‚ due to their independence from the group. He uses the example of communities bringing in judges or mediators from outside to settle disputes. Simmel proposes
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Georg Simmel‚ in his work “Domination and Freedom”‚ identifies domination as a form of interaction. He claims that both the superordinate and the subordinate parties interact intentionally. By this assumption‚ he concludes that domination never totally kills freedom unless there is a case of physical force executed on subjugated party. The aim of this work is to demonstrate that Simmel’s argument advocating that mentioned interaction is mutually determined is fallacious. Simmel definitely misses
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1. Introduction. While Simmel is generally not regarded as being as influential in sociology as were Marx‚ Weber‚ Durkheim‚ or even Parsons‚ several of the early United States sociologists studied with or were influenced by Simmel. This was especially true of those who developed the symbolic interaction approach including writers in the Chicago school‚ a tradition that dominated United States sociology in the early part of this century‚ before Parsons. Georg Simmel (1858-1918‚ Germany) was born
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The social media user - Simmel’s stranger today In 1908‚ Georg Simmel used the trader as a paradigm for his idea of ’The Stranger’ who is characterised by his mobility‚ objectivity and position between belonging and exclusion. Today’s social media user‚ I will argue‚ can be seen as a contemporary‚ mediated form of Simmel’s stranger. I will begin with an analysis of Georg Simmel’s essay ’The Stranger’ before showing how the essence of this idea is embodied in the social media user of today and why
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of Pennsylvania Starting on p. 96 Anderson discusses people’s conversations on cell phones by relating it to Georg Simmels’ concept of the “aura of the self.” Explain what Anderson is talking about. What kinds of things are people doing or accomplishing when they talk on their cell phones in public in the Gallery Mall? Although I am not one hundred percent certain‚ I believe that Georg Simmel’s meaning of “aura of self” is in relation to one’s own self-awareness in the environment that surrounds
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SOCIAL THEORY: Goerg Simmel and money 2014 Sociology is defined as the study of humans in their natural habitat. In this current day and age world‚ these ‘natural habitats’ consist of a considerable amount of diversity‚ cultures and ethnic backgrounds‚ religion‚ gender‚ heritage and family history‚ jobs and incomes and many more. Many individuals are unaware that they may be observed by theorists or that they can be and are placed into certain categories such as cultural‚ wealth‚ and class‚ these
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Georg Simmel Georg Simmel is German sociologist‚ philosopher‚ and critic from the 19th century. Simmel graduated from the University of Berlin with his Bachelors after studying philosophy and history. Simmel later graduated with his Doctorate also from the University of Berlin with his thesis on Kant’s philosophy of matter. Once graduating with his doctorate Simmel began to teach lectures on different topics such as ethics‚ logic‚ philosophy‚ and of course sociology. Even though Simmel was German
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Simmel explains the significant role of the stranger in society. The stranger can be viewed as someone who “comes today and stays tomorrow.” This implies‚ that the stranger has a fleeting role in society and is on a different level from the rest. Although the stranger is in close proximity to others‚ he is mentally far away. Simmel thinks the stranger to be lonely‚ dissatisfied and mentally displaced. The stranger appears to be stuck in the gray areas of life wherever he visits. Regardless of the
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