What did Georg Simmel seek to demonstrate through his...

What did Georg Simmel seek to demonstrate through his â€Å"formal† sociology? Georg Simmel (1858 - 1918) was living in Berlin at a time when Sociology was beginning to form as a science, most notably with the work of Comte setting up the positivist methodology of studying society. In the intellectual world he was an outsider and struggled, becoming a full professor without a chair only in 1901. Through formal sociology Simmel was proposing an alternative way of thinking to his contemporaries. I found Simmel’s writing very paradoxical. He purposes a more qualitative method of investigation rather then the quantitative method of positivists. Simmel together with Max Weber formed the anti-positivist a movement that opposed positivism.†¦show more content†¦He goes further to say that even historical events which are unique, such as the murder of Caesar, the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo may be nonrecurrent events. But one must look at â€Å"the underlying uniformities† (Coser, 1977) instead of the uniqueness of the events. Sociologist may look at how the institution of kingship restricted there actions yet Simmel alludes to a further abstraction that kingship is not important but the processes of conflict and cooperation, subordination and superoridination, centralisation and decenratliazion. These are Simmel’s building block of society, the †Å"social forms†. He provides this dialectical geometric structure of society, made of a multiplicity of these processes working in a unidirectional manner. Simmel is providing a different explanation of history as a social interpretation of â€Å"societal production† of historical phenomena (Kurt Wolff, 1950) and not in terms of production by individuals or divine interference. With this point it is easy to see that Simmel is trying to create a flexible â€Å"sociological viewpoint†, he never tells us what to do but provides us with different approaches to analysis. For Simmel â€Å"societal production† is the social explanation of historical phenomena. Which in other words means that historical phenomena are social products. This is one of the most importantShow MoreRelatedOrganisational Theory230255 Words   |  922 PagesPerspectives John McAuley, Joanne Duberley and Phil Johnson . This book is, to my knowledge, the most comprehensive and reliable guide to organisational theory currently available. What is needed is a text that will give a good idea of the breadth and complexity of this important subject, and this is precisely what McAuley, Duberley and Johnson have provided. They have done some sterling service in bringing together the very diverse strands of work that today qualify as constituting the subjectRead MoreDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 Pagessolution for courses in Principles of Management, Human Resources, Strategy, and Organizational Behavior that helps you actively study and prepare material for class. Chapter-by-chapter activities, including built-in pretests and posttests, focus on what you need to learn and to review in order to succeed. Visit www.mymanagementlab.com to learn more. DEVELOPING MANAGEMENT SKILLS EIGHTH EDITION David A. Whetten BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY Kim S. Cameron UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PrenticeRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pagesthe Contributors †¢ 343 _ IN TR OD UC TIO N Michael Adas B y any of the customary measures we deploy to demarcate historical epochs, the twentieth century does not appear to be a very coherent unit. The beginnings and ends of what we choose to call centuries are almost invariably years of little significance. But there is little agreement over when the twentieth century c.e. arrived, and there were several points both before the year 2000 (the collapse of the Soviet Union