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Book Details
Abstract
'The Anthem Companion to Georg Simmel' brings together new interpretations of the work of this sociologist and philosopher. The companion highlights issues, themes and concepts that most concern readers in social and cultural theory today, with an emphasis on critical perspectives that show how Simmel's work is relevant, interesting and significant for contemporary discussions and debates. Also included in this volume is Austin Harrington’s translation of selections from Simmel’s book on Goethe and a comprehensive list of Simmel’s work in English.
Thomas Kemple is professor of sociology at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Olli Pyyhtinen is professor of sociology at the University of Tampere, Finland
“Earlier scholars frequently misunderstood Simmel’s writings and this misunderstanding is revealed by their claims that his work is both overly formalistic and lacks systematic thinking. This book rectifies many of these types of mistakes and the authors argue that Simmel’s writings clearly deserve to be taken far more seriously than they have been in the past.”
—Christopher Adair-Toteff, University of South Florida, Theological Studies, 2018, Vol. 79(1) 224–236
'The Anthem Companion to Georg Simmel' brings together new interpretations of the work of this sociologist and philosopher. It discusses how Simmel’s work is relevant, interesting and significant for advancing contemporary discussions and debates. Compared to the volumes of works on other sociological giants like Émile Durkheim, Karl Marx and Max Weber, the Anglophone secondary literature on Simmel has remained relatively scarce until recently.
The book addresses general questions on ‘social life in process’ that characterize the whole of Simmel’s work and also includes chapters that focus on specific issues. The primary concern in each chapter is not just to review Simmel’s ideas or provide accurate readings but often neglected readings but also to explore how Simmel offers a model for addressing various disciplinary concerns and examine the degree to which he continues to speak to the experience of the present.
The international scholars writing in this companion are contributors to an emerging new wave of Simmel scholarship. Included in the volume is Austin Harrington’s translation of selections from Simmel’s book on Goethe and a comprehensive list of Simmel’s work in English.
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover | Cover1 | ||
| Front Matter | i | ||
| Half-title | i | ||
| Series information | ii | ||
| Title page | iii | ||
| Copyright information | iv | ||
| Table of contents | v | ||
| Editors' Introduction | 1 | ||
| Thinking with Simmel | 1 | ||
| Social Life in Process | 3 | ||
| Individual Life at the Limits | 5 | ||
| Thinking Beyond Simmel | 7 | ||
| References | 9 | ||
| Chapter (1-9) | 13 | ||
| 1. Simmel and the Study of Modernity | 13 | ||
| I | 13 | ||
| II | 15 | ||
| III | 18 | ||
| IV | 26 | ||
| References | 28 | ||
| 2. Sociology as a Sideline: Does It Matter That Georg Simmel (Thought He) Was a Philosopher? | 29 | ||
| Sociology as a ‘Sideline’ | 30 | ||
| Seeing the Social | 34 | ||
| Rereading the Stranger | 43 | ||
| Figuring Strangeness | 49 | ||
| References | 56 | ||
| 3. Modernity as Solid Liquidity: Simmel’s Life-Sociology | 59 | ||
| Introduction | 59 | ||
| Solid Liquidity | 61 | ||
| Simmel’s Life-Sociology | 68 | ||
| The Solid Liquidity of Social Structure | 70 | ||
| The liquid solidity of social action | 73 | ||
| The culture conflict: Integrating social creativity and institutionalization | 76 | ||
| Conclusions | 78 | ||
| References | 79 | ||
| 4. On the Special Relation between Proximity and Distance in Simmel’s Forms of Association and Beyond | 81 | ||
| Introduction | 81 | ||
| The Origins of Proximity and Distance: \nA Necessary Relation | 82 | ||
| A ‘Positive’ Relation and Special Form of Association | 84 | ||
| The Stranger and the Lovers | 87 | ||
| On Subject and Object, Me and You | 88 | ||
| On Boundaries, Borders and Frames as Crystallised Relationships Beyond Forms of Association | 92 | ||
| Conclusion: On Money and Modern Times | 96 | ||
| References | 99 | ||
| 5. The Real as Relation: Simmel as a Pioneer of Relational Sociology | 101 | ||
| Introduction | 101 | ||
| Things vs. Relations | 103 | ||
| Dissolving Society into Interaction | 108 | ||
| Elements of a Relational Nonreductionist Social Ontology | 111 | ||
| Conclusion | 115 | ||
| References | 118 | ||
| 6. Vires in Numeris: Taking Simmel to Mt Gox | 121 | ||
| The Changing World of Money | 122 | ||
| Money Is a Claim upon Society | 126 | ||
| Taking Simmel to Mt Gox | 130 | ||
| Conclusion | 138 | ||
| References | 139 | ||
| 7. Simmel and the Sources of Neoliberalism | 141 | ||
| Introduction: Simmel in the Shadow of Darwin | 141 | ||
| Association and Differentiation in the Money Economy | 143 | ||
| The Sociology of Competition and Conflict Revisited | 150 | ||
| Conclusion: Simmel between Liberalism \nand Neoliberalism | 154 | ||
| References | 158 | ||
| 8. Frames, Handles and Landscapes: Georg Simmel and the Aesthetic Ecology of Things | 161 | ||
| Simmel’s Sociological Aesthetics | 163 | ||
| Gibson’s Ecology of Aesthetic Perception | 164 | ||
| Art and Aesthetic Patterns in Bateson’s \nSteps to an Ecology of Mind | 165 | ||
| A Brief Excursus on Symmetry | 166 | ||
| Bateson and Simmel on Framing | 169 | ||
| However, Pictures Are Much More than Framed Objects | 171 | ||
| Thinking about Handles | 172 | ||
| Affordances: Or How to Make Sense of Coffeepots for Masochists | 174 | ||
| Simmel and Contemporary Theories of Things | 175 | ||
| Landscape as Immersion in Material Context | 177 | ||
| Aesthetic Perception of Landscape: Simmel and Ecological Approaches Compared | 179 | ||
| References | 183 | ||
| 9. Goethe and the Creative Life | 185 | ||
| Translator’s Introduction | 185 | ||
| References | 190 | ||
| End Matter | 191 | ||
| Appendix: Simmel in English: A Bibliography by Thomas Kemple | 191 | ||
| Contributors | 199 | ||
| Index | 203 |