The Number of Members as Determining the Sociological Form of the Group

Bibliographic Data

ID20041759
AuthorsGeorg Simmel (corresponding author)
Year2018
Pages183-190
Publication date2018-04-17
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueEconomics of Population (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.4324/9781351291521-25
OpenAlexW4249563442
ISBN9781351291521
LanguageEN
Citations received12

A double significance attaches itself to the quantitative determination: the negative significance and the positive significance that other forms are promoted directly through definite and purely quantitative modifications of the group. There are group-formations of the ecclesiastical sort which, from the very fact of their sociological structure, permit no application to large numbers; thus the sects of the Waldenses, Mennonites, and Herrnhuter. An aristocratic group must be capable of survey by the individual member; each must be able to have a personal acquaintance with each; relationships of blood and marriage must ramify through the whole body. The demand of the whole does not seize upon every member constantly and completely, and it permits much power to remain unused which then, in extreme cases, may be mobilized and actualized. The dangers of the quantitative limitation are provided against by the external conditions of the life of the group, and their consequences for its inner structure

Epistemology · Physics · Quantum mechanics · Sociology · Philosophy · Regional Socio-Economic Development Trends

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