Form Of Sociology Research Articles

Building a strong programme in sociological aesthetics: Helmut Staubmann’s Sociology in a New Key

Helmut Staubmann’s Sociology in a New Key develops a compelling approach to the sociologies of art and the emotions, based primarily on Talcott Parsons’ Action Theory and Georg Simmel’s formal sociology. This article appraises the key theoretical strategies of Staubmann’s contribution, and the insights they afford, with particular reference to recent work in the ‘New Sociology of Art’ and the ‘Strong Programme’ of Jeffery Alexander and the Yale school.

Dinamica formelor și a relațiilor sociale în grupările socialiste din secolul al XIX-lea

Focusing on two theoretical concepts, sociability, driven from Maurice Agulhonʼs theory, and social networked as developed in Georg Simmelʼs formal sociology, the present article aims to discuss the Romanian socialist circles from the 19th century in a twofold manner. On the one hand, it explores the social imaginary and the transferable social forms due to the existence of the “weak ties” (Mark Granovetter), such as clandestinity, the anti-bourgeois attitude, the idealism, and the generic portrait of the socialist. On the other hand, the article analyses the forms of life that are specific and dependent on the material spaces, shaping the particularities of different socialist groups. Such elements of shared life are, for example, the exaltation in Neculai Beldiceanuʼs cenacle from Iași, the anti-intimacy in Nădejdeʼs house on Sărărie, the farce at „Adevărul” magazine, but also the experience of drinking tea, common to the majority of the socializing groups, and the relationship between men and women, considered as the myth of the 19th century socialist movement.

Realism and “Formal” Sociology: a New Reassembly of the Social (reflecting on a book of I.A. Shmerlina)

A theoretical inquiry into the ideas proposed by Irina A.Shmerlina in her new book “The Sociology of Social Forms: Reassembling the Theory” (2022) is provided.The author of the book pursues theoretical reframing the sociological tradition based on elaborating the category of "social form".This perspective has no accredited paradigmatic status as a whole, but by reviving and reassembling theoretical contribution of G. Simmel, F. Tönnies, H. Freyer, G. Gurvitch, R. Bhaskar and others, Irina A. Shmerlina reveals the promising heuristic potential of “formal” sociology in explaining the nature of the social. Grounded on the methodology of critical realism and research in the field of sociobiology, the book develops a comprehensive view on the structural organization of social life, thus attempting at resolving the classical sociological antinomies "society-individual", "structure-agency", "macro-micro". Keywords social form, realism, formal sociology, social theory, the social Received 02.05.2023 Included in issue 12.07.2023 Publication date 12.07.2023 Number of characters 18771 Cite Download pdf Исходный файл.docx _signed_license_agreement

Materiale Phänomenologie und „Deutscher Krieg“

Abstract Max Scheler and Siegfried Kracauer met during World War I and remained in correspondence until the early phase of the Weimar Republic. The two exchanged ideas and plans, and at times Kracauer sent his early essays for Scheler’s comments on and recommendations for publishing them. The correspondence brings to light some revealing philosophical similarities between the two authors: both Scheler and Kracauer were interested in material phenomenology, the philosophy of emotions, formal sociology; moreover, they also enthusiastically supported the German war. In 1921, the conversation broke off, presumably because of the sharp criticism of Scheler’s study “Vom Ewigen im Menschen,” which Kracauer published in the Frankfurter Zeitung that same year. But even after the end of the exchange, Scheler remained an intellectual point of reference in Kracauer’s thinking. This becomes evident from the detailed reviews he wrote of Scheler’s works until the end of the Weimar period. The essay attempts to historically situate and philosophically reconstruct the correspondence between Scheler and Kracauer presented in this issue. In this way, a constellation of thought in the 1910s and 1920s becomes visible – one that that has received little attention to date.

Taxi dancers, Chinese laundrymen, and Peking prisoners: Strangers in the city

This paper points out that the concept of the “marginal man”, derived from Simmel’s concept of the “stranger”, embodies a fusion of formal sociology and American pragmatism in early Chicago School theory. This kind of theoretical fusion gave birth to a research method that focuses on life history and, at the same time, an investigation of the objective “new” and “old” life stages of the individual and the individual’s subjective grasp of the conflict between the new and the old life, which served as the predecessor of the later “career approach” of the Chicago School. In the early 20th century, some Chicago School ethnographers studied three types of urban strangers: “taxi dancers” (female dancers hired to dance with clients), Chinese laundrymen in the US, and prisoners in Peking. These studies revealed profoundly different images of old life–new life conflicts. Taxi dancers were able to “move on” from their old lives, Chinese laundrymen firmly held on to the traditions of their home country and their families in order to cope with the new challenges, and prisoners in Peking had failed to adapt and turned to crime after being uprooted from their old lives. This paper concludes that neither the Chinese laundrymen nor Peking prisoners were able to adapt to the new urban life by “moving on” from their old family and village life. Thus, their paths to modernity differed fundamentally from those of the marginal man. Finally, this paper applies Robert Park’s views on “civilization” to explain these different Chinese and Western individuals’ paths to urban life.

Von der formalen Soziologie zur formalen Literatursoziologie: Georg Lukács

Abstract The paper reconstructs a crucial moment in the history of literary studies: the transference of formal sociology, as developed by Georg Simmel around 1900, into literary studies by his pupil, the young Georg Lukács. First, formal sociology will be explained in order to outline the ways in which Lukács adapts it. Then the formal method Lukács developed will be illustrated using the drama as an example. Finally, the paper will analyze Caroline Levine’s highly acclaimed study Forms (2015) in the context of the history of the formal method outlined, and briefly discuss the impasse in which this method currently finds itself.

The cognition of something in front and something in the background. Is “taken-for-granted reality” experienced?

The paper is an analysis of the cognitive-sociological model of reconstructing taken-for-granted knowledge, as presented by Eviatar Zerubavel. The analysis shows Zerubavel’s structuralist and “sociologistic” approach to common-sense knowledge. The analysis also shows that his concepts of formal sociology could be used in phenomenological, existentialist, and contemplative approaches, where social and cultural knowledge is bracketed and reflected upon to clear the social mind for personal and experiential cognition.

Between social spaces

Sociologists often imagine society as spaces, yet how social spaces are related remains ambiguous in most theories. In developing his field theory, Bourdieu used extensively the concept of homology to describe the structural similarities across fields, but he had not taken seriously the spaces between fields or how fields are related to each other. Adopting the Simmelian approach of formal sociology, this article outlines six basic social forms by which social spaces are related. It argues that relations between social spaces can be understood along two dimensions: heterogeneity and social distance. In terms of heterogeneity, social spaces can be kindred, symbiotic or oppositional. In terms of social distance, they can be linked, nested or overlapping. These social forms of interspatial relations are constituted by the boundary work of a variety of actors, including guardians, brokers and space travellers. The article provides a general vocabulary for thinking about how social spaces are related and how they interact across boundaries.

Sociological and Mathematical Models as Tools of Social Processes Applied Sociological Research

The methodological aspects of building sociological and mathematical models as tools of applied sociological research of social phenomena and processes in the conditions of the information society have been elaborated on in the article. The role of modelling method in social cognition, forms of social phenomena and processes, issues of building models of social processes, approaches to constructing their models, criteria for systematization of mathematical models of social processes have been considered. The analysis of the problem of using the modelling method in sociology has been carried out, the definition of the concept of "descriptive-information model" has been presented. The methods used to classify the use of mathematical means in sociology, including stochastic models for social processes, deterministic models for social processes, models of structure and models of human behavior, have been defined. The technology of computer modeling, which acts in modern conditions as an alternative to mathematical models in sociology, has been considered. There is a gap in mathematical and formal sociology between models and empirical analysis. A sociological and mathematical model of the process of information interaction based on fuzzy cognitive modeling has been presented, which allows to formalize and take into account the subjective characteristics of the participants of communication in social systems whose assessment has verbal expression.

Social Research in the Light of the German Sociologist Georg Simmel in Comparison with Chinese Sociology

The German sociologist and philosopher Georg Simmel (1858-1918) is internationally known as the founder of Formal Sociology. I take the centenary of his death as a welcome opportunity to remember the beginning of modern social sciences. The current state of European and American relational sociology can be interpreted as a revival of Simmel’s method and principles of social research directed to a phenomenology of genesis. From the genetic point of view Simmel considers individuality, creativity, fragmentation and conflict the typical characteristics of modern society. Consequently, his Formal Sociology should be called “Genetic Sociology” instead of Relational Sociology. This paper has the aim to make Simmel’s legacy known to Chinese sociologists and cultural philosophers. Concluding, I highlight the essential differences between the German and the Chinese way of seeing the world of social life, and I propose issues for change.

The Dimension of Normativity in Informal Social Relations

Abstract The aim of this article is to discuss the character of regularities occurring in informal social bonds, be they friendships, romantic partnerships, competitions or rivalries. Since Simmel’s work is emblematic for the theme of social norms involved in durable informal bonds, I take his original concept of forms of association as my point of reference. The argument I propose challenges several of Simmel’s assumptions, namely his objectivist stance, his formal sociology and the autopoiesis of systems of reciprocal effects. Based on this critical rereading of Simmel, I introduce the concept of “socially constructed typical bonds” as a more dynamic and versatile alternative to the static patterns of forms of association. By bringing a subjectivist turn (inspired by Berger, Luckmann and Butler) to Simmel’s forms of association, I argue for the recognition of the blurry, diverse and contradictory understandings of the typical social bond as the ground for relational normativity.

Why do we believe in competition? A historical-sociological view of competition as an institutionalized modern imaginary

The article attempts to identify the particular type of competition that is at the heart of the modern faith in competition and develops a sociological research perspective on this type of competition. The first section builds on Georg Simmel's formal sociology to suggest a basic understanding of competition as a social form. The second section offers a sociological review of the modern discourse on competition since the mid-to-late eighteenth century that leads to two major insights: it shows how competition has developed into an institutionalized modern imaginary, i.e. a taken-for-granted part of our modern world-view; and it highlights that this imaginary is concerned with a particular type of competition, where suppliers are supposed to be disciplined and motivated by competition for an audience. The third section develops a sociological concept of, and an empirical research perspective on, this particular type of competition. Combining a Simmelian understanding of ‘pure’ competition (i.e. competition as a struggle for the favor of third parties) with recent constructivist insights on publics/audiences and comparisons as social practices, it defines modern forms of competition as competitions for the favor of an audience that are (re-)produced by public comparisons of performances. It then uses this concept to distinguish and explain a number of research questions that may guide empirical studies on prerequisites and effects of the expansion of this type of competition in different societal fields. The article concludes that, rather than believing in competition or criticizing it as a recent product of neo-liberal ideology, we should study the long-term institutionalization of modern forms of competition in various societal fields in more detail.

Simmelova sémiologie

Simmel’s social theory, namely his formal sociology, has long been considered if not dead, then of little relevance for contemporary sociological theories. This study is an attempt at proving the contrary. Our aim is to show that Simmel’s social ontology can be seen as a form of semiology, i.e. a complex body capable of integrating seemingly irreconcilable segments of society into a social science of signs, thus showing that his “social grammar” is a true social theory of sign systems. A keystone which helped us span the bridge between society and language, linguistics and sociology, was the concept of value. By dint of Simmel’s theory of economic value we try to connect his social theory, on which it lies, with his theory of sign-money, which it supports. Simmel’s social theory is based on an unorthodox concept of interaction, whose main qualities are that of perfect synchrony and unity that is dealt with by Simmel on the empirical as well as experience level. The puzzling term of form is revealed as Simmel’s attempt to conceptually grasp this synchronic dimension of interaction. Simmel’s theory of economic value is seen as an extension of Simmel’s formal sociology. Simmel conceives value as a relation between two processes of valuation brought about within the exchange as a form of interaction. Money is the physical representation of this relation. To prove that Simmel’s social theory can be regarded as a fully-grown theory of sign systems, as well as to elaborate our analysis of his social theory, we use the conceptual apparatus of Saussure’s linguistics showing that not only does Simmel’s theory imply all Saussure’s key concepts, but it also solves some of its blind spots in contemporary sociology and spans the so far unsurpassable gulf between the individual and society or structure and development.

Gratitude – invisibly webbing society together

This paper traces a line between Simmel’s formal sociology, his little-reviewed concept of ‘forms of second order’, his apriorities for social life and his incipient sociology of emotions. Thus different elements of Simmel’s sociology are brought together and linked. These elements were all present in his 1908 monograph, Sociology, but were not connected to each other in the way that they have been interconnected here. The social form of ‘gratitude’ is presented as a paradigmatic ‘form of second order’, and thus illustrates the way in which forms of sociation, especially second-order forms of sociation, are deeply connected to the apriorities of social life.

Simmel’s Law of the Individual and the Ethics of the Relational Self

Georg Simmel’s final work, The View of Life, concludes his lifelong engagement with Immanuel Kant by ‘inverting’ Kant’s Categorical Imperative to produce an ethics of authentic individuality. While Kant’s moral imperative is universal to all individuals but particular to their discrete acts, Simmel’s Law of the Individual is particular to each individual but universal to all the individual’s acts. We assess the significance of Simmel’s formulation of the Law of the Individual in three steps: First, as an articulation of an ethical moment consonant with his relational approach to formal sociology, hinted at earlier in Sociology but not developed as such. Second, as a completion of the framework for Simmel’s formal sociology: the Law of the Individual conceptualizes a decisive but under-theorized relationship in Simmel’s vision of ‘society’ that is a woven fabric of social relationships, namely one’s relationship with oneself. We follow with a third proposal about how Simmel might have continued the line of thought he opens in The View of Life, suggesting that we can take the Law of the Individual as an invitation to fold the self-relation back into analysis of social relations, and to theorize how forms of association are shaped by forms of self-relation. We thus narrow the theoretical gulf between Simmel’s vitalism and his sociology, which commentators usually hold apart. And in so doing, we sketch a distinctively Simmelian approach to an ethics of individuality in sociological inquiry.

Dimensions of trust: An empirical revisit to Simmel’s formal sociology of intersubjective trust

Georg Simmel is the seminal author on trust within sociology, but though inspired by Simmel, subsequent studies of intersubjective trust have failed to address Simmel’s suggestion that trust is as differentiated as the social relations of which it is part. Rather, trust has been studied within limited sets of exchange or work relations. This article revisits Simmel’s concept of trust as social form in order to investigate this differentiation. From an interview study, the differentiation and limits of trust are analysed within different types of social relations. Trust is found to vary greatly in scope and mode influenced by the intersecting dimensions of relations, objects and situations. Furthermore, trust exists between an outer threshold of expected deceit and an inner threshold of confident reliance. The findings from the qualitative study contribute new knowledge on the diversity of trust, opening new avenues of sociological investigation of trust outside exchange and work relations.

A Reconsideration of Formal Sociology

A Reconsideration of Formal Sociology

Hail to the Shrub

With regard to the American presidency, the prestige media perform the primary function of nonpartisan interested mediation between the president and his supporters and the loyal opposition to the president. This article draws on the formal sociology of Georg Simmel as a theoretical background, the American prestige newspapers as a resource, and the presidency of G. W. Bush before and immediately after 9/11/01 as a case study. When, as in the instance of the crisis following the 9/11 skyjackings, there is no partisan opposition to the president, the prestige media take up that role as interested mediators to try to ensure what they as representatives of hegemonic capitalism consider to be the proper functioning of the office.

Three into two: the third sex in Northern Albania

From the position of a formal sociology, Georg Simmel argued that the introduction of a third element into a pervasive binary system can serve to mitigate the latter's salience. The instance considered here is that of a third sex in Northern Albania. "Sworn virgins" are generally perceived as women who become men (gender crossing) rather than as an additional engendered category (multiple gender). The overarching significance of the Albanian gender system is thereby barely attenuated, and virgjinesha do not contribute to a less subdominant position for other women.

Cognitive Value Commitments in Formal Theoretical Sociology

This paper aims to communicate some of the value commitments that characterize my approach to formal model building in theoretical sociology. It does this through a narrative method, an autobiographical account of shifts in intellectual interests through various phases of my career: from history to philosophy, from philosophy to sociology, from sociology to mathematics and back, followed by several long-term formal theoretical research programs. One of these, pertaining to the formal representation of institutionalized social action systems, is described in terms of its linkage to interpretive sociology, while also noting its limitations from a theoretical science point of view. By interweaving intellectual biography and intellectual history, the paper also provides some contextual background for appreciating the work of the other contributors to this symposium.