SOC 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Double Consciousness, German Idealism, Georg Simmel
Document Summary
Simmel was unable to obtain a permanent academic position throughout most of his career. This was due, in part, to the seemingly fragmentary nature of his work. Simmel wrote on a wide range of subjects that crossed disciplinary boundaries. In addition to the more academic obstacles, there is another reason for simmel"s lack of professional success. The german university establishment and, for that matter, much of europe more generally were tainted by anti-semitism. While he saw himself first and foremost as a philosopher (frisby. 1984:25), simmel"s intellectual interests spanned three disciplines: philosophy, history, and sociology (levine 1971:xxi). Even within these three fields, his intellectual pursuits led him into a number of directions that were not necessarily related. Third, simmel, unlike say, marx or mead, didn"t set out to construct a coherent theoretical scheme. The authors restrict themselves to presenting an overview of simmel"s central sociological ideas: The plight of the individual in modern society.
