GEORG SIMMEL – THE PSYCHOLOGY OF URBANISM

The deepest problems of modern life derive from the claim of the individual to preserve the autonomy and individuality of his existence in the face of overwhelming social forces, of historical heritage, of external culture, and of the technique of life.”

{PRECURSOR TO HUMAN ECOLOGY – THE STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PEOPLE & THE ENVIRONMENT – QUESTION: HOW DO WE ADAPT TO EXTERNAL STIMULI?}

SIMMEL WAS FIRST TO STUDY====> THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS WHICH THE METROPOLIS CREATES

CONSIDERED IMPORTANCE OF URBAN EXPERIENCE, I.E. CHOSE TO FOCUS ON URBANISM (LIFE WITHIN THE CITY) RATHER THAN URBANIZATION (DEVELOPMENT OF URBAN AREAS), "THE METROPOLIS AND MENTAL LIFE" IS AN ESSAY DETAILING HIS VIEWS ON LIFE IN THE CITY, FOCUSING MORE ON SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

1)       THE “SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENTS” THAT URBAN RESIDENTS MAKE TO THE ECOLOGICAL ARRANGEMENTS OF CITY.

2)       THE “INNER MEANING OF URBAN LIFE” AND THE NOTION OF URBANISM AS A DISTINCTIVE MODE OF EXISTENCE

THESIS: THE CITY IS CHARACTERIZED BY A TREMENDOUS “INTENSIFICATION OF NERVOUS STIMULATION” IMPACTING THE FORM AND PRESPECTIVE OF LIFE– PP.410

 

SIMMEL'S URBAN FORM OF LIFE IS CHARACTERIZED BY {{GIVE EXAMPLES?}}:

1.     INDIVIDUALITY =====> {“...NOURISHED BY THE QUANTITATIVE RELATION OF THE METROPOLIS, NAMELY, INDIVIDUAL INDEPENDENCE AND THE ELABORATION OF INDIVIDUALITY ITSELF”}

2.     AUTONOMY =======> {“...THE FULL DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDIVIDUAL CONDITIONED BY THE MOST RUTHLESS STRUGGLE OF INDIVIDUALS”}

3.     TECHNOLOGICAL PESSIMISM ======> {“PERSON RESISTS BEING LEVELED DOWN AND WORN OUT BY A SOCIAL-TECHNOLOGICAL MECHANISM.”}.

4.     INTENSIFICATION OF NERVOUS STIMULATION

5.     THE PECUNIARY PRINCIPLE =====> {“MONEY ECONOMY AND THE DOMINANCE OF THE INTELLECT ARE INTRINSICALLY CONNECTED ======> MONEY IS CONCERNED ONLY WITH WHAT IS COMMON TO ALL: IT ASKS FOR THE EXCHANGE VALUE, IT REDUCES ALL QUALITY AND INDIVIDUALITY TO THE QUESTION: HOW MUCH? ALL INTIMATE EMOTIONAL RELATIONS BETWEEN PERSONS ARE FOUNDED IN THEIR INDIVIDUALITY, WHEREAS IN RATIONAL RELATIONS MAN IS RECKONED WITH LIKE A NUMBER,”

6.     PUNCTUALITY, CALCULABILITY, EXACTNESS ARE FORCED UPON LIFE BY THE COMPLEXITY AND EXTENSION OF METROPOLITAN EXISTENCE {“IF ALL CLOCKS AND WATCHES IN BERLIN WOULD SUDDENLY GO WRONG IN DIFFERENT WAYS, EVEN IF ONLY BY ONE HOUR, ALL ECONOMIC LIFE AND COMMUNICATION OF THE CITY WOULD BE DISRUPTED FOR A LONG TIME.”}

7.     RECIPROCAL RESERVE AND INDIFFERENCE ======> {“ THE BODILY PROXIMITY AND NARROWNESS OF SPACE MAKES THE MENTAL DISTANCE ONLY THE MORE VISIBLE”}

8.     THE METROPOLITAN BLASÉ ATTITUDE =======> “CONSISTS IN THE BLUNTING OF DISCRIMINATION. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE OBJECTS ARE NOT PERCEIVED, AS IS THE CASE WITH THE HALF-WIT, BUT RATHER THAT THE MEANING AND DIFFERING VALUES OF THINGS, AND THEREBY THE THINGS THEMSELVES, ARE EXPERIENCED AS INSUBSTANTIAL. THEY APPEAR TO THE BLASÉ PERSON IN AN EVENLY FLAT AND GRAY TONE; NO ONE OBJECT DESERVES PREFERENCE OVER ANY OTHER”}.

 

 

GEORG SIMMEL (1858-1918) GERMAN (PESSIMISTIC) - MICRO-SOCIOLOGICAL SYNOPSIS

· UNIQUE TRAIT OF MODERN CITY IS INTENSIFICATION OF NERVOUS STIMULI WITH WHICH CITY DWELLER MUST COPE, FROM RURAL SETTING WHERE RHYTHM OF LIFE AND SENSORY IMAGERY IS MORE SLOW, HABITUAL AND EVEN, TO CITY WITH CONSTANT BOMBARDMENTS OF SIGHTS, SOUNDS AND SMELLS

· INDIVIDUAL LEARNS TO DISCRIMINATE, BECOME RATIONAL AND CALCULATING, DEVELOPS A BLASÉ ATTITUDE – MATTER-OF-FACT, A SOCIAL RESERVE, A DETACHMENT, RESPOND WITH HEAD RATHER THAN HEART, DON’T CARE AND DON’T GET INVOLVED

· URBANITES HIGHLY ATTUNED TO TIME

· RATIONALITY EXPRESSED IN ADVANCED ECONOMIC DIVISION OF LABOUR, AND THE USE OF MONEY BECAUSE OF REQUIREMENT FOR A UNIVERSAL MEANS OF EXCHANGE

· ACKNOWLEDGED FREEDOM, TRANSCENDENCE OF PETTINESS OF DAILY ROUTINE, NEW HEIGHTS OF PERSONAL AND SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT BUT SENSE OF ALIENATION COULD OVERRIDE THIS

· TO MAINTAIN SENSE OF INDIVIDUALITY AND NOT FEEL LIKE COG IN MACHINE, DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT OR ODD TO STAND OUT

· SOCIAL DISTANCE

· AUTHOR OF THIS CONCEPT, FROM WHICH WE HAVE BOGARDUS SOCIAL DISTANCE SCALE (EMERY BOGARDUS – CHICAGO SCHOOL)

· A COMPLEX INTERPRETATION OF SOCIAL INTERACTION AS FORMS OF DISTANCE IN TWO WAYS

1)       GEOMETRIC FORM (EUCLIDIAN) AND 2)  A METAMORPHIC SENSE, OR

2)       SPATIAL AND 2)  SYMBOLIC

3)       EUCLIDIAN AND 2) IMAGINED

4)       PHYSICAL AND 2) SYMBOLIC

 

PHILOSOPHY OF MONEY

· ECONOMIC EXCHANGE IS A FORM OF SOCIAL INTERACTION

· WHEN MONETARY TRANSACTIONS REPLACED EARLIER FORMS OF BARTER, SIGNIFICANT CHANGES OCCURRED IN THE FORM OF INTERACTION BETWEEN SOCIAL ACTORS

· MONEY IS SUBJECT TO PRECISE DIVISION AND MANIPULATION, IT PERMITS EXACT MEASUREMENT OF EQUIVALENTS

· MONEY IS IMPERSONAL, OBJECTS OF BARTER ARE/WERE NOT

· MONEY PROMOTES RATIONAL CALCULATION IN HUMAN AFFAIRS, FURTHERING RATIONALIZATION CHARACTERISTIC OF MODERN SOCIETIES

· MONEY REPLACES PERSONAL TIES BY IMPERSONAL RELATIONS THAT LIMITED TO A SPECIFIC PURPOSE

· ABSTRACT CALCULATION INVADES AREAS OF SOCIAL LIFE, E.G. KINSHIP RELATIONS OR REALM OF ESTHETIC APPRECIATION

· SHIFT FROM QUALITATIVE TO QUANTITATIVE APPRAISALS

· MONEY INCREASES PERSONAL FREEDOM AND FOSTERS SOCIAL DIFFERENTIATION

· MONEY IN MODERN WORLD IS STANDARD OF VALUE AND MEANS OF EXCHANGE

· ABOVE ECONOMIC FUNCTIONS, IT SYMBOLIZES AND EMBODIES MODERN SPIRIT OF RATIONALISM, CALCULABILITY AND IMPERSONALITY

· MONEY IS THE MAJOR MECHANISM FOR SHIFT BETWEEN GEMEINSCHAFT TO GESELLSCHAFT

 

THE BLASÉ ATTITUDE

· INCAPACITY TO REACT TO NEW SENSATIONS DUE TO SATURATION.

· REINFORCED BY THE MONEY ECONOMY: MONEY--A COMMON DENOMINATOR OF ALL VALUES, REGARDLESS OF THEIR INDIVIDUALITY.

· RESERVE, INDIFFERENCE, APATHY--FORMS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL PROTECTION--BECOME PARTS OF THE METROPOLITAN LIFESTYLE.

· POSITIVE ASPECT OF METROPOLITAN LIFE: RESERVE AND DETACHMENT PRODUCE INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM.

· PARADOX OF CITY LIFE : OBJECTIVIZATION LEADS TO GREATER INDIVIDUALISM AND SUBJECTIVISM.

· [THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHARACTERISTIC OF THE METROPOLIS] "FUNCTIONAL EXTENSION BEYOND ITS PHYSICAL BOUNDARIES"—A PERSON’S LIFE DOES NOT END WITH THE LIMITS OF HIS/HER BODY AND THE AREA OF HIS/HER IMMEDIATE ACTIVITY.