Genre judgments about class nature require historical specification

Evidence

Conversely, the facts accumulated in diverse kinds of history provide invaluable material for the sociological study of social forms. They do so in three ways. First, to determine the origins and structural properties of any social form one must look at its realization in a great variety of contents. One can learn something about competition, for example, from a great many fields—economic history, history of art, history of religion, and so on. After looking at a variety of actual instances of competition one can then abstract the common structural features from these cases, in order to determine what competition is as a pure form of human behavior. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 60 (#expands, via linked claim)

In the evaluation of the dominant moods of any historical period it is important to hold fast to the fact that there are always islands of self-sufficient order-on farms and in castles, in homes, studies, and cloisters-where sensible people manage to live relatively lusty and decent lives: as moral as they can be, as free as they may be, as masterly as they can be. — Philip Chase Bobbitt, Reflections Inspired by My Critics, 860 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Literary fiction is character-driven, genre fiction plot-driven — Janet Burroway; Elizabeth Stuckey-French; Ned Stuckey-French, Writing Fiction, Tenth Edition: A Guide…, 485; Discerning order always persists within otherwise disordered historical periods — Philip Chase Bobbitt, Reflections Inspired by My Critics, 860; Material fallacies emerge from examining term meanings rather than form — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 853 (+5 more)

Related

• Historical analysis can shift from figure and event to field and ground. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Social forms must be abstracted from many historical instances #expands (0.80) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 60
• Class position shapes how liberal novelists frame their characters’ survey of the city #expands (0.60)
• Discerning order always persists within otherwise disordered historical periods #complicates (0.50) — Philip Chase Bobbitt, Reflections Inspired by My Critics, 860
• Material fallacies emerge from examining term meanings rather than form #complicates (0.40) — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 853