Large groups require abstract norms that conflict with small-group personal relations

Evidence

In all these instances, it is hard to reconcile personal relations, which are the very life principle of small groups, with the distance and coolness of objective and abstract norms without which the large group cannot exist. — Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, 3193

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes Shapiro’s ‘guardian’ concept — the institutional auditor who replaces personal trust with abstract norms. Could bridge to the Raskolnikov-Porfiry reading. — connects to: Conflicting informational norms within one social situation create privacy conflicts — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 637; The abstract universality of rights discourse enables its expansion to excluded groups — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 228