Societies require a mix of discord and harmony to take determinate shape

Evidence

The dualisms inherent in social forms stem both from man’s ambivalent instinctual dispositions and from society’s need to have some ratio of discordant to harmonious tendencies in order to attain a determinate shape. Publicity and privacy, conformity and individuation, antagonism and solidarity, compliance and rebelliousness, freedom and constraint are some of the many specific sociological dualisms which Simmel finds compresent in social interaction and utilizes to analyze the structure of various social forms. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 85

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Social institutions are peace treaties between imitation and individual differentiation. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 712; Fashion requires both the impulse to union and to isolation — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 721; A set of individuals can be society to varying degrees. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 51 (+10 more)

Related

• Social institutions are peace treaties between imitation and individual differentiation. (similarity 0.88)
• Social formations form complex unities structured in dominance rather than expressive identities. (similarity 0.83)
• More cooperation is not always desirable across all groups. (similarity 0.83)
• Functional differentiation makes social structures contingent and permanently revisable (similarity 0.83)
• A set of individuals can be society to varying degrees. (similarity 0.82)
• Social relations crystallize into fixed external forms that cannot keep pace with inner life (similarity 0.82)
• Society presupposes a harmony between its structure and individual inner callings (similarity 0.81)
• Identical interaction forms recur across radically different social groups (similarity 0.81)
• Irreconcilable conflict gives society its texture, durability, and resilience (similarity 0.81)
• Any social group can act as individual or aggregate depending on its relational frame. (similarity 0.81)
• Individual motives become social only through forms of mutual interaction (similarity 0.81)
• The individual’s inner mental relations mirror social relations among persons (similarity 0.80)
• Social types can embody an all-dominating orientation to the world (similarity 0.80)
• Sociology’s proper object is the forms relating two or more individuals (similarity 0.80)
• Fashion requires both the impulse to union and to isolation (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Differentiated societies need more trust to reduce their greater complexity #responds-to (0.82)
• Society presupposes a harmony between its structure and individual inner callings #expands (0.70) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 191
• Individuality emerges from the layering and clash of overlapping social types #expands (0.60) — Janet Burroway; Elizabeth Stuckey-French; Ned Stuckey-French, Writing Fiction, Tenth Edition, 284
• Social formation elements articulate with each other in complex ways #qualifies (0.55)