Sociology treats psychological processes only as carriers of social forms

Evidence

Yet from the particular scientific viewpoint conceived by the notion of sociation, this psychological phenomenon as such may be entirely ignored, and attention may be focused rather upon tracing, analyzing, and connecting its contents. … Returning to an earlier illustration, we may (ignoring all differences) compare the procedure of sociology with the performance of a geometrical deduction using a figure drawn on a blackboard. All that is given and seen here is the physically produced chalk marks, but it is not in them that we are interested but in their significance from the viewpoint of geometry, which has nothing whatever to do with that physical figure as a deposit of chalk particles. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 208

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the core Simmelian move: sociology brackets psychological content to study formal relations — the essential framework for the essay’s causal chain.
• XREF: Directly relevant to the essay’s synthesis: this is the methodological basis for treating blasé attitude and civil inattention as social categories rather than merely psychological states. — connects to: Sociology relates to social sciences as geometry relates to physics. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 45; A science of society must study only forms of interaction — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 196; Individual motives become social only through forms of mutual interaction — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 194 (+7 more)

Related

• The formal content distinction in sociology can only be illustrated, not yet defined (similarity 0.89)
• Sociology’s proper object is the forms relating two or more individuals (similarity 0.87)
• Sociology relates to social sciences as geometry relates to physics. (similarity 0.87)
• A science of society must study only forms of interaction (similarity 0.87)
• Sociology studies abstract forms of interaction as geometry studies spatial forms (similarity 0.87)
• Simmel advanced technical sociology mainly as a byproduct of metaphysical concerns (similarity 0.86)
• Social relations can be analyzed purely as formal configurations (similarity 0.83)
• Social relations crystallize into fixed external forms that cannot keep pace with inner life (similarity 0.83)
• Individual motives become social only through forms of mutual interaction (similarity 0.82)
• Social forms must be abstracted from many historical instances (similarity 0.81)
• Individual and society are methodological standpoints, not separable entities (similarity 0.80)
• Any social group can act as individual or aggregate depending on its relational frame. (similarity 0.80)
• A science can rest on psychological data yet serve non-psychological aims (similarity 0.80)
• Structuralism studies only closed formal systems, not open surface variety. (similarity 0.79)
• Social generalization, though distorting, is what makes social relations possible (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Structuralism introduced a new kind of non-reflective causality between social and mental categories. #corroborates (0.65)
• Individual motives become social only through forms of mutual interaction #corroborates (0.60) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 194
• Culture names the forms, not the content, of social relationships #corroborates (0.55) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 882