The same content persists across different interaction forms

Evidence

In this latter case, ascertaining them would be in the service of history, so to speak; in the former case, it would provide material for the induction of timeless uniformities. About competition, for instance, we learn something from a great many fields—political science, economics, history of religion, history of art, and so on. The point is to ascertain from all the facts what competition is as a pure form of human behavior; under what circumstances it emerges and develops; how it is modified by the particular character of its object; by what contemporaneous formal and material features of a society it is increased or reduced; and how competition between individuals differs from that between groups. In short, we must ascertain what competition is as a form of relation among individuals. This form may involve all sorts of contents. But in spite of the great variety of these contents, the form maintains its own identity and proves that it belongs to a sphere which is governed by its own laws and which may legitimately be abstracted from other spheres or from total reality. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 202 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

Superiority, subordination, competition, division of labor, formation of parties, representation, inner solidarity coupled with exclusiveness toward the outside, and innumerable similar features are found in the state as well as in a religious community, in a band of conspirators as in an economic association, in an art school as in a family. However diverse the interests that give rise to these sociations, the forms in which the interests are realized are identical. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 198 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Simmel frequently calls attention to the ambiguity, and flexibility, of his fundamental distinction: it is an essential tenet of his philosophy that what is form in one context can be content in another. In the perspective of sociology, cultural forms are social contents. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 53 (#responds-to, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Forms of interaction retain identity across varied contents and historical settings — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 202; Identical interaction forms recur across radically different social groups — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 198; What is form in one context can be content in another. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 53 (+2 more)

Related

• Forms of interaction retain identity across varied contents and historical settings (similarity 0.92)
• Identical interaction forms recur across radically different social groups (similarity 0.90)
• Marx decentered identity by lodging subjects inside un-chosen historical practices (similarity 0.84)
• The formal content distinction in sociology can only be illustrated, not yet defined (similarity 0.82)
• Forms differ from Kantian categories by informing all experience and changing over time (similarity 0.82)
• Social forms must be abstracted from many historical instances (similarity 0.82)
• What is form in one context can be content in another. (similarity 0.81)
• Individual motives become social only through forms of mutual interaction (similarity 0.81)
• Form and content readings are exchangeable refocusings of the same phenomenon (similarity 0.79)
• Social relations crystallize into fixed external forms that cannot keep pace with inner life (similarity 0.79)
• Sociology’s proper object is the forms relating two or more individuals (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Forms of interaction retain identity across varied contents and historical settings #qualifies (0.85) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 202
• Identical interaction forms recur across radically different social groups #exemplifies (0.80) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 198
• What is form in one context can be content in another. #responds-to (0.75) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 53