What a society excludes socially becomes symbolically central to its fantasy life

Evidence

This category may be suggested by the proposition that every element of a group is not only a societal part but, in addition, something else. However trivial it may seem, this fact nevertheless operates as a social a priori. For that part of the individual which is, as it were, not turned toward society and is not absorbed by it, does not simply lie beside its socially relevant part without having a relation to it. It is not simply something outside society to which society, willingly or unwillingly, submits. Rather, the fact that in certain respects the individual is not an element of society constitutes the positive condition for the possibility that in other respects he is: the way in which he is sociated is determined or codetermined by the way in which he is not. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 178 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Ritual separation practices functioned as social integration rather than mere exclusion — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 127; Exclusion ceremonies psychologically reaffirm the included members’ belonging; Identity is constituted through exclusion of what it is not (+2 more)

Related

• Exclusion ceremonies psychologically reaffirm the included members’ belonging (similarity 0.83)
• An individual’s exclusion from society enables their social participation (similarity 0.82)
• Ritual separation practices functioned as social integration rather than mere exclusion (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Exclusion ceremonies psychologically reaffirm the included members’ belonging #corroborates (0.95)
• An individual’s exclusion from society enables their social participation #exemplifies (0.88) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 178
• Identity is constituted through exclusion of what it is not #qualifies (0.85)
• Ritual separation practices functioned as social integration rather than mere exclusion #complicates (0.80) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 127