Social theory: Georg Simmel and money

SOCIAL THEORY: Goerg Simmel and money
2014

Sociology is defined as the study of humans in their natural habitat. In this current day and age world, these ‘natural habitats’ consist of a considerable amount of diversity, cultures and ethnic backgrounds, religion, gender, heritage and family history, jobs and incomes and many more. Many individuals are unaware that they may be observed by theorists or that they can be and are placed into certain categories such as cultural, wealth, and class, these individuals are unaware that they are in fact an influence to sociology and are a statistic or an individual that may be used to help provide a theory regarding society to be factual or even fictional. In today’s modern world, most individual’s lives revolve around working and earning an income in order to pay for the necessities in order to sustain life and maintain a healthy living for an individual and their family. One theorist whom established a connection or a ‘link’ between individuals and the importance of money was Georg Simmel (1991; 08), he established this ‘link’ through comparison of the Middle Ages and the Modern Era through the connection individuals possessed with their ‘belongings’ and their ‘wealth’.

The theory that Simmel has provided regards money as being the source of life in this modern day and age and makes one realise just how important money is in this modern day and age as well as how effected individuals lives are and how our lives are revolving around money. This theory about money being the centre of human lives makes us realise just how important it is to obtain a job and to keep working as it is essential to have a form of income or a way to obtain money to keep healthy. This enables one to make the connection between Simmels theory regarding to money and to Marx’s theory of social class. This connection can be made due to the social ‘classes’ of income and the amount of income one may earn and how they earn this income is put into a class or category of ‘owner or worker’ and then ‘employer or employee’ (Germov,J. & Poole, M., 2011: 209). Due to this categorisation and division of equality between individuals Germov and Poole state that economic activity and production is essential for societies in order for survival. The also state (Germov & Poole, 2011; 209), that class is defined by an individual’s job and income and also whom they are to work with or for, for example, the group of individuals the run or are in possession of the means of production, and the individuals that work for the people whom run or possess these means. As the years have gone by, many individuals in the lower class started to argue and demand a better salaries in order to survive and have now formed a class based antagonism between labours and capital and workers and their particular unions in order to act in their own interest appropriate to their needs (Philion, S., 1998; 10), this has allowed there to be more equality between individuals and to allow the lower class of individuals to earn a better income and to provide sufficiently for themselves and their families. Social class can be viewed or portrayed as an economic system (Ming Liu, W., Soleck, G., Hopps, J., Dunston, K., & Pickett, T Jr., 2004; 32) and economists studying modern money have even been compared to being sociologists due to their link with money and studying the way in which money is processed with our current day society (Baker, W. E., & Jimerson, J. B., 1992; 35).
Simmel states that what brings about an intertwining and growing together of the modern society more than anything else is the division of labour, which has not developed past the harshest beginnings under the system of bartering. This suggests that due to the competition within the labour division, the individual companies in this division have to ‘barter’ or discuss and try to work out what each item they are trying to sell to the public will cost and what will provide them with a decent amount of profit as well as what will actually sell and what will be purchased by the public. Due to this, it is crucial for these members of labour to work out all the issues, publications, prices and ideas in order to receive an income as this (income) is needed in order to provide more services and products back to the community and society as well as putting money back into the community and back into the individuals of that communities pockets and bank accounts, therefore allowing those individuals to sustain a decent income and a relatively ‘normal’ lifestyle.

In his theory, Simmel also states that’ money produces both previously unknown impersonality with the economic ownership and also an equality enhanced independent and an autonomy of personality, and that this causes the relationship of a personality to develop similarly to that with property’. This provides one to understand that once one has money, that they establish a link of possession with that money and also to establish a link with the items one spends that money on, these items become belongings and are owned solely by the individual that has then paid for that item (unless given to another latter or as a gift to another individual). This also enables individuals to relate and understand that this is an event that occurs with every individual as once they have purchased an object, item or property, they will automatically and instinctively state and announce that it is ‘theirs’ and that the item is now part of their belongings and that no one can own it now but them unless they are willing to re sell, donate, or give to another individual as a present or as a gift.
Simmel states how there are ‘streams’ of modern culture that veer into two different directions: on one hand, goes towards levelling, production increase of comprehensive social circles through connection of remote things under the same r equal conditions and equalization; the other hand, leans more towards elaborating most individual matters, the independence of an individual and the autonomy of its development. He also states that both are run by the money economy which has a general interest and also has a mean of connection and therefore communication also, encourages equal effectiveness everywhere. This means that the economy leaders and members are helping to encourage equality and individualization throughout society as well as trying to encourage individuals to be themselves rather than making every aspect of their life revolve around money and income which is good for younger generations to learn to make the most of life rather than make the higher income. Pressman & Montecinos (1996; 30) state that methodological individualism dominates mainstream economics and economic sociology conceptualizes economic actors as being socially constructed, shaped and constrained by the groups from which they belong and originate from. This shows that individualism is a major influence in society and in the economical society as well as making it clear that in today’s modern economical society people have changed from wanting to make as much money as possible no matter what it takes, to making things more personal and more individualised in order to suit each individuals needs and desires in order to sell a product or an item that is more suitable, safe and honest.

Simmel states that our species of organism are no longer considered eternal thoughts of creation, but more transitional points of an evolution striving towards infinity. This emphasises that us as human beings have evolved over the centuries and are becoming more external beings and are attempting to achieve a greater outcome not just for society but for us as individuals also. We are ‘striving’ to be better individuals and to provide a better place and better future not only for our immediate families nor for our future relatives, but for our entire society and worldwide society also. This can be classified as a type of social movement or a globalisation change that has slowly been occurring over the years. It is stated that globalisation changes the composition and influences the increase in the range of actors and stakeholders throughout society (Germov, J. & Poole, M., 2011; 363), thus creating more job opportunities and a somewhat large change, for some individuals, that make a transition from employee to employer in some cases. This not only allows less fortunate individuals to start a better path to a more successful and more fulfilling career and life for themselves and their families, but also enables some individuals to investigate what changes need to be taken and to foresee what is to occur in order for a more successful future for the company, for the economy, for production, for the planet to maintain life, for individuals and also for society.

It is shown above that Georg Simmels theory is factual as money is a major part of each individuals day to day life, that money is crucial for individuals to survive this lifetime, it also shows that money is controlled by the economy which is in fact run by certain members that form a society within itself, so therefore the economy is classified and called a social economy. This economy is compromised and made of several divisions of labour that is categorised by the area and expertise of an individual and which section they work in, whereas society is made up of a structure called ‘class’, which is formed from Marx’s theory, which consist of levels from the lower class known as the employees, to the upper class known as the employers. Many aspects of society revolves around money and how money influences human behaviour, actions, their social circles, their social ethics and also the ways in which the live and treat others. Simmel has provided information that enables one to be enlightened into what is occurring and has occurred over the centuries and enables us to reflect on how far we have come as a whole society.

Reference List

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Germov, J. & Poole, M. (2011) Public Sociology: An introduction to Australian society 2nd ed. Allen & Unwin.
McClelland, A. (2011) Social policy in Australia: Understanding for action 2nd ed. Oxford University Press Australia and New Zealand.
Ming Liu, W., Soleck, G., Hopps, J., Dunston, K., & Pickett, T. (2004) “A framework to understanding social class in counseling: the social worldview model and modern classism theory”, Journal of multicultural counseling and development, 32 (2): 95-122.

Philion, S. (1998) “Bridging the gap between new social movement theory and class”, 10 (4):79-104.
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