Simmel, G. (1950). The Metropolis and Mental Life. Chapter 1. In Weinstein, D. (Ed.).

The
Sociology of GeorgSimmel.Trans. K. Wolff. (pp. 409-424). Free Press. The Georg Simmel
reading assignment is extremely important to this week's course since Simmel's writings have a
significant impact on our understanding of groups, modernity, and cultural change. Georg
Simmel, a classic sociologist, made significant contributions to new sociology, culture
philosophy, and the development of explicit general theories of culture and contemporary life.
“The metropolis and mental life, “according to Simmel(1950), focuses on describing modern
elements of existence while taking into account the underlying meaning of life. Simmel's
sociological viewpoints fulfilled their aims by allowing people to adjust and evolve in response to
external influences.

Simmel also looked into how societal institutions dictate particular types of interactions. As a
result of his research, a lot of urban life ideas were disclosed, and his feelings are very well
aligned with his sociological viewpoints. The efforts by people to stabilize autonomy, according
to Simmel (1950), are the source of serious difficulties in modern life. Individuals in the city, as
opposed to the rural living setting, confront scenarios where they must keep up with the ever-
changing environment due to growing external forces and internal sensory inputs. In addition, a
number of other behaviors, such as reservation and freedom, grow in a city environment, as
Simmel (1950) repeated, in which people struggle to retain their life against the society's
sovereign powers.

As a result, indifferences, rationality, and reserve techniques are used by individuals to protect
their distinctive characteristics from the influence of objective lifestyles that overburden city life.
Simmel (1950) expanded on the objective and subjective spirits' supremacy. On the other hand,
the ever-increasing city lifestyle has played a significant role in the loss of culture. People
become more focused on tasks that might potentially save their lives as they arrange their lives
for monetary benefit. As a result of the city lifestyle, people’s personalities are neglected and
eroded. The economy and the growing division of labor act as "levelers" of subjective and
personality differences( Simmel,1950).

As a result, leveling occurs when many people’s beliefs and customs are crushed into a single
way of life in the city. As a result, on this crucial topic of cultures being eaten, Simmel's views
are relevant to modernity since they emphasize the implications of urban living uniformity on
individuals. Simmel’s sociological perspective may be applied to a variety of contemporary
issues. People in our day may have a variety of psychological issues as a result of modernization
or city living. Stress levels can rise in contemporary life as individuals become engrossed in
technology advancements that all have a monetary worth. As repeated by Karl Marx in his social
conflict theory stated by Little et al, the working class suffers the most in today's city life (2014)

.As a result, we are witnessing an increase in the expense of living, which has pushed up the
crime rate and deviance among city youngsters. It cannot be denied that drug and alcohol
addiction is prevalent in most cities across the world, contributing to a variety of social problems.
Finally, Georg Simmel's work made it feasible to comprehend how culture, its structures, and
functions change as groups expand in size. The importance of Simmel's study cannot be
overstated, since it demonstrated how organizations seek to build internal cohesion, centralized
authority, and minimize opposition.

References

Little, W. et al. (2014). Introduction to sociology. 1stCanadian Edition. Houston, Texas, and
Vancouver, British Columbia: Open Stax College, Rice University, & B.C. Open
TextbookProject.http://opentextbc.ca/introductiontosociology/chapter/chapter1-an-introduction-
to-sociology/).Simmel, G. (1950). The Metropolis and Mental Life. In Weinstein, D. (Ed.). The
Sociology of Georg Simmel. Trans. K. Wolff. Pp. 409-424. New York: