Formal Sociology

This important collection illuminates Georg Simmel's concern with the dilemmas and contradictions of modernity. Part I brings together commentaries on Simmel's sociology in the context of Marx, Weber and Durkheim. In the second part articles examine the ways in which the fragmentary style of formal sociology is unified by an abiding concern to understand the 'fate' of cultural modernity. The underlying thematic structure of Simmel's work, despite its fragmentary appearance, is taken up in section III.