Being grateful to Georg Simmel. Emotions, gratitude, and the relational concern of sociology in the globalized society
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
This paper argues for a sociological and relational concern of “gratitude” in Simmel’s thought as a key feature of human interaction as well as a key “emotive disposition” (Stimmung) to engage with the challenges of modern society. Georg Simmel is undoubtedly one of the most crucial theorists and a pillar in the social sciences, and his theoretical contribution also stands as the foundation of relational sociology stricto sensu. He taught that interactions supporting social processes must be investigated as forms of relations. A relation is a precise mode of being connected to others; it is a tie emerging from reciprocal action and acquires its consistency by generating causal effects on involved actors. Among his main insights within the sociological tradition, Simmel’s excellent concepts and arguments engage emotions as a sociological matter, that is, under a relational aspect. Not only do emotions have sociological relevance (that is, they are a worthy subject for sociologists), but they also characterize the precise manner of interaction among individuals. Emotions are the relational effect of being associated in an increasingly differentiated society, which apparently only neutralizes individuals’ emotive sides, or else instrumentally drives or “colonizes” them. Simmel explored gratitude as a particular emotion that is a form of relation and interaction: it has an eccentric position among the other emotions that he investigated in his many essays. Gratitude represents a non-symmetrical or economic (exchangeable) “transactive” emotion: it puts the giver and receiver in a peculiar socio-emotional form of reciprocity. By considering relations, emotions, and gratitude through rigorous textual exploration, this paper tackles Simmel’s view and challenges a globalized world and hybridized digital society. Finally, gratitude could be regarded as a demarcation criterion for identifying and distinguishing social interaction forms from other kinds of non-social processes or transactions.
Keywords:
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
(c) Davide Ruggieri, 2022
Copyright
For all articles published in Digithum that are subject to a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence, the copyright is retained by the author(s); the full text of the license can be consulted on http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0. Thus, copying, distribution, public communication, derivative works and commercial use of content are permitted as of the aforementioned issue provided that the source (Digithum), the author of the text and the institution that publishes them (UOC, UdeA) are cited.
Authors are responsible for obtaining the necessary permission to use copyrighted images.
Assignment of intellectual property rights
The author non exclusively transfers the rights to use (reproduce, distribute, publicly broadcast or transform) and market the work, in full or part, to the journal’s editors in all present and future formats and modalities, in all languages, for the lifetime of the work and worldwide.
I hereby declare that I am the original author of the work. The editors shall thus not be held responsible for any obligation or legal action that may derive from the work submitted in terms of violation of third parties’ rights, whether intellectual property, trade secret or any other right.
References
AMAT, M. (2018). Le relationnisme philosophique de Georg Simmel. Une idée de la culture. Paris: Honoré Champion.
AXELROD, C.D. (1977). “Toward an Appreciation of Simmel’s Fragmentary Style”. The Sociological Quarterly, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 185-196. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.1977.tb01406.x
BERICAT, E. (2016) “The sociology of emotions: Four decades of progress”. Current Sociology, vol. 64, no. 3, pp. 491-513 https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392115588355
BOHR, J., HARTUNG, G., KOENIG, H., STEINBACH, T.-F. (eds.) (2021). Simmel Handbuch. Leben – Werk – Wirkung. Berlin: J.Metzler Verlag/Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-476-05760-0
CANTÓ-MILÀ, N. (2005). A Sociological Theory of Value. Georg Simmel’s Sociological Relationism. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783839403730
CANTÓ-MILÀ, N. (2016). “Emotions from a relational perspective”. Digithum, no. 18, pp. 2-4. https://doi.org/10.7238/d.v0i18.2945
CANTÓ-MILÀ, N. (2018). “Georg Simmel’s Concept of Forms of Association as an Analytical Tool for Relational Sociology”. In: DEPÉLTEAU, F. (ed.). The Palgrave Handbook of Relational Sociology. Cham: Palgrave, pp. 217-230. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66005-9_11
CERULO, M. (2017). “The emotional ambivalence of modernity. Gratitude and friendship in the social theory of Georg Simmel / L’ambivalenza emozionale della modernità. Gratitudine e amicizia nella teoria sociale di Georg Simmel”. Cambio. Rivista sulle trasformazioni sociali, vol.7, no. 14, pp. 189-204 [online]. Available at: https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=googlescholar&id=GALE|A539388173&v=2.1&it=r&sid=googleScholar&asid=4c416a78
CERULO, M.; SCRIBANO, A. (eds.) (2021). The Emotions in the Classics of Sociology. A Study in Social Theory. London/New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003088363
CERULO, M.; RAFELE, A. (2021). “Georg Simmel”. In: CERULO, M. AND SCRIBANO, A. (eds.). The Emotions in the Classics of Sociology. A Study in Social Theory. London, New York: Routledge, pp. 81-95. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003088363
CROSSLEY, N. (2021). “A Dependent Structure of Interdependence: Structure and Agency in Relational Perspective”. Sociology, vol. 56, no. 1, p. 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1177/00380385211020231
DONATI, P. (2011). Relational Sociology. A new Paradigm for the Social Sciences. London: Routledge.
DONATI, P. (2021). Transcending Modernity with Relational Thinking. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003146698
FITZI, G. (2018). The Challenge of Modernity. Simmel’s Sociological Theory. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315270937
FITZI, G.; MELE, V.; MAGATTI, M. (2018). “Life and Forms. The sociological Meaning of a Metaphor”. Simmel Studies, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 135-169. https://doi.org/10.7202/1051009ar
FLORIDI, L. (ed.) (2015). The Onlife Manifesto. Being Human in a Hyperconnected Era. Cham, Heidelberg, New York, Dordrecht, London: Springer.
FRISBY, D. (1985). Fragments of Modernity. Theories of Modernity in the Work of Simmel, Kracauer and Benjamin. Cambridge: Polity Press.
GERHARDS, J. (1986). “Georg Simmel’s contribution to a theory of emotions”. Social Science Information, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 901-924. https://doi.org/10.1177/053901886025004007
GERHARDS, J.; VON SCHEVE, C. (2018). “Simmels Theorie der Emotionen”. In: MÜLLER, H-P., REITZ, T. (eds.). Simmel-Handbuch. Begriffe, Hauptwerke, Aktualität. Berlin: Suhrkamp, pp. 815-827.
HELLE, J.H. (2001). Georg Simmel: Einführung in seine Theorie und Methode / Introduction to His Theory. Munich, Vienna: R. Oldenbourg Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783486809268
HOCHSCHILD, A. R. (1979). “Emotion Work, Feeling Rules, and Social Structure”. American Journal of Sociology, vol. 85, no. 3, pp. 551-575. https://doi.org/10.1086/227049
ILLOUZ, E. (ed.) (2018). Emotions as Commodities. Capitalism, Consumption and Authenticity. London, New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315210742
ILLOUZ, E. (2019). The End of Love. A Sociology of Negative Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 320 pages.
KÖHNKE, K. (1996). Der junge Simmel in Theoriebeziehungen und sozialen Bewegungen. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
LATOUR, B. (2005). Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
MARSHALL, C. (2012). “Spinoza on Destroying Passions with Reason”. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, vol. 85, no. 1, pp. 139-160. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1933-1592.2011.00533.x
MEYER, I. (2017). Georg Simmels Ästhetik: Autonomiepostulat und soziologische Referenz. Weilerswist-Metternich: Velbrüch Wissenschaft. https://doi.org/10.5771/9783845287430
NECKEL, S.; PRITZ. S.M. (2019). Emotion aus kultursoziologischer Perspektive. In: MOEBIUS. S., NUNGESSER, F., SCHERKE; K. (eds.). Handbuch Kultursoziologie. Theorien – Methoden – Felden, vol. 2. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, pp. 319-336. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-07645-0_22
PAPILLOUD, C. (2018). “Georg Simmel and Relational Sociology”. In: DEPÉLTEAU, F. (ed.). The Palgrave Handbook of Relational Sociology. Cham: Palgrave, pp. 201-216. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66005-9_10
PETZKE, M. (2018). “Dankbarkeit”. In: Müller, H-P., Reitz, T. (eds.). Simmel-Handbuch. Begriffe, Hauptwerke, Aktualität. Berlin: Suhrkamp, pp. 146-151.
PYYHTINEN, O. (2015). More-than-Human Sociology. A New Sociological Imagination. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137531841
PYYHTINEN, O. (2018). The Simmelian Legacy. A Science of Relations. Cham: Palgrave.
ROSA, H. (2016). Resonanz. Eine Soziologie der Weltbeziehung. Berlin: Suhrkamp.
ROSA, H. (2020). Unverfügbarkeit. Berlin: Suhrkamp.
RUGGIERI, D. (2017). “Georg Simmel and the Relational Turn”. Simmel Studies, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 43-71. https://doi.org/10.7202/1041336ar
RUGGIERI, D. (2021). “Relations, Forms, and the Representation of Social Life. Georg Simmel and the Challenge of Relational Sociology as Lebenssoziologie”. In: FITZI, G. (ed.). The Routledge International Handbook of Simmel Studies. London, New York: Routledge, pp. 46-59. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429297502-3
SABIDO-RAMOS, O. (2019). “The Sociological Analysis of Shame in Georg Simmel. A Proposal to Study the Performative and Relational Character of Emotions”. Digithum, no. 23 [online]. Available at: https://raco.cat/index.php/Digithum/article/view/373025
SIMMEL, G. (1984). “On love”. In: SIMMEL, G. On Women, Sexuality, and love. New Haven, London: Yale University Press, pp. 153-192.
SIMMEL, G. (1992). Soziologie: Untersuchungen über die Formen der Vergesellschaftung, GSG 11. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
SIMMEL, G. (1996). Hauptprobleme der Philosophie. Philosophische Kultur, GSG 14. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp. 530 pages.
SIMMEL, G. (1997). “Dankbarkeit. Ein soziologischer Versuch”. Der Morgen. Wochenschrift für deutsche Kultur, 1. Jg., no. 19 vom 18. Oktober 1907, 593-598; now in SIMMEL, G., Aufsätze und Abhandlungen 1901-1908, Band II, GSG 8. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, pp. 308-316.
SIMMEL, G. (2012a). Kolleghefte und Mitschriften, GSG 21. Berlin: Suhrkamp.
SIMMEL, G. (2012b). “The Fragmentary Character of Life”. Theory, Culture & Society, vol. 29, no. 7-8, pp. 237-248. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276412457432
SIMMEL, G. (2015). Georg Simmel on Individuality and Social Forms, edited by D. Levine. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
STETS, J.E.; TURNER, J.H. (2005). Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions. London: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511819612
THOUARD, D. (2020). Georg Simmel. Une orientation. Strasbourg: Circé.
TURING, A. (1950). “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”. Mind. A Quarterly Review of Psychology and Philosophy. Vol. LIX, no. 236, pp. 433-460. https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/LIX.236.433
TURKLE, S. (2011). Alone Together. Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. New York: Basic Books.
TURKLE, S. (2015). Reclaiming Conversation. The Power of Talk in a Digital Age. New York: Penguin Press.
WATIER P. (2009). “Psychosocial Feelings within Simmel’s Sociology”. In: ROL C.; PAPILLOUD C. (eds.). Soziologie als Möglichkeit. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, pp. 199-216. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-91437-4_12