Deck 5: George Simmel

Question 1

Which of the following worlds is especially hostile to life as defined by Simmel?

A) Science
B) Religion
C) Art
D) Economy

Answer 1

D

Question 2

According to George Simmel, which of the following ways does objective culture grow with modernization? Select all, but only those that apply.

A) It is absolute size enlarges.
B) The number of cultural components grows.
C) The ties between the components of culture grow.
D) Individual culture expands.

Answer 2

A, B, C

Question 3

According to Simmel, in what type of relationships do we reveal intimate knowledge about a selective segment of our lives, usually because of a shared interest with another?

A) strangers
B) acquaintances
C) friends
D) marriages

Answer 3

C

Question 4

According to George Simmel, which of the following is a dialect inherent to fashion? Select all, but only those that apply.

A) Fashion allows people to be individualistic yet still conform to norms.
B) Fashion is based in the past yet always has an eye toward the future.
C) Success of a fashion trend inevitably leads to its failure.
D) Trends are considered attractive because they are distinct, which in turn makes them indistinct and therefore unattractive

Question 5

Which of the following is one of Simmel's worlds? Select all, but only those that apply.

A) science
B) religion
C) art
D) economy

Question 6

According to Simmel's social geometry, which of the following is the most valuable?

A) Things that are close and easy to obtain.
B) Things that are close but difficult to obtain.
C) Things that are remote but easy to obtain.
D) Things that are remote and difficult to obtain.

Question 7

According to George Simmel, which of the following is a dialect inherent to fashion? Select all, but only those that apply.

A) Fashion allows people to conform yet express their individuality.
B) Future trends are dictated by fashion's past.
C) Trends fail primarily because of their success.
D) Fashion leaders emerge because they are good following others' trends

Question 8

According to Simmel, which of the following changes to a group brings about a fundamentally new character?

A) from 2 to 3 people
B) from 3 to 4 people
C) from 5 to 6 people
D) from 6 to 7 people

Question 9

Which level did George Simmel advocate for a "philosophical sociology"?

A) Micro
B) Intermediate
C) Meso
D) Metaphysical

Question 10

According to Simmel, in what type of relationships do we maintain as much secrecy as is possible, while still revealing enough to maintain individual relationships?

A) strangers
B) acquaintances
C) friends
D) marriages

Question 11

Which of the following was a macroscopic concern of George Simmel?

A) Psychological components of everyday life
B) Interpersonal relationships
C) The social and cultural spirit
D) Eternal truths dictating the future of the world

Question 12

______ develop(s) when people are no longer able to attach subjective, qualitative values to things that are bought and sold with quantities of money.

A) blasé attitudes
B) reification
C) rationalization
D) cynicism

Question 13

Which of the following is an example of Simmel's secrecy in a dyadic interaction? Select all, but only those that apply.

A) One person has the intention of hiding something.
B) One person has the intention of revealing something.
C) Both people have the intention of hiding something.
D) Both people have the intention of revealing something.

Question 14

Which of the following was a microscopic concern of George Simmel? Select all, but only those that apply.

A) psychological components of everyday life
B) interpersonal relationships
C) the social and cultural spirit
D) eternal truths dictating the future of the world

Question 15

______ occurs whenever there is no longer a differentiation between what can, and cannot be bought and sold with money.

A) blasé attitudes
B) reification
C) rationalization
D) cynicism

Question 16

Which of the following was a metaphysical concern of George Simmel?

A) Psychological components of everyday life
B) Interpersonal relationships
C) The social and cultural spirit
D) Eternal truths dictating the future of the world

Question 17

What assumptions does Simmel make about people's psychology during their interactions with others? Select all, but only those that apply.

A) People can orient themselves relative to each other.
B) People are loosely aware of social structures.
C) People understand norms are both external and internal to individuals.
D) People can anticipate causal outcomes and act accordingly.

Question 18

Which level did George Simmel advocate for a "pure sociology"?

A) Micro
B) Intermediate
C) Meso
D) Metaphysical

Question 19

Which of the following did Simmel define via the relationships with others who provide aid?

A) The stranger
B) The poor
C) The miser
D) The adventurer

Question 20

According to George Simmel, which of the following is directly linked to money? Select all, but only those that apply.

A) value
B) reification
C) rationalization
D) social geometry

Question 21

George Simmel assumed interactions are reducible to psychological elements.

Question 22

Even though George Simmel was European, his influence as a scholar was primarily in the United States.

Question 23

Simmel thought ______ delineates relationships where we come to know more about people than they intentionally reveal.

A) confidence
B) acquaintanceship
C) discretion
D) betrayal

Question 24

George Simmel was more concerned with the form interactions took than their content.

Question 25

Like Karl Marx, George Simmel was a vocal critic of capitalism.

Question 26

George Simmel theorized almost exclusively at the macro-level.

Question 27

George Simmel thought both individual and social life were a state of becoming rather than being.

Question 28

Like Durkheim, George Simmel proposed a sociology that studied social facts.

Question 29

Simmel thought ______ delineates relationships where we must trust individuals even without fully knowing intimate information about them.

A) confidence
B) acquaintanceship
C) discretion
D) betrayal

Question 30

Like Karl Marx, George Simmel thought superordinate dominated subordinates almost completely.

Question 31

Even though they are human created forms, according to George Simmel worlds can turn against (?) people and life itself.

Question 32

Like Emile Durkheim, George Simmel adopted a realist position that largely looked at society as an entity outside, or over the top of individual people.

Question 33

Like Emile Durkheim, George Simmel gave the social precedence over the individual.

Question 34

George Simmel was an interactionist who thought people are best understood through their relationships with others.

Question 35

George Simmel's stranger was too far removed from a social group to have some members confide in this remote individual.

Question 36

According to Simmel, in what type of relationships do we strive to reveal all intimate knowledge about ourselves to another?

A) strangers
B) acquaintances
C) friends
D) marriages

Question 37

Why did Simmel think money makes it possible to maintain more secrecy in today's world than in previous times? Select all, but only those that apply.

A) Individuals can discretely acquire immense wealth.
B) Monetary trades are easier to conceal than the trading of objects.
C) Money can be invested in distant, remote things.
D) Debts can go unpaid and no one will notice.

Question 38

George Simmel's stranger was too far removed from a social group to have objective interactions with other members.

Question 39

Simmel thought ______ delineates relationships where information is revealed that should be kept secret.

A) confidence
B) acquaintanceship
C) discretion
D) betrayal

Question 40

George Simmel was primarily a philosopher, not a sociologist.

Question 41

According to Simmel, modern society is much more dependent on trust and honesty than the forms preceding societies took.

Question 42

Has the influence of money (along with its negative effects) on people and society increased or decreased since Simmel wrote down his ideas in the early 20th century?

Question 43

Identify and accurately describe someone in your own life who reflects the Stranger, or is distant yet still belongs to a group you are a part of?

Question 44

Think of a recent interaction you were part of and then explain how the form that interaction took was more important than the content of the interaction itself.

Question 45

According to George Simmel, we can come to know other people completely.

Question 46

Like Max Weber, George Simmel was concerned with the negative effects of rationalization.

Question 47

Simmel argued that in the modern world public and political matters involve less secrecy than in previous times.

Question 48

Simmel argued that in the modern world private matters are less secretive than in premodern times.

Question 49

Which of George Simmel's worlds (science, religion, and art) is the most important context in which our contemporary interactions take place?

Question 50

Think about something you would like to obtain personally, but will have difficulty doing so; explain why it has value precisely because it is both more distant and more difficult to acquire than something more readily available.