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Every social occurrence as such, consists of an interaction between individuals. In other words, each individual is at the same time an active and a passive agent in a transaction. In case of superiority and inferiority, however, the relation assumes the appearance of a one-sided operation ; the one party appears to exert, while the other seems merely to receive an influence.

— Georg Simmel Superiority and Subordination as Subject-matter of Sociology (1896)

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More quotes by Georg Simmel

Nobody would work for starvation wages if he were not in a situation in which he preferred such wages to not working at all.

The Philosophy of Money (1907)

Money economy has filled the days of so many people with weighing, calculating, with numerical determinations, with a reduction of qualitative values to quantitative ones.

Objectivity does not simply involve passivity and detachment; it is a particular structure composed of distance and nearness, indifference and involvement.

The Stranger (1908)

Objectivity may also be defined as freedom: the objective individual is bound by no commitments which could prejudice his perception, understanding, and evaluation of the given.

The Stranger (1908)

The social game has a deeper double meaning—that it is played not only in a society as its outward bearer but that with its help people actually "play" "society."

Sociability (1910)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Georg Simmel (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.