Download or read book Messages from Georg Simmel written by Horst Jürgen Helle and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2012-09-28 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As founder of the humanist version of sociology, Simmel sent powerful messages that are identified and explained in this book: interpretation - things are often not what they appear to be; change- culture and society evolve over time; interaction - reality is socially constructed; alienation - people define the value of money without taking responsibility for this construction. Simmel sees humans defining objects in interaction as valuable or worthless, but then they refuse to acknowledge having anything to do with the process of value attribution. He is critical in politics as well; Simmel is concerned that socialism is treated as a political movement and not viewed as a potential form of social interaction.