8/2/2019 Authors Assig

1/2

Simmel: 1858-1918 The cities generate a particular type of person

The social context deeply set each and every one of the intellectual fields. Simmel lived in a periodwith many economic, social and political changes. The site where Simmel could see and feel thesocial changes was Berlin. A social laboratory characterized by the constant change, modernism,

speedy urban growth. Berlin was the center and reference point for many of the simmeliansreflections on society, but perhaps even more strongly of their theorizing about modernity and thecity.

Timeline around the Simmel theory:

Political revolutions: A series of political revolutions broke out after the French Revolution in1789.Enlightenment or Age of Reason: was a cultural movement of intellectuals in 18thcentury Europe. The Enlightenment flourished until about 1790 1800, after which theemphasis on reason gave way to Romanticism's emphasis on emotion.Industrial revolution and rise of capitalism: Changing the system primarily agricultural to anindustrial system. It was a period from 1750 to 1850. The industrial revolution,capitalism, and the reaction against them sparked a huge revolt in Western society, a revoltthat had a profound impact in the Simmel thinking. Partly as a result of the industrialrevolution, a lot of people in the nineteenth and twentieth century was uprooted from theirrural surroundings and moved to urban places. This migration was due in great measure tothe jobs that created the industrial system in urban areas. Moreover, the expansion ofcities produced a supposedly endless list of urban problems: overcrowding, pollution, noise,traffic, etc. The nature of urban life and its problems attracted the attention of manyclassicalsociologists, especially that of Max Weber and Georg Simmel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_movementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18th_centuryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18th_centuryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_historyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_historyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18th_centuryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18th_centuryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_movement

8/2/2019 Authors Assig

2/2

The birth of socialism: A series of changes aimed at solving the excesses of capitalism andthe industrial system can be grouped under the term "socialism". Modern socialismoriginated from an 18th-century intellectual and working class political movement.

The Chicago School: Simmel's work influenced the work in the Chicago school during the1920s and 1930s; this school is best known for its urban sociology. It has focused onhuman behavior as determined by social structures and physical environmental factors,rather than genetic and personal characteristics. Art Deco and Metropolis: The city conflicts are reflected in the twentieth century art in all itsexpressions, the film being one of the most used. Metropolis for example is a Germanexpressionist science-fiction film directed by Fritz Lang. He used as a reference to the cityof New York to capture the conflicts in a city. The phrase The cities generate a particulartype of person clearly agrees with the characters and their stories.

http://www.bifurcaciones.cl/004/reserva.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_expressionismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_expressionismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Langhttp://www.bifurcaciones.cl/004/reserva.htmhttp://www.bifurcaciones.cl/004/reserva.htmhttp://www.bifurcaciones.cl/004/reserva.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Langhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_expressionismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_expressionism