Analysis of Georg Simmel's The Stranger Excerpt - Assignment Example

Simmel starts by creating a working definition of the stranger as one who comes and stays, but is not wholly committed and has not been socialized under analogous conditions as the mainstream. The wholly mobile person comes incidentally into contact with every single element but may not be bound organically via established ties of locality, kinship, or occupation (Simmel 126). Simmel employs the example of the Jew in European society, whereby, despite the Jew being part of the economy as a trader, the Jew also happens to be marginalized from that society.

One of the positive aspects of being a stranger is that the stranger interacts with others meaning that a stranger enjoys the trust within the society and is aware of social norms as a critic and outsider. The negative aspect of being a stranger is that, although a stranger can be trusted with such secrets, he/she shares little in common with the constituents in the group, except that which may be shared across all other humans (Simmel 127). Simmel’s stranger can be depicted as objective since he is free, free from family ties or ties to a certain location or profession that could prejudice receptivity and understanding of certain circumstances.

The family plays a critical role in organically connecting persons based on the similarity of shared traits that differentiate strangers from the universal (Levine, Carter and Gorman 1112). The role of the stranger allows that individual to perceive things from his own perspective and not letting emotions, family ties and community connections for the view in which he observes his surroundings. This capability learned via numerous life lessons allows the stranger to treating even close relationships via a set of binoculars.

According to Simmel, when a social system such as the family is threatened the system boundaries remain sustained, values and morals defined, and the group ties reinforced as the conflict is resolved (Levine, Carter and Gorman 1113).