ABSTRACT
A CLARIFICATION IS NECESSARY HERE. Simmel shifts between sociological and psychological statements, as when he passes from discussion of personal autonomy to group autonomy, thus obscuring the fact that although the personality and the social system may be partly homologous and although they interpenetrate, they are by no means identicaL2 Genetic psychology3 and psychoanalysis have gathered much evidence to suggest that conflict is a most important agent for the establishment of full ego identity and autonomy, i.e., for full differentiation of the personality from the outside world. However, this problem will not
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be the concern of the present study which intends to deal primarily with the behavior of individuals in groups. For this reason, "feelings of hostility and repulsion" will be discussed only where they are part of a social pattern, i.e., where their regular occurrence can be observed. Individual behavior which is merely idiosyncratic has no place in the analysis of structured social systems.
