ABSTRACT

In his celebrated essay “The Stranger,” the article perhaps best associated with his sociological legacy, Georg Simmel states that “the classic example” of the stranger is found in “the history of European Jews.”1 This association has become so ingrained in the history of social thought that the association of the Jews with a social type now looks obvious. In the three following chapters I will attempt to elucidate how Simmel associates the Jews with a social type, claiming that this association assigns to the Jews particular kinds of difference, while attempting to obliterate others. I will argue that this association is crucial for his effort to facilitate the Jews’ assimilation. I will closely analyze the discursive and conceptual strategies that Simmel employs to reach his desired ends.