Social Sensibility. Simmel, the Senses, and the Aesthetics of Recognition
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7202/1043789arAbstract
this article, I sketch a theory of social sensibility building on Simmel’s Sociology. I focus on the sense of smell and its “distancing” function, and I develop Simmel’s insights in line with the phenomenological theory of the “oral sense” (Oralsinn). Notions like atmosphere and Stimmung allow me to shed light on the almost subliminal functioning of social evaluation: sensible inclinations pre-condition deeply social relations. In addition, I focus on the link between recognition and esteem (Anerkennung and Schätzung) in its active meaning (how we value others through our feelings) as well as in its passive meaning (how we strive to please and how the quest for recognition is part of the search for distinction). I conclude by suggesting the need for a reciprocal integration between Simmel’s and Bourdieu’s reflections.
References
Blumenberg H. (2006). Beschreibung des Menschen. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Böhme G. (2017). The Aesthetics of Atmospheres. Edited by J.-P. Thibaud. London and New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Bourdieu P. (1986). Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Translated by R. Nice. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Bourdieu P. (1983). “Die Feine Unterschiede, oder: Die Abhängigkeit aller Lebensäußerungen vom Sozialen Status”, in: L’80 [Köln], 28 November, pp. 131-143.
Bourdieu P. (2000). Pascalian Meditations. Translated by R. Nice. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Carnevali B. (2006). “Aura e Ambiance: Léon Daudet tra Proust e Benjamin”, in: Rivista di estetica, 33, 3, pp. 117-141.
Carnevali B. (2012a). Romantisme et reconnaissance. Figures de la conscience chez Rousseau. Translated by P. Audegean. Geneva: Vrin.
Carnevali B. (2012b). Le apparenze sociali. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Carnevali B. (2013). “Glory: la lutte pour la réputation dans le modèle hobbesien”, in: Communications, 93, pp. 49-67.
Classen C. (1993). Worlds of Sense: Exploring the Senses in History and Across Cultures, London, Routledge.
Classen C. (1997). “Foundations for an Anthropology of the senses”, in: International Social Science Journal, 153, pp. 401-412.
Classen C., Howes D., Synnot. A. (1994). Aroma: The Cultural History of Smell. London and New York: Routledge.
Corbin A. (1986). The Foul and the Fragrant: Odor and the French Social Imagination. Translated by M. Kochan, R. Porter and C. Prendergast. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Dewey J. (1984). “Qualitative Thought,” in: Id., The Later Works, vol. 5. Carbondale and Edwardsville, Southern Illinois University Press, pp. 243-252.
Goffman E. (2008). Interaction Ritual: Essays in Face-to-face Behavior. New Brunswick, N.J.: Aldine Transaction.
Gombrich E. (1974). The Logic of Vanity Fair. Alternatives to Historicism in the Study of Fashions, Style and Taste. La Salle: Open Court.
Griffero T. (2014). Atmospheres: Aesthetics of Emotional Spaces. Translated by S. de Sanctis. Farnham: Ashgate.
Gronow J. (1998). The Sociology of Taste. London, Routledge.
Heinich N. (2012). De la visibilité. Excellence et singularité en régime médiatique. Paris: Gallimard.
Honneth H. (2001). “Invisibility: On the epistemology of ‘Recognition’”, in: Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume, Volume 75, 1, pp. 111–126.
Honneth H. (2002). “Une synthèse de Georg Simmel et de Max Weber”, in: Le Monde, 05/02.
Honneth H. (2008). Reification: a New Look at an Old Idea, with commentaries by J. Butler, R. Geuss, J. Lear, ed. and intr. M. Jay. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Honneth H., Haber S. (2008). “Réification, connaissance, reconnaissance: quelques malentendus”. Esprit 7, pp. 96-107.
Howes D. ed. (1991). The Varieties of Sensory Experience: A Sourcebook in the Anthropology of the Senses. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Kant I. (2006). Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View, trans. and ed. by R. B. Louden. Cambridge, UK. and New York: Cambridge University Press.
Kolnai A. (2004). On Disgust, ed. by B. Smith and C. Korsmeyer. Chicago: Open Court.
Jacquet C. (2010). Philosophie de l’odorat. Paris: PUF.
Lafine F. (2015). Du sensoriel au sens social. Naissance de la pertinence et de la normativité sociale chez le bébé. Paris: L’Harmattan.
Largey G.P., Watson D.R. (1972). “The Sociology of Odors”, in: American Journal of Sociology, 77, 6.
Lecaldano E. (2013). Simpatia. Milano: Cortina.
Low K. (2009). Scents and Scent-sibilities: Smell and Everyday Life Experiences. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Macfarlane A.J. (1975). “Olfaction in the Development of Social Preferences in the Human Neonate”, in: Ciba Foundation Symposium, 33, pp. 103-113.
Mele V. (2011), “Origin, Meaning and Relevance of Simmel’s Sociological Aesthetics”, in Sociology, Aesthetic and the City, ed. by V. Mele. Pisa: Plus-Pisa University Press, pp. 31-57.
Minkowski E. (1999). Vers une cosmologie. Fragments philosophiques. Paris: Payot & Rivages.
Nussbaum M. (2006). Hiding from Humanity: Disgust, Shame, and the Law. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Orwell G. (2001 [1937]). The Road to Wigan Pier. London: Penguin.
Ostrow J. M. (1990). Social Sensitivity. A Study of Habit and Experience. New York: Suny.
Pinotti A. (2013). Empatia, Roma-Bari: Laterza.
Simmel G. (1997 [1903]). “The Metropolis and Mental Life”. In D. Frisby and M. Featherstone (eds.), Simmel on Culture, London: SAGE, pp. 174-185.
Simmel G. (1997 [1905]), “Philosophy of Fashion”. In D. Frisby and M. Featherstone (eds.), Simmel on Culture, London: SAGE, pp. 187-206.
Simmel G. (2009 [1908]). Sociology. Inquiries into the Construction of Social Forms. 2 voll. Translated and edited by A.J. Blasi, A. K. Jacobs, M. Kanjirathinkal, Leiden and Boston: Brill.
Simmel G. (1997 [1909]). “Bridge and door”. In D. Frisby and M. Featherstone (eds.), Simmel on Culture, London: SAGE, pp. 170-174.
Simmel G. (1997 [1910]). “Sociology of the Meal.” In D. Frisby and M. Featherstone (eds.), Simmel on Culture, London: SAGE, pp. 130-135.
Simmel G. (2007 [1912]). “Philosophy of Landscape” in: Theory, Culture, and Society, vol. 24, 7–8, pp. 20–29.
Sloterdijk S. (2016). Spheres. Vol. 3. Foams. South Pasadena, Ca.: Semiotext(e).
Spitzer L. (1963). Classical and Christian Ideas of World Harmony. Prolegomena to an Interpretation of the Word “Stimmung”, ed. A.G. Hatcher, pref. by R. Wellek. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.
Synnott A. (1993). The Body Social: Symbolism, Self and Society. London, Routledge.
Tellenbach H. (1968). Geschmack und Atmosphäre. Medien menschlichen Elementarkontaktes. Salzburg: O. Müller Verlag.
Thouard D. (2012). “Comment lire Simmel” in: Sociologie et sociétés, 44, n. 2, pp. 19-41.
Vannini P., Waskul D., Gottschalk S. (2012). The Senses in Self, Society, and Culture. A Sociology of the Senses. New York and London: Routledge.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
Simmel Studies is published under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence 4.0.
With the licence CC-BY, authors retain the copyright, allowing anyone to download, reuse, re-print, modify, distribute and/or copy their contribution. The work must be properly attributed to its author.
It is not necessary to ask further permissions both to author or journal board.
