Simmel on Sexuality

Essay from the year 2011 in the subject Sociology - Classics and Theoretical Directions, grade: Distinction, London School of Economics, language: English, abstract: Simmel was following his own research agenda, which he sketched in his 'Problem of Sociology' (Simmel, 1971a). For him, the aim of sociology was to study 'the objective reality of sociation' (35), essentially those processes of interaction, which he differentiated into 'social form' and 'content' (24). During his career, Simmel himself investigated many of those forms , but excluded sexuality from his writing. Although it is possible to trace thoughts about sexuality within his accounts, none of his essays was tackling this form of human interaction explicitly. In the course of this essay, it will nevertheless be attempted to describe the form of sexuality in Simmelian terms being a reciprocal interaction characterised by the duality of love and lust. After the investigation of sexuality as a 'pure form' in terms of the categories introduced above, two exemplary 'contents' will be looked at following Simmel's own fragmentary style. Choosing pornography and celibacy as contrasting and extreme examples, one might be able to test the validity of the account given beforehand and examine the relicts of sexuality per se in far-removed contents. However, first of all, a Simmelian analysis of sexuality as such will be given in the following first paragraphs.