George Simmel's On Individuality And Social Forms: Formal Analysis

Forms of sociation are patterns of connecting with one another that shape one’s personality. For instance, in George Simmel’s On Individuality And Social Forms, he believes that fashion can makes one feel connected or isolated to a group (Fashion, 301). An example of this was when I was given a pair of shoes, called the Air Jordan 11 Retro Low Concords by a loved one. As I did my research, I found out that there were only a limited supply and a culture known as the “shoe game” existed. It started back in the 1990’s with Michael Jordan and his shoes, the Jordan 1’s. When people saw him in playoffs, they saw the shoes he wore and because they wanted to be like him, they bought the same ones. Since then, fans of basketball, hip hop culture and

For example, if people saw me wear Concords, they would categorize me as being into basketball or hip hop. It is also mostly guys who are wearing basketball shoes that notice my shoes. Therefore, it makes me feel masculine and makes me feel like I belong to the basketball or hip hop culture, but at the same time, I feel like I do not belong to a certain group. Thus, fashion is different in ethnics group, gender, and class because it serves to unite people or to establish a separation from other groups. It originated from women in order to make up for their disadvantage status, middle class in order to increase their social status and marginal social groups for their lack of social importance and cities for social density and wealth (Fashion, 310). Therefore, fashion play an important role in our lives back then and

Many know this, but at times, it just feels very propelling. An example of this would be when people know the release date of the shoe and wait for hours before the store opens, just to be caught up in the trend. However, it has a life cycle because it diffuses very quickly. For example, you can buy the newest shoe, but if two weeks past by and a new style comes out, the shoes that you just bought is no longer in fashion. Therefore, every style has an expiration date. Because we see the time and effort, people put into buying shoes, we catch ourselves also intrigued. Therefore, fashion is social, because we would notice what people are wearing and copy them, which is known as imitation, such as when people bought the Jordan 1’s because Michael Jordan wore them. This connects back to Simmel’s idea because imitation gives individual the satisfaction of not standing alone in his actions, free from choosing and appear “simply as a creature of the group, as a vessel of the social contents” (Fashion, 295). Therefore, it is through fashion and imitation, we find a sense of belonging to a group that has a similar taste to