URBAN SOCIOLOGY (SEMESTER-5) METROPOLIS AND MENTAL LIFE (George Simmel)

The opportunities cities offer , compel men to migrate to urban areas and history witnesses that how it changes man to a completely different person . Urban culture gets diffused in their lifestyle and their way to interact and behave changes. In the essay "metropolis and mental life" , George simmel has shown how city is not merely about living in a particular place, and it impacts individual's way of life. He contrasts between urban culture and rural culture , citing it objective and subjective respectively. Simmel also addresses the difference in intensity of stimuli an individual receives between the metropolis and rural areas and stresses on other characteristics of urbanism that impact men. 

 Urban objectivity: objective subjective dichotomy Simmel focused on two forms of culture, found either in the small town or the large city- subjective and objective. He found that a key urban problem was the increased objective culture. In an objective culture, individuals are not fully engaged in the culture of the community; they are detached from the community. Whereas Subjective culture, prevalent in small towns, has more meaning to an individual than objective. There is a higher level of attachment to a subjective culture and there is more interaction between individuals. In cities , which have high population density, the interaction is less and hence the social relationship is less emotional and more rational , as also pointed out by Louis Wirth in his work "urbanism as a way of life". 

 Increased objective culture in urban society can be linked with - urbanisation (commercialisation) , division of labor, and money. According to Simmel, entrepreneurship in the urban environment is a major factor leading to the increase in division of labor, rather than a communal effort. With the increased commercial activity that followed urbanization, division of labour became important , which focused on specific or fixed work. This led to increasing focus on obtaining money, which reduces the amount of emotional attachments and intimate ties one has with others. Additionally, in the urban environment, there are great no. Of social groups to choose to engage with and so individual can chose the group he /she wants. This in a sense provides freedom to individual. Metropolitan rational groups:- In town there are traditional groups which are characterized by intimate relations and good social ties. These groups are limited in number and people living in in town have less choices. In contrast, in urban settings the groups are calculated and methodically engineered. These are called rational groups and they are goal oriented with some objective and in mind. These are voluntary groups and members of this group have complex relationships ,which are not that close. Simmel suggests that complex groups and relationships, as are found in the city, can increase the level of stimuli and contribute to the blasé metropolitan attitude. Metropolitans and intellectualistic character (Blasé attitude and individuality ) In metropolis, the level of intensity of stimuli is very high that it is impossible for an individual to absorb and react to each and every event that occurs around him and so metropolis entails a situation where one must buffer him or herself from a constantly changing environment. Thus, a metropolitan person develops the blasé attitude, which protects the individual from being overwhelmed by the high intensity of disruptions from the society. Simmel described blase attitude as an attitude of absolute boredom and lack of concern , in which one doesn't react to the surrounding conditions. Simmel also suggests that the money and the economic aspects of metropolitan life further impacts an individual from developing the ‘blasé attitude’. The blasé attitude resonates with me and with everyone Living in city. In metros and public places we often pretend to be so busy with our own work and avoid interaction as much as we can - why It is totally weird to sit next to someone when there are other seats open?

 In Bollywood movies also , which show the contrast between rural and urban settlements ,the depicted urban life is characterized by blasé attitude, where they are not engaged in interaction with the people of their society-( Hindi medium , if I could name one , shows how blasé attitude is a characteristic feature of urban life. ) This shows how people interact on public transit in a city . It is similar to how Simmel explains the blasé outlook where everyone makes an effort to avoid each other and remain in their own bubble. Thus city people react with their heads and not their hearts, and don't engage the "depths of the personality." Basically, that's another way of saying that life conditions in the city prevent the development of customary ways of living, of deeply held traditions that pattern life, allowing people to saunter about feeling deeply about everything since the "rational" response to everyday events is already encoded and has been passed down through generations.

 All relations are personal, and thus emotionally mediated. Whereas city people must deal with ever-shifting contexts, and therefore they must adopt what in comparison seems a blasé attitude to protect themselves. Reservation and freedom:- Through blasé attitude, individual in urban society or cities maintain its individuality and it's free to do whatever he wants to. In that sense urban cities are characterized by freedom and individuality, where an individual can be reserved to himself.