Simmel's Dialectic of Form and Content in Recent Work in Cultural Sociology.

The concept of "form," and the associated problem of the relationship between "forms" and "contents" is a central theme in Simmel's overall work. This paper shows that recent work in cultural sociology has taken a "Simmelian turn" in conceptualizing how cultural goods can serve as the primary engines of sociation in (post)modern societies. In this, they serve as the most common type of minimal formal content featured in domains characterized by Simmelian sociability. At the same time, there has been a renewed concern with rethinking the dynamics of cultural spread diffusion and their link to cultural identity along Simmelian lines. Here, formal features of cultural goods and consumption styles, such as their quantitative spread, are transmuted into contentful forms, capable of performing semiotic work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]