"Of those who created the intellectual capital used to launch the enterprise of professional sociology, Georg Simmel was perhaps the most original and fecund. In search of a subject matter for sociology that would distinguish it from all other social sciences and humanistic disciplines, he charted a new field for discovery and proceeded to explore a world of novel topics in works that have guided and anticipated the thinking of generations of sociologists. Such distinctive concepts of contemporary sociology as social distance, marginality, urbanism as a way of life, role-playing, social behavior as exchange, conflict as an integrating process, dyadic encounter, circular interaction, reference groups as perspectives, and sociological ambivalence embody ideas which Simmel adumbrated more than six decades ago."--Donald N. Levine
Half of the material included in this edition of Simmel's writings represents new translations. This includes Simmel's important, lengthy, and previously untranslated "Group Expansion and Development of Individuality," as well as three selections from his most neglected work, "Philosophy of Money"; in addition, the introduction to "Probleme der Geschichtsphilosophie," chapter one of the "Lebensanschauung," and three essays are translated for the first time.

《中国人的脸面观:形式主义的心理动因与社会表征》内容简介：“脸”与“面子”曾被文化观察家们看成是中国人性格的第一特征，是中国精神的纲领，或是统治中国人灵魂的女神。近代以来，许多海内外观察家、文学家、外交家及学者都不约而同地意识到了它的重要性，并做过一定的描述与讨论。此书是迄今为止由中国学者写出的第一本有关此议题的学术专著。书中以科际整合的视角，独到的方法，首先对以往的议论和研究进行了评价与小结，然后通过对脸和面子的再定义，分别从脸面的原型、脸面的内核、脸面的模式、脸面的功能等几个方面，系统而详实地研究了脸面对于中国人生存与发展的重要意义。整《中国人的脸面观:形式主义的心理动因与社会表征》贯彻始终的思路都在于回答这样一个问题：中国人的精神特质及其表现是如何从实在性走向形式性的。