Review Essay: Radicalism and the Cash Nexus

Geldes and replete with the evaluative comments of the contemporary great as well as those of later generations. This introduction includes too a neat section dealing with divergences between Simmel and Marx in the treatment of money and the theory of value. Another strength of the introduction is a highlighting of the aesthetic dimension of Simmel's writing, with the point de depart again being the perceptive observations of Simmel's contemporaries. It is not an accident that, alone among the founding fathers of sociology, Simmel also produced monographs on Goethe and Rembrandt; these are not compartmentalized activities. If the introduction is generally lively in its presentation of the views of others and in making clear what the translators think about what others thought of Simmel's work, it is not so direct or detailed on how the translators themselves esteem The Philosophy of Money. Nor, of course, is opinion ever likely to be undivided on the question of the book's importance for us. There is clearly a major sense in which The Philosophy of Money is a disruptive force for the accepted wisdom of modern sociology: it dethrones industrialism as the determining force of modern society. This is perhaps beguiling, since Simmel's characterization of modern society-in Philosophie des Geldes and elsewhere-is not, putting it on a broad canvas, inconsistent with that presented by other founding fathers. The key difference is that he is working out not the implications of industrialization but those of the money economy. It may not at first sight be obvious how radical this is. Simmel, for instance, sees structural differentiation-though he does not use this term-as the concomitant of the money economy. The emergence of the professions, a recherche form of the division of labor, occurs within the money economy. This economy is associated with rationalization, calculation, the distancing of man from nature, and the objectification of culture. Even fashion is a by-product of the money economy, offering simultaneously the virtue of conformity and the gratification of distinctive