Question

Briefly describe Simmel’s ideas about how life in the city transforms a person

Answer 1

According to Simmel, each individual nerve life becomes intensified and modern people become hypersensitive. To avoid this intense pressure, they create a distance between themselves and the physical and social surroundings. To guard themselves from an increasing number of impressions, a person in the city tries to shut out reality. In this way, a characteristic blase state of mind emerges among modern city dwellers. They become reserved and have to develop certain distance from their surroundings in order to survive. Ultimately, the hypersensitivity of modern man places him in a vacuum.