120          FORMS    OF    SOCIAL    INTERACTIQ
societal life conditions—these are constellations which oi to exhaust the kinds of individual subordination to the í '  " ~L them, the three powers which fill historical life—society ■..'■' . ual, and objectivity—become norm-giving, in this order I;   '.■ do so in such a way that each of them absorbs the social - ■. " the quantity of sup er ordination of society over the indivi.     i''.' a specific manner, each of them forms and presents the p.i-  ,'"' will, and the necessities of society.
8
OSTITUTION
1907
ONLY transactions for money have that character of a .. . momentary relationship which leaves no traces, as is the it h prostitution. With the giving of money, one completely . --aw > from the relationship; one has settled matters more com-.■ than by giving an object, which, by its contents, its selec-nd its use maintains a wisp of the personality of the giver, ■i      -noiiey is an appropriate equivalent to the momentary peak-id I he equally momentary satisfaction of the desire served ■ .dilutes, for money establishes no ties, it is always at hand, .; ' ^ always welcomed. "■1 jni'V is never an adequate means in a relationship between - that depends on duration and integrity—like love, even i it i*- only of short duration. Money serves most matter-of-.1. and completely for venal pleasure which rejects any compilation of the relationship beyond sensual satisfaction: money is impletclv detached from the person and puts an end to any fur-
■ icr rami lications. When one pays money one is completely quits, i*t a«* one is through with the prostitute after satisfaction is .Laincd.
In prostitution, the relation of the sexes is reduced to its generic
■  Mitrnt because it is perfectly unambiguous and limited to the - Ti-ual act. It consists of that which any member of the species can
;rform and experience. The most diverse personalities can engage
From I'hilosophie des Geldes, 2d enlarged edition  (Leipzig: Duncker & Hiimb oi. 1907), pp. 413-18. Translated by Roberta Asb.
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122
FORMS    OF    SOCIAL
INTERACTION
in it and all individual differences appear to be of no impoi Therefore, the economic counterpart of this relation is moni it, too, is beyond all individual differences; it is at the specie of economic value, the representation of what is common Conversely, the nature of money resembles the nature of pj. tion. The indifference with which it lends itself to any use fidelity with which it leaves everyone, its lack of ties to anyc complete objectification that excludes any attachment and it suitable as a pure means—all this suggests a portentous ai between it and prostitution.
Kant stated as a moral law that man is never to be use mere means, but is always to be perceived and treated as ; in himself. Prostitution represents behavior that is the exact on, pošite of this, and indeed, for both parties involved. Of all human relationships, it is perhaps the most significant case of the mutual reduction of two persons to the status of mere means. This may be the most salient and profound factor underlying the very close historic tie between prostitution and the money economy—the economy of "means."
It is for this reason that the terrible humiliation inherent in prostitution finds sharpest expression in its equivalence to money. Certainly the nadir of human dignity is reached when what is most intimate and personal for a woman, that which should be given only on the basis of a genuine individual impulse and only when there is a comparable personal contribution from the man (even though it may have a different meaning for him), is offered for such thoroughly impersonal, externally objective remuneration. We perceive here the most total and painful imbalance between performance and recompense; or rather, the debasement of prostitution lies in the fact that the most personal possession of a woman, her area of greatest reserve, is considered equivalent to the most neutral value of all, one which is most remote from anything that is personal.
This characterization of prostitution in terms of monetary compensation leads, however, to certain contradictory considerations. These must now be discussed in order to let the meaning of money in this matter stand out quite clearly.
The completely personal, intimately individual character whir:h
Prostitution        123
y se;uial contribution of the woman is supposed to have does not >m very consistent with the previously emphasized fact that ejy sensual contact between the sexes is completely general in ture» and that in this contact which is common to all, even to imals> all personality and individual spirit is extinguished. If ,n are inclined to lump all women together and to judge them [íectívely, surely one reason for this is that the feature which ,n—particularly the coarser sort of men-—find particularly at-ctive in women is shared by the seamstress and the princess. So, it seems impossible to find individuated values in the sex-[ function. All other similar universals-—eating and drinking, ■ habitual physiological and psychological activities, the self-preservation drive and the generic logical functions are never strongly entwined with the personality; one never feels that someone expresses his innermost, most essential and most comprehensive being in the behaviors that he indistinguishably shares with everyone else. Nevertheless, the woman's sexual contribution is indisputably anomalous. This completely general act, which is identical for all classes of humanity, is also really viewed—at least for women—as supremely personal, as involving the innermost
self.
This can be understood if one assumes that women in general are more deeply embedded in the species type than are men, who emerge from the species type more differentiated and individualized. From this assumption it would follow first of all that, for women, species characteristics and personal characteristics coincide more. If women are indeed closer to the dark, primitive forces of nature, then their most essential and personal characteristics are more strongly rooted in the most natural, most universal, and most biologically important functions. And it further follows that this unity of womankind in which there is less distinction between universal and individual elements than among men must be reflected in the greater homogeneity of each woman's nature. Experience seems to confirm that the faculties, qualities, and impulses of a woman are more closely interwoven than those of a man, whose elements are more autonomous, so that the development and fate of each is relatively independent of that of the others.
According to general opinion on the matter, the nature of
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FORMS    OF    SOCIAL    INTERACTION
Prostitution          125
woman is much more inclined to all-or-nothing. A woman's tions and activities are more closely linked to each other much easier to stimulate her entire being—-with all its longings, and thoughts—from a single vantage point. If t] deed so, then perhaps there is some truth in the assumption a woman, this single, vital function, with its contributioi part of her self, involves more fully and unreservedly hi person than is true for the more differentiated man in situation. This difference is already apparent in the less stage of the relationship between a man and a woman. Even nr •.-tive peoples set different fines for the bride and groom to na. the event of unilateral abrogation of the engagement; thus. f0 stance, among the Bakaks the bride must pay five florins, but ■ groom must pay ten, and among the people of Bengkula, the tract-breaking bride must pay ten florins, but the groom mu-st    ■ forty. The meaning and the consequences which society ascri to the sexual contact of men and women are also based on lh(   . sumption that the woman contributes her entire self, with all o worth, whereas the man contributes only part of his per-ona   ■. Therefore a girl who has gone astray only once loses her ret ■ ■ tion entirely, a woman's infidelity is more harshly judged lh ■ man's (of whom it seems to be believed that an occasional pi sensual indulgence is compatible with loyalty to his wife in even-spiritual and essential respect), and prostitutes become invilepm-ably declasse; but the worst rake can still rise from the mi re bv virtue of other facets of his personality and no social -latus is closed to him.
Thus, in the purely sensual act, which is the point of prostitution, the man contributes only a minimal part of himself, bul the woman her entire self—not, of course, in every case, bul on the whole. Under these circumstances, the institution of the pimp and the alleged frequency of lesbianism among prostitutes become comprehensible, for in her contacts with men who are never involved as real and whole persons, the prostitute must feel a lerriblf loneliness and dissatisfaction which she seeks to diminish by relationships which involve at least some further aspects of the person;. Neither the thought that the sex act is general and impersonal nor
that objectively the man participates as fully as the woman rate the claim; the contribution of the woman is infinitely ('[•sonal, more substantial, and more ego-involving than the iind thus money is the most inappropriate and inadequate nation, whose offer and acceptance is the greatest possible .-ion of the woman's personality.
■ humiliation of the prostitute does not lie in the polyan-
,iture of prostitution, in her availability to many men; true
|ry often provides women with superior status, as among
(„jili-caste Nayars of India. The key feature of prostitution is
nohandry, but polygyny; for everywhere polygyny incompar-
v diminishes uniqueness of a woman; she has lost the value of
iU- Objectively viewed, prostitution combines polygynous and
vjniirous contacts. But the advantage of the buyer over the seller
-„!-> 11 Lat the polygynous features, which give the man a vast su-
iorily, determine the character of prostitution. Even in affairs
V,11 do not have the remotest resemblance to prostitution, women
1 N embarrassing and humiliating to accept money from their
?(-. ;i (though this feeling often does not extend to nonmonetary
v. J3ut they find enjoyment and satisfaction in giving money to
ir kn ers. It was said of Marlborough that he was successful with
neu because he accepted money from them. The previously in-
.i;rated -uperiority of the buyer over the seller, a superiority which
In pru-litution develops into a formidable social distance, in the
;,viM'd case gives the woman the satisfaction of making depen-
it'iit (in her the one whom she usually respects.
Vm, however, we encounter the striking fact that in many ■iľitijiliwi cultures, prostitution is not considered humiliating, nor ■ioiv> il lead to outcaste status. Similarly, in Asian antiquity, girls ■A .ill classes prostituted themselves to contribute to the temple ':t':M] i y or to acquire a dowry, the latter also being the case among >o!riľ African tribes. The girls, who often include the sovereign's "'.uíglitcr, do not lose their reputation, nor is their later married ![>'■ in any way compromised. This opinion, so different from our "V.u. indicates that the two factors—-women's sexual honor and "Knicj -are related in a basically different way than they are "itnoii^i u 3. Among us prostitution is characterized by the unbridge-
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FORMS    OF    SOCIÁL    INTERACTION
able gap between these two elements; where a totally (Ü! . ,...  . of prostitution is held, these two elements must be cl-- .     ..,'""' in value. This is a counterpart of the development oi      < , i.' .'r monetary penalty for the killing of a person. The ir  i-     .,.    '" phasis on the worth of the individual and the decrea   ■!_    .      ''. money have made the institution of wergeld impossib      '   , process of differentiation which has led to a special     i ." .„\ the individual and has made him unique and inco] ■■   . ,|. i..
made money the measure and equivalent of a complť ■......
type of object; the growing indifference and objecth ■      .....
which this entails has made it seem increasingly ina ■■ i-■:■■; j, .
the balancing of human relations. This imbalance   ....., .;
service and the payment, which in our culture is the most sa! -i ■ feature of prostitution, is not yet to be found in less different' i. cultures.
Explorers report that among a great many savage tribes. wo    . are remarkably similar to  men physically and frequently  :!-.. mentally. This phenomenon is the result of these tribes' lack o ■■. differentiation which provides the more cultivated woman am i sexual honor with a value that cannot be matched by money, if she seems less differentiated and less phylogenetically sporia  • ■. than the men of her milieu. Attitudes toward prostitution imc-the same development that can be observed in the case of cc-1> -. astical penance and blood money: human beings and their v '   -are relatively unindividualistic in primitive periods, whereas o ■■ .■■ to its rarity and infrequent use, money is relatively mom ■■   ■ vidualized. As development causes the two to diverge, the cmv. balancing of the two either becomes impossible or where it sists, as in prostitution, it leads to a terrible suppression of per-dignity.
it
LIABILITY
010
i'HERE is an old conflict over the nature of society. One -ifio mystically exaggerates its significance, contending that only iroujili -ociety is human life endowed with reality. The other re-ard? it 'J* a mere abstract concept by means of which the observer raws tí»' realities, which are individual human beings, into a hole, a? one calls trees and brooks, houses and meadows, a "land--'ajK'." However one decides this conflict, he must allow society , he a reality in a double sense. On the one hand are the individ-ils in [heir directly perceptible existence, the bearers of the -ociv^'.- of association, who are united by these processes into ť higher unity which one calls "society"; on the other hand, the Inv-ts which, living in the individuals, motivate such union: eco-iiriic and ideal interests, warlike and erotic, religious and chari-hle. To satisfy such urges and to attain such purposes arise the numerable forms of social life, all the with-one-another, for-one-ollier, in-one-another, against-one-another, and through-one-other, in state and commune, in church and economic associa-iii-j. in family and clubs. The energy effects of atoms upon each ifir bring matter into the innumerable forms which we see as íinjrs." Just so the impulses and interests which a man experi-ccs in himself and which push him out toward other men bring
Reprinted from "The Sociology of Sociability," American Journal of Soci-ö-Vr 55, no. 3 (Nov. 1949). Translated by Everett C. Hughes. Originally ;ni;i)ished as "Soziologie der Geselligkeit," in Verhandlungen des I. ík-tseken Soziologentages (1910) (1911).
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