Introduction - Allosociality - Bridges and doors to Simmel's social theory of the limit

The conventional understanding of Georg Simmel as a theorist of 'sociation' is expanded and challenged by way of an introduction to the selection of new translations of his writings from 1898 to 1918 published in this Annual Review. The concept of 'allosociality' is suggested as a way of characterizing Simmel's distinctive view of how actions and actors are oriented to, shaped among, and taken over by others. The three 'a prioris' of sociation that preface his 1908 collection Soziologie - typification, membership and commitment - provide a framework for considering the underlying conceptual unity of these essays and their attempts to conceive new social forms. In particular, his reflections on the aesthetic, ethical and metaphysical limits of modern existence are exemplified through his examination of landscapes and cityscapes, of social boundaries and individual duties, and of death and fate. Finally, the alternative social theory of relationality and alterity sketched by Simmel in these texts is shown to connect to recent concerns with the cinematic, molecular and cybernetic transformation of social life.