Abstracts
Abstract
This paper develops a relational account of queer subjectivity by bringing the sociology of Georg Simmel into dialogue with contemporary queer theory. Rather than treating Simmel as a precursor, the article mobilizes his conceptual framework – particularly the notion of Wechselwirkung – as a resource for rethinking identity as a process emerging from dynamic social relations. The central argument is that Simmel’s formal sociology offers a relational ontology structurally compatible with queer critiques of identity as fixed and self-identical. Through an analysis of key sociological forms – such as fashion, the stranger, and money – the paper shows how subjectivity is constituted, stabilized, and destabilized within specific configurations of social interaction. These figures reveal identity as a process of repetition, liminal belonging, and abstraction, rather than as a stable ontological ground. By integrating Simmelian sociology with insights from queer theory, the article contributes to both fields. It expands the interpretative potential of Simmel’s work beyond its traditional reception, while providing queer theory with a sociologically grounded account of relational subjectivity. In doing so, it advances the idea of a negative ontology in which identity is understood as an open, processual, and continually negotiated form.
Appendices
Bibliography
- Ahmed S. (2000). Strange Encounters: Embodied Others in Post-Coloniality. London: Routledge.Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Ahmed S. (2006). Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others. Durham: Duke University Press.10.1215/9780822388074 Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Bersani L. (1995). Homos. Harvard: Harvard University Press.10.4159/9780674020870 Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Bonolis M. (2007). Storicità e storia della sociologia. Milano: FrancoAngeli.Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Bonolis M. (2018), “Esistenza e struttura in Simmel”, in: Bonolis M., and C. Lombardo (Eds.), Ritorno a Simmel. Saggi sull’eredità di un classico. Milano: FrancoAngeli, pp. 19-41.Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Boudon R. (1989). “La teoria della conoscenza nella ‘Filosofia del denaro’ di Simmel”, in: Rassegna Italiana di Sociologia, 4, pp. 473-501.Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Butler J. (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Butler J. (1993). Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex”. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- De Lauretis T. (1991). “Queer theory: Lesbian and gay sexualities”, in: Differences, 3(2), iii–xviii.10.1215/10407391-3-2-iii Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Edelman L. (2004). No future: Queer theory and the death drive. Durham: Duke University Press.10.1215/9780822385981 Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Frisby D. (1984). Georg Simmel. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Green A. I. (2007). “Queer theory and sociology: Locating the subject and the self in sexuality studies”, in: Sociological Theory, 25(1), pp. 26-45.10.1111/j.1467-9558.2007.00296.x Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Guizzardi L. (2025). “Esthétique queer: réflexion sur le queer à partir de Georg Simmel”, in: The Lab’s Quarterly, XXVII, 2, pp. 89-112.Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Halberstam J. (2011). The Queer Art of Failure. Durham: Duke University Press.10.1215/9780822394358 Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Haraway D. J. (1991), “A cyborg manifesto: Science, technology, and socialist-feminism in the late twentieth century”, in: Haraway D. J. (Ed.), Simians, cyborgs, and women: The reinvention of nature. New York-London: Routledge, pp. 149-181.Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Laing R. D. (1967). The politics of experience. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Levine D. N. (1971), “Introduction”, in: Simmel G. (Ed.), On Individuality and Social Forms. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.10.7208/chicago/9780226924694.001.0001 Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Nedelman B. (1989). “Georg Simmel e la sua analisi dei processi autonomi: il carosello da remoto”, in: Rassegna Italiana di Sociologia, 4, pp. 569-584.Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Piontek T. (2006). Queering Gay and Lesbian Studies. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Preciado P. B. (2008). Testo Junkie: Sex, Drugs, and Biopolitics in the Pharmacopornographic Era. Paris: Grasset & Fasquelle.Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Ritzer G., and J. Stepnisky (2018). Teoria sociologica (10ª ed. it.). Milano: McGraw-Hill Education.Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Sedgwick E. K. (1990). Epistemology of the Closet. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Sedgwick E. K. (2003). Touching Feeling: Affect, Pedagogy, Performativity. Durham: Duke University Press.10.1215/9780822384786 Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Simmel G. (1900). Philosophie des Geldes. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot.Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Simmel G. (1905). Philosophie der Mode. Leipzig: Pan-Verlag.Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Simmel G. (1908). Soziologie. Untersuchungen über die Formen der Vergesellschaftung. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot.Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Simmel G. (1917). Grundfragen der Soziologie. Individuum und Gesellschaft. Berlin: Pan-Verlag.Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Sonzogni B., and G. D’Ambrosio (2026, forthcoming). La modernità riflessiva: i (dis)legami sociali e il paradosso profetico di Hume. In: Legami sociali. Prospettive per una società post neo-liberista.Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Sonzogni B., and E. De Santis (2026, forthcoming). Baricentri emozionali. La noia come bussola in un mondo di mappe mobili. Milano: Mimesis.Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar
- Wiegman R., and E. A. Wilson (2015). “Introduction: Antinormativity’s queer conventions”, in: Differences, 26(1), pp. 1-25.10.1215/10407391-2880582 Google Scholar Search this bibliographic reference on Google Scholar