In this context the problem is that of retaining individuality and making oneself noticeable. Where each individual has the freedom to ignore the other, it is not clear how they would gain self-esteem without gaining attention from others. Others’ perception of ourselves is important in building one’s self-image but it is now all the more so. The overall pattern of these reflections of other people’s opinions becomes a dominant aspect or our own identities. ²

The question that Simmel poses is if one’s self-conception/self-esteem is so much dependent on other’s opinion, what happens in a blasé world? One continually struggles to maintain one’s individuality. Not only one’s own individuality; it is in this modern world that we attach uniqueness towards others—to all our relations.  

The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries had rendered the gemeinschaft bond meaningless and had promoted equality and liberty — but now in the context of endless freedom and alienation the modern mind is suffering from the absence of everyday, community-based interactions and certainties of the gemeinschaft world. The whole process is a struggle and our task, says Simmel, is not to condone or complain but to understand.