THE BLAS AND THE ADVENTURE

SEACHANGE THROUGH SIMMEL

Nicholas Osbaldiston

Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

n.osbaldiston@qut.edu.au

1 INTRODUCTION
The aim of this paper is to not engage thoroughly with the Australian movement that has
been loosely termed as Seachange, but rather, it is to critically engage with data
emerging from this phenomenon using social theoretical perspective from Georg Simmel.
The reason for proceeding with this analysis is to provide further credence to the already
well acknowledged brilliance of Simmels social theory. Furthermore, by doing so, we will
be see that this authors work is more than useful for examining the movements of
post/late/high modernity. This is perhaps largely due to the ability of Simmels theory to
transcend boundaries between disciplines and provide a variety of theoretical
perspectives (Featherstone, 1991, p2). However, further to this, Simmels sociology
appears to have an uncanny ability to correspond with much of what is being written on
the subject of the aesthetic postmodern culture in contemporary times. Such comparison
advocated Simmels title as a postmodernist in advance of the discourse (Weinstein and
Weinstein, 1991, p152). It is not the case of this paper to engage deeply in such a
discourse, rather, the simple purpose is to illustrate effectively the deepness of Simmels
analysis which provides him with the aforementioned title. By using interview data
collected by the author himself and through another project run by Dowling (2004), it will
be shown that Simmels work in the area of the metropolis and leisure, provides
sufficient and engaging analysis of Seachange.

2 DISCUSSION
2.1 THE BLAS AND THE ADVENTURE SEACHANGE THROUGH
SIMMEL

2.1.1 THE AUSTRALIAN SEACHANGE MOVEMENT

Before we begin discussion on Simmel, it is pertinent that we consider what the
Seachange social movement entails. The concept itself as a word has many definitions.
Metaphorically, the term can mean simply a radical change in various aspects of lifestyle,
management or business. However, popular culture has defined the word to symbolise
the movement away from metropolitan areas to certain favoured non-metropolitan
areas (Burnley and Murphy, 2004, p3). Most who do so also undertake a radicalisation in
lifestyle such as that associated with downshifting which corresponds to the
downgrading of career choice to perceived less stressful occupations. In the United
States, this kind of reflexive choice obtains the name of voluntary simplicity (Schor,
1998) which is often accompanied by a shift away from the metropolis. Furthermore, the
spread of cities across regional areas is not unfamiliar in European areas perhaps as a
direct result of the recent disorganisation of Capitalism (Lash and Urry, 1987) .
However, the Australian Seachange movement, in its current shape, is a relatively recent
phenomenon with a slight difference to the aforementioned overseas cases. It usually
involves some type of retreatism away from the city as a direct result of various
psychological factors including stress, anxiety and comfort. Often, there is a perception
that the countryside or the beach provides a dichotomous relationship to the city and is
considered to be the location for a better life.

It is important to recognise, however, that there is a variety of levels that one can
participate in with Seachange. The rise of perimetropolitan communities that exist just
outside of the metropolitan region attests that the modern individual is seeking
something beyond what the city has to offer without losing the comforts or employment
that the city has to offer (Burnley and Murphey, 2004, p3; Osbaldiston, 2006). This
perhaps is interesting to considering Simmels view of the ambivalence of culture in
modernity (Nedelmann, 1991) i . However, discussion on this is beyond the scope of this
paper. Rather, theoretical discussion on the issue itself with illustrated reference to
Seachangers themselves is sought.

2.1.2 COMMUNITY MINDEDNESS, SOCIABILITY AND THE BLAS RURAL

One of Simmels major contributions of theoretical insight as a flneur or bricoleur
(Weinstein and Weinstein, 1991) ii , is his intensive review of the modern metropolis.
Throughout his writing on this subject, Simmel reveals his dialectic by positioning the city
in direct contrast to the regional. This is somewhat interesting and certainly not without
criticism for Simmel himself was reported to have little connection to the non-
metropolitan. We are left to assume therefore that Simmel engaged in more than a little
conjecture about life outside the reaches of the metropolitan culture (Brody, 1982, p79).
Indeed, Simmels lack of scientific methodological reasoning caused contemporaries such
as Durkheim ([1900] 1991, p66) to criticise his work as a type of hybrid-illegitimate
speculation. Yet, as will be shown shortly, Simmels intuitive ability to understand the
differences between city and rural lifestyle is part of his genius especially when
considering the phenomenon of Seachange.

Simmel spent considerable time investigating the Sociology of Space and its relationship
to Sociability. Using a Kantian dialectic, Simmel (1903 [1997], p138) proposes that the
spatial conditions of a sociation contain sociologically significant properties and
determinants which could be extracted for study. However, in his examination of the
metropolis, Simmel focuses more fully on the psychological effect of what he viewed as
the increasing intensification of nervous stimulation (Simmel, 1903 [1997], p175). This
he argues is a direct result of the swift and uninterrupted change of outer and inner
stimuli (Simmel, 1903 [1997], p175). Furthermore,

Man is a differentiating creature. His mind is stimulated by a difference

between a momentary impression and the one which preceded it.
Lasting impressions, impressions which differ only slightly from one
another, impressions which take a regular and habitual course and show
regular and habitual contrasts all these use up, so to speak, less
consciousness than does the rapid crowding of changing images, the
sharp discontinuity in the grasp of a single glance, and the
unexpectedness of onrushing impressions. These are the psychological
conditions which the metropolis creates (Simmel, 1903 [1997], p175).

In other words, the speed and aesthetically overwhelming imagery of the city life is
directly contrasted to what an individual is able to keep pace with. As opposed to small
town and rural life, the individual is forced to develop an organ which protects them
from the threatening currents and discrepancies of his external environment which would
uproot him (Simmel, 1903 [1997], p176). Herein lays the problem or crisis of culture,
Man reacts his head instead of his heart (Simmel, 1903 [1997], p176).

As already mentioned, the increase of nervous stimulation that arrives from the
aesthetically sporadic and accelerated city life creates a change in the psychological
reasoning of the individual. Furthermore, Frisby (1986, p73) writes,
 In its extreme form, this constant bombardment of the senses with new
or ever changing impressions, produces neurasthenic personality which,
ultimately, can no longer cope with this jostling array of impressions and
confrontations. This leads to attempts to create distance between
ourselves and our social and physical environment.

This individually created distance is for Simmel a natural or emotional reaction to the
increasing objectification of modern life through the money economy. Individuals face
being oppressed by the externalities of modern life and as such create psychological
distance between themselves and their social and physical environment (cited in Frisby,
1986, p73). This reserve then has direct ramification for the sociality of metropolitan life.
Simmel (1903 [1997], p179) almost laments that as a result of this reserve we
frequently do not even know by sight those who have been our neighbours for years.
Again he contrasts this with the rural life by suggesting that and it is this reserve which
in the eyes of the small-town people makes us appear to be cold and heartless (Simmel,
1903 [1997], p179). We are left to contemplate once more how Simmel came to such
conclusions without engaging with the non-metropolitan. Yet there is sufficient substance
in what Simmel suggests here.

For instance, in describing her observations of metropolitan individuals who attempt to

make a Seachange into smaller rural communities, New South Wales resident Hannah
finds this psychological reserve of which Simmel theorises, prevents some from opening
up. She suggests,

because theyve come from an urban environment they cant easily just
openly interact with people cause theyre so fearful people. They just
cant adapt to the idea that its ok to be spontaneous and interact with
people and say gday to people and just come up to you and just waffle
on. Theyre horrified by that.

Hannah later criticises this urban reserve as being a contributing factor to the crime
problem associated with the metropolis as opposed to the regional. She argues,

when people are not familiar to one another I think its a lot easier for
them to commit crimes because of the anonymity whereas in a regional
area if you do that youre far more conspicuous and less inclined to do it.

Hannahs thoughts are complimented by those of Luanne who suggests that her removal
from the city through the medium of Seachange was a result of being sick of the lack of
community mindednesses. She suggests almost sarcastically that one of the risks of city
life is associated with lack of concern for others welfare.

Well I suppose there is the risk of dying in your flat and nobody finding
you for six months, Ive read a few of those lately.

However, is sociability any different in these preferred nonmetropolitan environments?

For Seachanger Liz who got involved in an intentional community, the sociability of her
new environment is one where trust is now afforded with her neighbours. She describes
her neighbours as close friends who,

Dont live in each others pockets. Sometimes Ill go a week or more

without bumping into one of the others. We have meetings once every
few weeks to go over any issues, but apart from that, we only get as
involved with each others lives as much as we want to. To me, its the
best of worlds you have plenty of trusted people close at hand to help
you out when you need it, but you also have your own space (cited in
Dowling, 2005, p69, Italics added)
Such sentiments appear to validate Simmels dichotomous view of the city personality
compared to the regional. Furthermore, it is also worth whilst considering another
modern day technological phenomenon such as iPods or MP3 players which give the
individual further social solidarity by removing unwanted intrusion into a realm of
private sanctuary (Bull, 2005, p354). Thus delineating any social interaction and in this
papers opinion, providing a technological mean to maintain the agoraphobic distance
required for the modern metropolitan. Yet it is not just the reserve which Simmel views
as part of the effect of the metropolis on the individual psyche.

To compliment the psychological reserve that is ingrained in the individual, the money
economy produces another psychological response to modern metropolitan life. Simmel
(1903 [1997], p178) writes thus,

There is perhaps no psychic phenomenon which has been so

unconditionally reserved to the metropolis as has the blas attitudeA
life in boundless pursuit of pleasure makes on blas because it agitates
the nerves to their strongest reactivity for such a long time that they
finally cease to react at allAn incapacity thus emerges to react to new
sensations with the appropriate energy.

The blas attitude however is not an individual response to overwhelming stimuli, rather
a result of the flatness of the money economy. Money itself reduces everything to
calculative properties and irreparably it hollows out the core of things, their
individuality, their specific value and their incomparability (Simmel 1903 [1997], p178).
As such, the individual is left with two paradoxical new conditions. First, they view the
objective world as continually colourless and without interest and second there emerges
the craving for excitement, for extreme impressions. Therefore, for Simmel (1897
[1997], p220), the power of capitalism which produces these emotional responses
extends over all ideas or concepts. When reviewing the data surrounding Seachanger
discourse on city life, these two conditions are easily identified.

Specifically we return to Luanne who views the city as a place of risk for a number of
reasons. One of which is the blas attitude that one can develop by living in the
metropolis. She suggests that her Seachange was a result of being tired of that
condition.

I think I just got sick on the crowdedness of Sydney. I got sick of the
traffic. I got sick of the fake lifestyle really, you know no community
mindedness everybody is so, so solitary so, you know encapsulated in
their own sort of space and just seem to about just achieving money and
not caring about the planet and stuff like that. (Italics added for
emphasis)

She suggests that this is an attitude which affected her and one she has escaped since
her Seachange.

I mean when I lived in Sydneyand Ive always been interested in

Animals and you know the planet per se, but I never managed to move
my bum where I just seem to do more of it up here. You just seem to be
so busy doing other stuff you know, I wasnt even working. But since
Ive been up here Ive been fighting with the community to not put high
rises up...and I wouldnt have bothered in Sydney (Italics added for
emphasis).

In addition to such comments, Hannah suggests that the blas attitude is associated
somewhat with the focus on consumption or obtaining individual objects. This is similar
to what Simmel suggests as the craving for individual excitement or self satisfaction
which almost immediately withdraws oneself from the happenings of people around
them. Hannah laments,
 I think that there is more of a focus on self-preoccupation, I think its
encouraging people to be individual global citizens that are a bit
preoccupied with and fascinated with their own stuff and that alienates
them even further really. Yeah it just seems to me like its almost, it
sounds dramatic to say this, but nearly the death of the souls of the
people.

2.1.3 RECAPTURING LEISURE ADVENTURE AWAY FROM THE CITY.

Is there any escape, therefore, from the mentally exhausting and psychologically
damaging effects of the metropolis? For Simmel, the leisure pursuits of the individual
after a typical day are based solely on the process of energy-saving. Once more using a
counterpoint strategy, Simmel (1893 [1997], p261) explains that in earlier times, it
would have been possible for an individual to be refreshed by Goethe or Shakespeare.
Yet in the modern metropolis the individual is left with sapped strength and no longer
leaves us with as much strength for recreation. As such, thing must be made
comfortable for us and leisure is defined by amusing ourselves according to the principle
of energy conservation (Simmel, 1893 [1997], p261). Such observations are certainly
not without merit in post/late/high modern culture. Much of what is found in the pursuit
of contemporary leisure in the forms of television, DVDs and other energy saving
devices which require little engagement of the senses and intellect proliferate the
average consumers home in advanced capitalist societies. Furthermore, as was
appreciated above, when separated from the metropolitan, some Seachangers
themselves have found more rewarding and stimulating community activities which are
juxtaposed to those found in the blas metropolis. However, whether Seachange can be
considered free from the bounds of capitalism is yet to be discovered. For Simmel, there
are two sites of meaningful leisure separated from the power of the money economy.
They are sociability and adventure.

For the rest of this paper, we shall examine the later of these two states. In simple
terms, adventure involves the dropping out of the continuity of life (Simmel, 1910
[1997], p222). Further to this Simmel (1910 [1997], p225-226) considers that,

In the adventurewe forcibly pull the world into ourselves. This becomes
clear when we compare the adventure with the manner in which we
wrest the gifts of the world through work. Work, so to speak has an
organic relation to the worldwhereas adventure we have a non-organic
relation to the world. Adventure has the gesture of the conqueror, the
quick seizure of opportunity, regardless of whether the portion we carve
out is harmonious or disharmonious with us, with the world, or with the
relation between us and the world.

To compliment this oppositional relationship between adventure and work, Simmel (1910
[1997], p226) approaches the individual fatalistic attitude of the adventurer. For in the
adventure the individual proceeds in an opposite fashion to the organic relation to the
world by risking chance, or burn our bridges in order to proceed on the journey. Yet
despite this, the adventure is finite with a beginning and an end (Simmel, 1910
[1997], p224). Furthermore, the lived or remembered adventure tends to take on the
quality of a dream where the memory takes on a position out of ordinary life-context. It
is not hard therefore, to identify the special place that adventure holds in contemporary
life. The dichotomy between work and adventure is well utilised in the world of
commodity to lure potential consumers to various products (Frisby, 1992, p133). This is
important to recognise especially for the tourist industry which thrives upon images of
adventure which almost certainly take on the quality of a dream.

Links between the modern adventurer as per Simmel and Seachange are again easily
traced. First, Seachangers themselves are consistent with the fatalistic attitude by
engaging with risk-taking actions in order to secure subjectively identified better lives
(Osbaldiston, 2006) iii . However, the connection of the adventure to a dream-like state
is where the data illustrates Simmels usefulness more extensively.

Consistently throughout analysis of Seachange, numerous metropolitan individuals

connected the possibility of engaging with the social movement, to a dream that had
considered. For instance, Leon proposes that,

Oh yeah everyone has that dream of giving the finger to the city and
going out to sea at the end of your life, but yeah I think its probably a
nice dream at the moment, but whether its going to be a reality or not.

Another contemporary metropolitan, Rachel, also suggests that I think in a way Ive had
little dreams that I would like to get away. Some Seachangers find themselves in trouble
because of their attempt to secure the dream like or romantic fantasy that is involved
with the move. Gillian from Victoria for example identifies these people as those who,
like the romanticism of it but dont think through what is going to happen. This type of
anti-reflexive attitude emerges as a direct result of the adventurous nature of
Seachange and its connection to the dream-like. In Dowlings (2005, p62) research, one
Seachanger suggests that Id always dreamt of escaping, just living quietly, growing my
own food. Another, Dowling (2005, p86) suggests, had always dreamt of living on a
boat and as such decided to sell everything and leave the metropolitan. Yet the most
interesting aspect of Seachange is the oppositional attitude that it has to work for the
participants. For instance, Gillian suggests that for her the employment she was involved
with in the city fostered a deep unhappiness. However, her Seachange or adventure to
use Simmelian terms, provides her with a location which is peaceful as opposed to the
stress of city life. For Seachanger Murray, the juxtaposition between the work in the city
and work in his new location was one where he made a choice between years and years
of just unrelenting hard work or a much more even lifestyle. Therefore, he and his
family took a large risk by removing themselves from the metropolis and relocating to
their current location.

However despite the connection we can make of Simmels adventure to the Seachange
phenomenon, we come across one large discrepancy. For Simmel adventure is finite.
Seachange seeks to maintain that dream or fantasy like state in permanency. It is
obvious that further theoretical work would need to be undertaken to reconcile the
differences.

3 CONCLUSIONS
This paper has not given an extensive overview of Simmels massive contribution to
cultural theory. Nor has it provided an in depth analysis of the social phenomenon of
Seachange. Rather, by highlighting areas of Simmels work on the Metropolis and its
effect for the individual psyche and also for contemporary leisure, his social theory is
more than useful for explaining contemporary social phenomenon such as Seachange. It
is clear from the data shown above that Seachangers did identify the blas attitude and
the psychological reserve to which Simmel attributed to the modern metropolitan mind.
Furthermore, by use of Simmels work on the adventure we can begin to view
Seachange as a possible escape from the all encompassing metropolitan culture.
However, questions still remain unanswered as to whether Seachange can be
characterised in such a manner. For the recent transformations and commodification of
Seachange amongst Australian culture and business leaves one to ponder whether the
power of capitalism has extended itself over this social phenomenon as well. That
question remains unanswered at this time.
4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Author would like to Acknowledge and Thank Professor Gavin Kendall for his insights
into the composing of this paper.

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i
It is worth mentioning that such an analysis is the current authors research in progress. The idea
that an individual oscillates between the objective and subjective culture is one which Nedelmann
(1991) discusses well in her piece. Using such this type of theoretical work could possibly be
undertaken in analysing the individuals negotiation between the postmaterialist tendencies of
advanced capitalist life and the consumer ethic. This could suggest reasons for etches of
consumerism that occur in Seachange locations and furthermore, why areas such as the
perimetropolitan grow in popularity. It is suggested that postmaterialism is encroaching on
lifestyle choices in contemporary advanced capitalist economies across the western world.
However, this is the subject of larger theoretical investigation.
ii
For more on this issue, see the aforementioned authors. Whilst it was established that like
Benjamin, Simmel was a type of theoretical flaneur, the Weinsteins have shown that Simmel
should be more identified with that title of bricoleur.
iii
This is theoretical interesting and the antithesis of Becks (1992) ontological risk-avoiding
discourse for late modernity. Certainly, other empirical works such as those by Tulloch and Lupton
(2003) have also shown that risk taking discourse form part of many individuals lifestyle choices.