In this way, poverty is a unique sociological phenomenon: a number of individuals who, out of a purely individual fate, occupy a specific organic position within the whole; but this position is not determined by this fate and condition, but rather by the fact that others—individuals, associations, communities—attempt to correct this condition. Thus, what makes one poor is not the lack of means. The poor person, sociologically speaking, is the individual who receives assistance because of this lack of means.

DEFINE: Simmel redefines poverty in sociological terms — the poor are defined by others' corrective efforts, not by their own deprivation. This inverts common intuition that poverty is purely about lacking resources. XREF: Connects to relational/constructionist definitions of social categories, where identity is constituted by social position and others' responses rather than intrinsic attributes.

DEFINE: Simmel redefines poverty as a relational/sociological status determined by others' corrective action, not by material condition itself. XREF: Echoes sociological constructionist approaches where identities are constituted by the responses of others, not intrinsic attributes.

Georg Simmel, on individuality and social…, loc. 448