The principle of adherence to given formulas, of being and of acting like others, is irreconcilably opposed to the striving to advance to ever new and individual forms of life; for this very reason social life represents a battle-ground, of which every inch is stubbornly contested, and social institutions may be looked upon as the peace-treaties, in which the constant antagonism of both principles has been reduced externally to a form of cooperation.

DEFINE: Simmel frames institutions as 'peace-treaties' mediating the antagonism between conformity and individuality — a useful conceptual lens.

Georg Simmel, on individuality and social…, loc. 712