Simmel's actuality in the light of migratory processes

The present paper aims to reflect over the social figure of the foreigner in the light of the current condition of migrants fleeing from countries at war. The analysis is rooted in the thought of Georg Simmel, his conception of society as a set of social relations through which it is possible to know and understand the attitudes and the appearance of society itself. It traces the author’s thought, who intuited more than a century ago, the dual role of the foreigner to be either a guest/traveller or a citizen of arrival contexts. Their image linked to the concept of a stranger, that of being never completely close, but at the same time an indispensable function, which produces consequences for the construction of social exchanges and relationships. A reinterpretation of Simmel and its pregnant relevance are the background of such work, aimed at embracing new arguments.