Community and Society by Ferdinand Tönnies, C P Loomis (Translation)
Requirements: .ePUB reader, 772 KB
Overview: Community and Society, or Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft, is a study of the spectrum of prototypical social groups as identified by German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies. First published in 1887, the work explores the relationship between community-based organizations and society-based organizations, and the human will that lies beneath each.
The work examines the intersections between the two disparate types of groups – Gemeinschaft, or community groups, and Gesellschaft, or social groups. Rather than identifying any one group as entirely Gemeinschaft or entirely Gesellschaft, Tönnies saw all social groups as existing along the spectrum, with community and society each on the opposite side. All social entities are either more Gemeinschaft-like or more Gesellschaft- like, but no group is 100% one or the other.
The ties that bind Gemeinschaft-leaning communities include mutual bonds and feelings of togetherness. They exist more strongly in families, neighborhoods, and religious communities. On the other side, Gesellschaft societies are more impersonal, held together by the members to meet individual goals. These connections are often self-interested and may have monetary or political ends, such as corporations, states, or certain social clubs.
Beneath each grouping lies the two types of human will, Wesenwille (essential or natural will) and Körville (arbitrary will). In the expression of natural will, an individual will see himself as a means to serve the goal of the group. The group, and relationships within that group, are the purpose. But in the expression of arbitrary will, the individual’s actions within the group are meant to further that person’s goals. The group is merely a means to an end.
Genre: Non-Fiction > Educational
Download Instructions:
https://ouo.io/fz9F4Uo
https://ouo.io/PpJjyv
https://ouo.io/MQ1Nxj
