Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
Community and Society
References
Britannica AI Icon

Community and Society

work by Tönnies
Also known as: “Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft”
Written by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last updated

Quick Summary

Ferdinand Tönnies, in his work Community and Society, distinguished between two ideal types of social organizations: Gemeinschaft (community) and Gesellschaft (society).1

  • Gemeinschaft is characterized by traditional social rules and direct, face-to-face relationships based on natural will (Wesenwille), which involves spontaneous emotions and sentiments. This type is often associated with rural, peasant societies.1

  • Gesellschaft is typical of modern, cosmopolitan societies and is driven by rational will (Kürwille), where self-interest and calculated actions weaken traditional bonds. Relationships are more impersonal and indirect, formed for efficiency or other practical reasons.1

Tönnies believed that all societies contain elements of both types of will, as human conduct is a mix of instinct and reason.2

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
2 Britannica Sources
  1. Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft
  2. Ferdinand Tönnies

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.