Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft

Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft are sociological categories introduced by the German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies for two types of human association. Tönnies believed there existed two forms of human will: essential and arbitrary. Essential will is the instinctive driving force of humanity and arbitrary will is deliberative and goal oriented. Groups forming around essential will are known as Gemeinschaft while those forming around arbitrary will are known as Gesellschaft. His concepts of both Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, strictly separated from each other conceptually, are fully discussed in his work Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft (1887). Since, for Tönnies, Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft are normal types, or examples of pure sociology, he did not expect them to be found in a pure form in actual society.

Tönnies Concept

Gemeinschaft

Gemeinschaft (often translated as community) is an association in which individuals are oriented to the large association as much if not more than to their own self interest. Furthermore, individuals in Gemeinschaft are regulated by common mores, or beliefs about the appropriate behavior and responsibility of members of the association to each other and to the association at large; associations marked by "unity of will" (Tönnies, 22). Tönnies saw the family as the most perfect expression of Gemeinschaft. He expected, however, that Gemeinschaft could be based on shared place and shared belief as well as kinship, and he included globally dispersed religious communities as possible examples of Gemeinschaft.

Gemeinschaften are broadly characterized by a moderate division of labour, strong personal relationships, strong families, and relatively simple social institutions. In such societies there is seldom a need to enforce social control externally, due to a collective sense of loyalty individuals feel for society. Historically, Gemeinschaft societies were racially and ethnically homogeneous.

Order is supposed to exist from the natural law resulting from the commonly held mores of the members of the Gemeinschaft.

Gesellschaft

Gesellschaft (often translated as society or civil society or 'association'), in contrast to Gemeinschaft, describes associations in which, for the individual, the larger association never takes on more importance than individual self interest, and lacks the same level of shared mores. Gesellschaft is maintained through individuals acting in their own self interest. A modern business is a good example of Gesellschaft. The workers, managers, and owners may have very little in terms of shared orientations or beliefs, they may not care deeply for the product they are making, but it is in all their self interest to come to work to make money, and thus the business continues.

Unlike Gemeinschaften, Gesellschaften emphasize secondary relationships rather than familial or community ties, and there is generally less individual loyalty to society. Social cohesion in Gesellschaften typically derives from a more elaborate division of labor. Such societies are considered more susceptible to class conflict as well as racial and ethnic conflicts.

Order in Gesellschaften is maintained by commonly held fear of reprisal from the laws accepted in the community.

In business usage, Gesellschaft is the German term for "company", as in Aktiengesellschaft or Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH).

Progression from Gemeinschaft to Gesellschaft

As men develop personal goals and strive to better their social status, the common mores begin to change and groups grow to oppose one another. Laws change in order to reflect this competition and members of societies become entrenched in a social contract to which they are all beholden in the name of efficiency for advanced economic interests. The focus of the mental energies of the members of this society shifts from the invisible (gods, spirits, etc) to the visible (material goods, money, etc).

Durkheim's use of Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft

French sociologist Emile Durkheim adopted the concepts of gemeinschaft and gesellschaft in his work The Division of Labor. Durkheim used the terms mechanical and organic societies. Mechanical societies were characterized by a common consciousness of its members while organic societies are marked by specialization and individual consciousness.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Ferdinand Tönnies (ed. Jose Harris), Community and Civil Society, Cambridge University Press (2001), hardcover, 266 pages, ISBN 0521561191; trade paperback, Cambridge University Press (2001), 266 pages, ISBN 0521567823
• Ferdinand Tönnies, Ferdinand Tönnies Gesamtausgabe {TG}, critical edition, 24 vols., ed. Lars Clausen et al., Berlin/New York (de Gruyter): 1998- ), see external weblink Verlagsinformationen.
• http://www2.pfeiffer.edu/~lridener/courses/GEMEIN.HTML

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