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Gemeinschaft (pronounced [ɡəˈmaɪnʃaft] ( listen)) and Gesellschaft [ɡəˈzɛlʃaft] (lit. community and society) are sociological categories introduced by the German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies for two normal types of human association. (A normal type, as coined by Tönnies, is a purely conceptual tool to be built up logically, whereas an ideal type, as coined by Max Weber, is a concept formed by accentuating main elements of a historic/social change.) Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft sparked a major revival of corporatist thinking including sparking the rise of Neo-medievalism, rise of support for guild socialism, and caused major changes in the field of sociology.[1]
Tönnies' concepts of both terms “Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft” were published first in 1887.[2] Seven more German editions came out during his lifetime, the last in 1935.[3] The second edition of 1912 turned out to be an unexpected but lasting success,[4] and the antagonism of these two terms belonged to the general stock of concepts pre-1933 German intellectuals were quite familiar with, though the concepts were quite often misunderstood.
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Gemeinschaft (often translated as community) is an association in which individuals are oriented to the large association as much as, 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 are marked by "unity of will" (Tönnies, 22). Tönnies saw the family as the most perfect expression of Gemeinschaft; however, he expected 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. Gemeinschaft community involves ascribed status. You are given a status by birth. For example, an individual born of farmer, will come to occupy the parent's role until death.
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.
In contrast, Gesellschaft (often translated as society or civil society or 'association') describes associations in which, for the individual, the larger association never takes precedence over the individual's self interest, and these associations lack 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. Gesellschaft society involves achieved status. You reach your status by education and work, for example, through the attainment of goals, or attendance at University.
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. The sociological upheavals during the Reconstruction era of the United States complicated the sociological category of Gemeinschaft because former slaves, whose kinship ties were complicated under slavery, forged new communities that shared aspects of both Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft.[5]
Since, for Tönnies, Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft are normal types, he considered them a matter of pure sociology, whereas he expected to find only a mix of them in applied sociology, on doing empirical research. Nevertheless, following Tönnies, without normal types one might not be able to analyze this mix.
As said in the Essentials of Sociology- A Down to Earth Approach, and example of Gemeinschaft community in the current world today would be the Amish community. The United States would play a part as being a Gesellschaft Society.
In business usage, Gesellschaft is the German term for "company", as in Aktiengesellschaft or Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH).