Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- General introduction
- Chronology of Tönnies's life and career
- A note on the texts and further reading
- A note on translation
- Glossary
- COMMUNITY AND CIVIL SOCIETY
- Book One A general classification of key ideas
- The argument
- Section 1 The theory of Gemeinschaft
- Section 2 The theory of Gesellschaft
- Book Two Natural will and rational will
- Book Three The sociological basis of natural law
- Appendix: Conclusions and future prospects
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE TEXTS IN THE HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT
Section 2 - The theory of Gesellschaft
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- General introduction
- Chronology of Tönnies's life and career
- A note on the texts and further reading
- A note on translation
- Glossary
- COMMUNITY AND CIVIL SOCIETY
- Book One A general classification of key ideas
- The argument
- Section 1 The theory of Gemeinschaft
- Section 2 The theory of Gesellschaft
- Book Two Natural will and rational will
- Book Three The sociological basis of natural law
- Appendix: Conclusions and future prospects
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE TEXTS IN THE HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT
Summary
The theory of Gesellschaft takes as its starting point a group of people who, as in Gemeinschaft, live peacefully alongside one another, but in this case without being essentially united – indeed, on the contrary, they are here essentially detached. In Gemeinschaft they stay together in spite of everything that separates them; in Gesellschaft they remain separate in spite of everything that unites them. As a result, there are no activities taking place which are derived from an a priori and pre-determined unity and which therefore express the will and spirit of this unity through any individual who performs them. Nothing happens in Gesellschaft that is more important for the individual's wider group than it is for himself. On the contrary, everyone is out for himself alone and living in a state of tension against everyone else. The various spheres of power and activity are sharply demarcated, so that everyone resists contact with others and excludes them from his own spheres, regarding any such overtures as hostile. Such a negative attitude is the normal and basic way in which these power-conscious people relate to one another, and it is characteristic of Gesellschaft at any given moment in time. Nobody wants to do anything for anyone else, nobody wants to yield or give anything unless he gets something in return that he regards as at least an equal trade-off.
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- Information
- Tönnies: Community and Civil Society , pp. 52 - 92Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2001