• Gemeinschaft (community)
• Gesellschaft (society)
This was his most influential work.
Gemeinschaft
Gemeinschaft is often translated as community. Tonnies in his theory, defined a community as a group of people that share common bonds around traditions, beliefs, or objectives. It is a group in which individuals take …show more content…
In Gemeinschaft, a strong emphasis is given to shared values and sentiments, a “we-feeling” exists. Therefore, Tonnies saw “family” as the most appropriate example of Gemeinschaft. Here, people have very simple and direct face-to-face relations with each other which are determined by the natural will i.e. natural and spontaneously arising emotions and sentiments. Here statuses are ascribed, it refers to the situations when an individual is assigned a particular status at the time of birth. Let us say for example, an individual born to a farmer will come to occupy the parent's occupation and role for the rest of his or her …show more content…
Gemeinschaft focuses on social bonding whereas Gesellschaft focuses on informal and impersonal (secondary) relationships.
2. In Gemeinschaft, the member obtains a status by birth whereas in Gesellschaft the status is usually obtained by education and work.
3. Gemeinschaft is mostly seen in small cities whereas Gesellschaft is seen in large cities. Gemeinschaft focuses on group values and norms whereas Gesellschaft emphasizes on needs of the individuals and their interests.
4. Gemeinschaft can be seen in families and religious institutions whereas businessmen, managers, workers are some examples of Gesellschaft.
5. Gemeinschaft is a collective orientation whereas Gesellschaft is a self-orientation.
CONCLUSION
In both Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, the individuals who are the member of the group plays a critical role. In Gemeinschaft, the person has a place and opportunity to fulfill their personal needs as well as goals, like they attain a sense of belonging and also contribute to the lives of others. At the same time in Gesellschaft, the individual contribution is for the overall functioning of the society on a larger basis by directly participating in the economy and also in bringing the stability in the