Tönnies: Community and Civil Society

A new translation and introduction make this classic of social and political theory readily accessible.

Ferdinand Tönnies (Author), Jose Harris (Edited by), Margaret Hollis (Translated by)

9780521567824, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 2 July 2001

320 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.8 cm, 0.41 kg

' … the translators have here done an excellent job of translation from nineteenth-century German to twenty-first century English.' German History

Ferdinand Tönnies' Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft (first published in 1887) is a classic of social and political theory, which explores the clash between small-scale neighbourhood-based 'communities' and large-scale competitive market 'societies'. Tönnies considers all aspects of life - political, economic, legal and family; art, religion and culture; the construction of 'selfhood' and 'personhood'; and modes of cognition, language and understanding. Often recognised as one of the founding texts of sociology, Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft is also a highly significant contribution to European political thought and philosophy, with particular relevance to the legacies of Hobbes and Kant. It is at once a response to modernity, a theoretical exercise in social, political and moral science, and an unusual commentary on the inner character of 'democratic socialism'. This new English rendition will introduce Tönnies' work to a fresh generation of English-speaking readers with interests in social and political theory and the history of European ideas.

General introduction
Chronology of Tönnies' life and career
Community and Civil Society
Tönnies' Preface to the first edition of 1887
1.1. A general classification of key ideas
1.2. Theory of Gesellschaft
2.1. The forms of human will
2.2. Explanation of the dichotomy
3.1. The sociological basis of natural law
3.2. Definitions and propositions
3.3. The natural element in law
Conclusions and future prospects.

Subject Areas: Social theory [JHBA], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD]