Tönnies: Community and Civil Society

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. New, more readable translation Relates Tönnies to the history of philosophy, political thought, science and law, rather than to later developments in sociology Introduction explains ideas and provenance of a writer often regarded as impossibly difficult Read more at http://www.cambridge.org/eg/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/texts-political-thought/tonnies-community-and-civil-society#3PQbpvZ1Tbd7TbqQ.99