Bio: (1855-1936) German sociologist. Ferdinand Tönnies received his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Tübingen. He taught at the University of Kiel until 1933 when he was fired from the faculty due to the coming to power of the Nazi Party in Germany. In the period from 1909 to 1933, he was the founder and first president of the German Sociological Society. Tönnies is considered one of the founders of the Formal School of Sociology, and his teachings were influenced by the ideas of Wilhelm Wundt, Thomas Hobbes, and Marx.

Tönnies is best known for his work Community and Society (1887), in which he presented the well-known dichotomous division into "community" (Gemeinschaft) and "society" (Gesellschaft- also sometimes translated as „association“) as the two main ideal types of human groups. The community is the first, in the historical sense, and it is created by the „natural will“ (Wesenwille). The community is a place of common life, and the best examples of the community are household and family, neighborhood, village and rural life, and ethnic communities (which are connected by customs, language, and religion). Society emerged with the rise of urban culture, customs, and attitudes of the capitalist class (the third class at the time of the French Revolution). Society is characterized by „rational will“ (Kürwille), and the main examples are the city, joint stock companies, scientific institutions, and the like. The community is similar to a living organism, while society is transitory and superficial and similar to a mechanical aggregate or artifact. A community is formed spontaneously through long-term "organic" development and is determined by emotions, customs, traditions, solidarity, trust, and intimacy. Societies are created by planned, conscious, and rational action, and the relations of rationality, calculation, selfishness, and emotional distance prevail in them. While relations and order in the community are maintained through tradition and solidarity, society is governed by formal regulations and external sanctions.

Tönnies sees the origin of the relationship of connection in the community in the very fact of birth within the community, and the factors that affect the relationship are gender and origin. The strongest ties are those between mother and child, husband and wife, and brothers and sisters. The maternal relationship is based on pure love, while the relationship between the spouses can lead to the one-sided submission of the woman. To avoid this subordination, it is necessary to build a lasting relationship of mutual affirmation, while care and love for common children and property can help in that. The attitude of the father towards the children best expresses the attitude of domination in the community. As patriarchy proved to be better in war and economic activities, it became a general cultural form. Apart from biological kinship, the greatest sources of the community are common life, common religion, common language, and intellectual closeness. Organic or natural will, in the community, is based on understanding and harmony.

In society, people live in isolation, everyone fights for themselves and protects their privacy. In society, all relationships are based on reciprocity, if someone gives or does something to someone, a counter favor or counter gift must have equivalent significance. Society forms the fiction of an entity (subject) that gives general values ​​to the members of society. A rational will is aimed at achieving a common good - the goal for which the society was founded. The value of a thing is objective, everyone values ​​it in the same way because the same amount of invested work is needed to create it. The very value of a thing stems from the fact that someone owns that thing and no one else. In society, everyone selfishly works for himself, but they also work for the common good, because everybody produces the goods that are easiest for some person to produce. Thus, the total realized value of goods for the whole society is maximized. Tönnies calls the limited freedom that exists within society, which reflects "natural law," a convention that differs from custom or tradition. Civil society is an aggregate of many natural and artificial individuals, and political economy is a science that needs to know its nature and movement. Competitive relations prevail in civil society, but hostilities are curbed by forming coalitions and through conventional sociability (civility). The emergence of civil society and organizations didn't bring the disappearance of communities, because they continue to survive within civil society.

In later works, the most important of which is Introduction to Sociology (1931), Tönnies expands his approach. He divides sociology into three separate disciplines: 1) pure or theoretical sociology, 2) applied sociology, and 3) empirical sociology or sociography. Pure sociology deals with ideal types, with which it describes empirical reality. Applied sociology applies ideal types in the analysis and interpretation of specific societies and historical and evolutionary processes (especially those that lead from community to society). Empirical sociology studies the current state of society. Theoretical sociology uses constructive, applied sociology deductive, and empirical sociology inductive methods.

Tönnies classifies social entities as: 1) social relations, 2) social „Samtschaften“ (formally unorganized large groups of actors with common, formative characteristics groups), and 3) social corporations. Social relations are based on a psychological connection, while the natural relationship between people is based on biological kinship. The attitude of other people is important for social relations, not just the participants. A relationship between more than two people is considered a "social circle" and it is a link between social relations and social Samtschaften. Samtschaften (unorganized groups) are voluntary social groups formed based on a psychic or natural connection. The people rely on natural and psychological ties, while a political party is based only on psychological ties. Corporations are organizations that have their own bodies, officials, and their own acts. The corporation, on the outside, acts as if it has its own will. All three types of social entities can have both organic (natural) and rational will, and the proportional share of each of them makes them closer to the ideal type of society or the ideal type of community.

Social norms are rules (commandments and inhibitions), which have general validity, and they are used to regulate the behavior of all individuals. Norms can be autonomous or heteronomous, depending on whether they are consciously and voluntarily accepted (autonomous), or imposed from outside (heteronomous). Norms within the community are formed based on general consent, habits (customs), and religion. Norms within society arise from conventions, legislation, and public opinion. There are three main types of norms: 1) order (created based on general consent or convention); 2) law - enforced by courts, and may be based on customs or legislation; 3) morality - a set of norms that act as if they are applied by an imaginary judge (some higher power or conscience) and derive from religion or public opinion. Law, which arises through a truly democratic process, must be based on public opinion.

Marx's ideas influenced Tönnies to develop an economic interpretation of social evolution and history. Tönnies believes that wholesale and foreign trade led to the use of money as capital, which enabled the transformation of industry (large factories and exploitation of workers) and agriculture (creation of large plantations). Tönnies saw capitalism as a negative phenomenon that led to the destruction of communities. He believed that capitalism should be reformed through strong unions and the development of state socialism. Tönnies also conducted empirical studies of the social and economic position of workers.

Tönnies also empirically studied crime, suicide, cyclical changes in marriage, and the proportions of having children by gender; and in order to conduct that research, he developed his own method of statistical correlation.

Main works

Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft (1887);

Hobbes Leben und Lehre (1896);

Der Nietzsche-Kultus (1897);

Philosophische Terminologie in psychologisch-soziologischer Ansicht (1906);

Die Entwicklung der soziale Frage (1907);

Die Sitte (1909);

Warlike England as Seen by Herself (1915);

Der englische Staat und der deutsche Staat (1917);

Marx: Leben und Lehre (1921);

Kritik der öffentlichen Meinung (1922);

Soziologische Studien und Kritiken, 3 Bände (1924, 1926, 1929);

Einführung in die Soziologie (1931);

Geist der Neuzeit (1935). 

Works translated into English:

Community and Society (2021, in German 1887);

Ferdinand Tönnies On Public Opinion (1822).