Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft - Gesellschaft

In contrast, gesellschaft (often translated as society, civil society or association) describes associations in which, for the individual, the larger association never takes precedence over the individual's self-interest, and these associations lack the same level of shared mores. Gesellschaft is maintained through individuals acting in their own self-interest. A modern business is a good example of gesellschaft: the workers, managers, and owners may have very little in terms of shared orientations or beliefs, they may not care deeply for the product they are making, but it is in all their self-interest to come to work to make money, and thus the business continues. Gesellschaft society involves achieved status. You reach your status by education and work, for example, through the attainment of goals, or attendance at University.

Unlike gemeinschaften, gesellschaften emphasize secondary relationships rather than familial or community ties, and there is generally less individual loyalty to society. Social cohesion in gesellschaften typically derives from a more elaborate division of labor. Such societies are considered more susceptible to class conflict as well as racial and ethnic conflicts. The sociological upheavals during the Reconstruction era of the United States complicated the sociological category of gemeinschaft because former slaves, whose kinship ties were complicated under slavery, forged new communities that shared aspects of both gemeinschaft and gesellschaft.

Since, for Tönnies, gemeinschaft and gesellschaft are normal types, he considered them a matter of pure sociology, whereas he expected to find only a mix of them in applied sociology on doing empirical research. Nevertheless, following Tönnies, without normal types one might not be able to analyze this mix.

As said in the Essentials of Sociology- A Down to Earth Approach, an example of gemeinschaft community in the current world today would be the Amish community. The United States would play a part as being a gesellschaft society.

Talcott Parsons considered Gemeinschaft as representing a community of fate, who share good and bad fortune in common, as opposed to the pursuit of rational self-interest that characterised Gesellschaft.