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GESELLSCHAFT
A German word, translated as ‘society-association’, used by Ferdinand Tonnies (1855-1936) to refer to an ‘ideal type’, or model, of a society where social bonds are primarily impersonal, instrumental and narrow. Characteristic of large scale, complex societies, with a strict division between private and public spheres of life, it contrasts to the community-oriented life of the Gemeinschaft American sociologist Talcott Parsons (1902-1979) amplified the contrast of Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft with his ‘pattern variable’ value alternatives. See: GEMEINSCHAFT / PATTERN VARIABLES / IDEAL TYPE / .

Last updated 2002--0-9-


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Athabaca University ICAAP

© Robert Drislane, Ph.D. and Gary Parkinson, Ph.D.
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*This social science dictionary has 1000
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