Ferdinand Tönnies

Ferdinand Tonnies is the sociologist who constructed two basic categories of social relationships. He did so through comparing premodern and modern social worlds. The first category of relationships is “Gemeinschaft”. “Tonnies called these emotion-based relationships.” (Page 16) Gemeinschaft relationships are formed from a close emotional bond between one another. Family, significant others, childhood friends, siblings, and your best friend are all examples of Gemeinschaft. That’s the rule for a relationship to be placed in this category; the relationship is held together and rooted by emotions and pleasure. Many people in the modern world may not have a Gemeinschaft relationship with their family members. My own understanding is that Gemeinschaft is a…