Comparison and Topicality of Three Classical European Concepts of Community

Without any doubt, community is one of the most central sociological terms and concepts – particularly in the German/European sociological tradition, where Ferdinand Tönnies might be seen as the forefather of this concept. Taking relevant sociological literature regarding this issue in consideration, one may come to the conclusion that there are two traditional main ideal types of community: in one tradition, community is theorized as a collective with specific relationships, in the other tradition, community is conceptualized as a collective with a shared consciousness of kind, a collective identity (this questions the section of the social reality, which is emphasized). Furthermore, there are two main types of the intended use of the concept: theoretical ideal types on the one hand and terms for the application in empirical social research (this questions the interest, which is tight to the conceptualization of community).

Taking these basic categories, three classical concepts of community will be analyzed and compared: the ones of Ferdinand Tönnies, Émile Durkheim, and Max Weber. Afterwards the question of the topicality of their concepts of community will be dealt with. Especially the possible application of the classical terms of community to new forms of communitarisation, presented by the example of so called brand communities, will be discussed.