The Typological Meaning of the Classification of “Community/Society” from Fernand Tonnes

Abstract: How is the common, mutually affirmative community life possible? In the book of Community and Society - the Basic Concepts of Pure Sociology, Tonnes answered this question. There are two ways to live together: one is " community life” based on emotional orientation, which is organic, lasting, and natural; one is based on interest (with purpose, tool) orientation. The " social life”, this way of life is artificial, temporary and mechanical, from which a basic concept of community/society is integrated. From the type of theory or concept (pure sociology), Tonnes recognizes and understands the factual life of the human community (applied sociology), and lays down the basic problem consciousness and " standard type” in the field of sociology. This group of concepts seems to be opposition, but they are in fact dialectical unity existing in the life of human communities. This classification study is based on the perspective of holism and historicalism, based on the philosophy of Hobbes and Kant, and analyzes the actual state of human community life through the theories of psychology, intellectual history, law, political economy and other disciplines. It provides a reference for the study of typical types of contemporary Chinese village communities. From the perspective of social philosophy, how can the village community be made possible and in what form? Taking Tonnes’s typological research theory as the starting point, analyzes the typical types of contemporary Chinese village communities from the perspectives of politics, economy and culture and explains the significance of the existence of village communities, perhaps can provide reference for the research on the transition mechanism and typical types of contemporary Chinese village communities.