Ferdinand Tonnies on crime and society: an unexplored contribution to criminological sociology

I offer a discussion of the criminological sociology of Ferdinand Tonnies ( 1855-1936). While Tonnies is generally well known for his theory of Gemeins chaft and Gesellschaft, his elaborate contributions to the sociological stu dy of crime have been almost entirely neglected in the history of sociology . Situated within Tonnies' general theoretical perspective, I present the c entral themes of Tonnies' study of crime and discuss its conceptual and met hodological characteristics as a distinct approach in criminological sociol ogy. I additionally center on the importance of Tonnies' criminological wor k for the reception and status of his sociological theory. I argue that the neglect of Tonnies crime studies has led to overlooking Tonnies' aspiratio n to integrate sociological theory and empirical inquiry, which has contrib uted to misconstrue his unique conception of social order.