Gemeinschaft revisited: A critique and reconstruction of the community concept

Community remains a potent symbol and aspiration in political and intellect ual life. However, it has largely passed out of sociological analysis. The paper shows why this has occurred, and it develops a new typology that can make the concept useful again in sociology: The neu typology is based on id entifying structurally distinct subtypes of community using a small number of partitioning variables. The first partition is defined by the ultimate c ontext of interaction; the second by the primary motivation for interaction ; the third by rates of interaction and location of members; and the fourth by the amount of face-to-face as opposed ro computer-mediated interaction. This small number of partitioning variables yields eight major subtypes of community. The paper shows how and why these major subtypes are related to important variations in the behavioral and organizational outcomes of comm unity. The paper also seeks to resolve some disagreements between classical liberalism and communitarians. It shows that only a few of the major subty pes of community are likely to be as illiberal and intolerant as the select ive imagery of classical liberals asserts, while at the same time only a fe w are prone to generate as much fraternalism and equity as the selective im agery of communitarians suggests. The paper concludes by discussing the for ms of community that are best suited to the modern world.