Definition of Gesellschaft in English:
Gesellschaft
noun ɡəˈzɛlʃaftɡəˈzelˌSHäft
mass nounSocial relations based on impersonal ties, such as duty to a society or organization.
Contrasted with Gemeinschaft
Example sentencesExamples
- He has suggested that such communities preserve a residue of traditional Gemeinschaft amid the more individualistic and impersonal Gesellschaft of modernity.
- The bonds of Gemeinschaft were narrow and exclusive, but emotionally, familially intense; those of Gesellschaft were less passionate and more reflective, less enveloping but potentially universal.
- Any particular society is either an example of Gemeinschaft or Gesellschaft.
- It's a classic case of the way the Revolution pitted Gesellschaft against Gemeinschaft, modernity against tradition, universal values against local standards.
- The idea of a Volksgemeinschaft was often counterposed to that of Gesellschaft, a reference to the Enlightenment notion of a shared community of interests based on universal human values.
- A remarkable number of these programs end up with a kind of populist longing for Gemeinschaft amid the alienating Gesellschaft of modernity.
Origin
German, from Gesell(e) 'companion' + -schaft (see -ship).