"The theory of society concerns an artificial construct, an aggregate of human beings that only superficially resembles a community, to the extent that even within it individuals live peacefully alongside one another. However, while in the community they remain essentially united despite the factors that separate them, in society they remain essentially separated despite the factors that unite them."
Ferdinand Tönn ies thus explains the concept of society , as opposed to that of community , where relationships between individuals are intimate, deep-rooted, based on the concrete sharing of languages, customs and habits, symbols and meanings. Interactions are profound and not artificial, authentic and ancestral.
The community is a sociological construct, temporally placed in the pre-industrial period , characterised by the strong cohesion between the subjects that compose it, and the spirit of solidarity typical of rural spaces, limited and circumscribed, with immediately identifiable boundaries.
Society is what comes after. After solidarity. After intimacy. After cohesion. Society is separation within union . It is individualism and alienation from all that is shared.
It matters little whether we share places, convivial moments, or intervals of time. Society has blurred and imperceptible contours. It can be everything and nothing. It is a heterogeneous collection of dissimilar or equal individuals. The degree of similarity doesn't matter. What matters is the concept of utility.
Tonnies further clarifies the concepts by starting from common language, in which community and society appear distant yet not far apart : "every confidential, intimate, exclusive cohabitation [...] is understood as life in community; society, on the other hand, is the public, the world. A person is born into community with his or her own people, bound to them for better or for worse, while going into society is like going to a foreign land."
The power of this distinction explodes in all its evidence in sociological thought: the relationships that arise from human will generate " associations ", which can take on the connotation of real and organic life (community, precisely) or as an ideal and mechanical institution (society).
Community takes three basic forms : blood (kinship), neighborhood (place), and friendship (spirit). They share a common social trait, a shared feeling, and a shared goal and objective.
Tönnies' approach has influenced the research of other illustrious thinkers, one of these is Max Weber , who defines the social relationship of community as " if, and to the extent that, the disposition of social action rests […] on a common belonging, subjectively felt (affective or traditional) by the individuals who participate in it ".
While association exists " if, and to the extent that, the disposition of social action rests on an identity of interests, or on a rationally motivated bond of interests (with respect to value or purpose) ." Society is utilitarian in the most negative sense of the term. Functional to itself.
Durkheim also develops similar concepts, distinguishing between two types of society, in which a certain type of solidarity , mechanical or organic , prevails, indicating the second as the typical contemporary society, where less collective consciousness is expressed and man ends up experiencing the "anomic" dimension of existence.
If for Tönnies, will is the foundation of social life, for the French sociologist, what is " social " underlies the forms of will and individual consciousness. Society comes before will. Society is originally constituted. We might say, constituted in fact.
Social cohesion is not the aim or purpose of the mutual utilities and advantages of a given action, but rather derives from an “external” reference.
With "the division of social labor," Durkheim defines the concepts of mechanical solidarity and organic solidarity , identifying the former as a social bond that exists "without any intermediary," unlike organic solidarity, which assigns the individual a certain dependence on the constituent parts of society, all of which perform specific functions. This type of solidarity is produced by the "division of labor," which will assume the role once assigned to the "common conscience." The social bonds that once bound individuals together based on their uniformity are replaced by those imposed by the division of labor.
Durkheim excludes the possibility that communities and societies can coexist in the same society; he considers them social facts that must be studied on the basis of the different evolution of traditions, customs, and rules determined by law in a given period.
At the basis of every "social thing," every "fact," there is not the division of labor but moral authority, the collective conscience. This is why social order is a " moral " problem; it depends on individuals' respect for social norms.
Self-regulation is the foundation of freedom. Attachment and loyalty to the group are the fundamental elements for achieving true individual freedom. The importance of roots , which society provides through multiple groups: the family, the homeland, humanity, which can coexist because they respond to different needs.
Total membership in the group is a free choice , and gives the individual qualities that push him to be supportive, altruistic, affectionate, in open contrast to what is configured as an anomic existence.
Once upon a time, the family was the group par excellence; contemporary times will have to develop new groups, in which the values and needs of a society that is subject to differentiation, which appears heterogeneous and dispersive, incapable of producing the same feelings, the same affection, the same "moral" conscience, still prevail.
How would the three sociologists approach the Coronavirus drama from a sociological perspective today?
Perhaps everyone would recall the obsolete concepts of community, solidarity, and value. Universal concepts that can be replicated on a large scale. A return to " civic normality " based on mutual aid and support. Shared work and authentic moral conscience, unbound by any useful purpose—a way of acting, to use Weberian language, based on value and not purpose.
The rediscovery of a shared sense of belonging that leads individuals to respect the rules, that pushes them toward just and proper self-regulation , out of respect and love for others, individuals belonging to the same group, suddenly become cherished, indispensable, irreplaceable. Be it family or nation.
And even the economic crisis that will inevitably hit entrepreneurs, precarious or seasonal workers, tour operators, and economic entities linked to the transport , tourism , and culture sectors , can push the never-lost Italian community, made up of millions of perfectly integrated immigrants and a homeland just like every other Italian, to rediscover ancient, useful, and even necessary values.
Traveling in Italy, eating Italian food, shopping at the local grocer, organizing a game of bocce on the parish court, studying together and extending a helping hand, a smile, and an extra good luck wish. Like a large community that is once again present, cohesive, and courageous.
To face with disillusioned optimism an era lacking in values but rich in value. Human, civil, social. The coronavirus could become the " aftermath of the confusion ." The beginning of a new era, more ethical and rural, perhaps rudimentary, where we can rediscover the pleasure of supporting one another and sharing the burden of toil.
Simona Vitali
