gemeinschaft

See also: Gemeinschaft

English

Alternative forms

• Gemeinschaft

Etymology

From German Gemeinschaft (“community”), equivalent to gemein (“common”) +‎ -schaft (“-ship”). More at mean, -ship. Compare to English gesellschaft.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡəˈmaɪnʃɑːft/, /ɡəˈmaɪnʃæft/

Noun

gemeinschaft (plural gemeinschafts or gemeinschaften)

1. An association or group of individuals sharing common beliefs, attitudes, and tastes; a fellowship.
2. (sociology) A society or group characterized by a strong sense of common identity, personal relationships, and attachments to various concerns.

Quotations

• 1991 November 25, Morton Kondracke, “Neo-Politics”, in New Republic, volume 205, number 22, pages 18–20:

  […] saying that bureaucracy was the "old gesellschaft" that went with modernism, while today a "deep Jungian atavism" among young high techies for a clean environment, close family ties, and healthy communities is creating a "new gemeinschaft" that will require a "new gesellschaft".

• 1999 Summer, “Relations across the Taiwan Strait”, in Asian Affairs, volume 26, number 2, page 93:

  A consensus has gradually been formed among the people of Taiwan that we are "all in the same boat" and that Taiwan is a gemeinschaft, or community.

• 2003 Winter, Marcel Fredericks, Steven I. Miller, Jeff A. Odiet, Janet P. Fredericks, “Toward an Understanding of Cellular Sociologoy and Its Relationship to Cellular Biology”, in Education, volume 124, number 2, pages 237–256:

  Societies may be characterized along a continuum of a G1 (gemeinschaft or rural) to G2 (gesellschaft or urban).