In 1887, Ferdinand Tönnies published a groundbreaking book, Community and Society (an excerpt from his text that lays out the argument can be found here), in which he argues that community is a different form of social group from society. The main distinguishing characteristics are that community is a group in which members are personally connected, relying on each other, close in worldviews and values, while society is impersonal, disconnected, with members that are independent and may not share values. (Think about small town vs. big city!) A debate subsequently arose in Germany about whether one was better than the other and Tönnies seems to have expressed more positive views about community than about society. 

More recently, though, “community” has taken on a somewhat different resonance. We speak of the “queer” community/communities, the “Latin American” community, et al, and it seems we are referring to a group that has affinities in terms their members’ interests and values, but may not be constituted by personal connections and direct relations.

For Tönnies, community appears to name a group gathered under the principle “we don’t do that here,” and therefore can be oppressive or repressive. Yet, today, community often indicates an association that is affirming and enabling…. even if that latter community can also, at times, turn repressive as a community calls one of its members a turncoat, or worse.

Today, we ask: is “community” the appropriate ground of politics? Or is it, rather, a menace to “society”?

In this episode, we discuss the following texts/thinkers/ideas/etc.:

• I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson (Netflix)
• Smartless (the podcast) and Smartless: On the Road (the Max documentary) 
• Ferdinand Tönnies, Community and Society (1887)
• G.W.F. Hegel, The Philosophy of Right (1820)
• Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter (1850)
• what is a casino “pit boss”?
• Log Cabin Republicans
• Wanda Sykes on “Gay vs Black”
• Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill
• Jodi Dean, Comrade: An Essay on Human Belonging (2019)
• Nathan Duford, Solidarity in Conflict: A Democratic Theory (2022)
• what does “ontological” mean?
• etymology of the word “economy”
• Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica (1485)
• Michael Walzer, “Thick and Thin: Moral Argument at Home and Abroad” (1994)
• The “tragedy of the commons”
• Karl Marx, “Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right” (1943-44)
• “Anti-wokeism is infinitely more threatening than wokeism, which it claims to combat” (Le Monde, 2023)
• “The Story Behind Governor DeSantis’ Migrant Flights to Martha’s Vineyard” (The New York Times, 2022)
• Rebecca Solnit, A Paradise Built in Hell (2010)

——————-
If you enjoy Hotel Bar Sessions podcast, please be sure to subscribe and submit a rating/review! Follow us on Twitter @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube channel!

You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions.