Normal type

The normal type is a sociological term used to classify social phenomena . The concept of the normal type or normal term goes back to Ferdinand Tönnies , who occasionally also used the term ideal type for it. The normal type from Tönnies is a forerunner of the ideal type from Max Weber .

Tönnies makes a sharp distinction between the realm of concepts , to which the normal type belongs, and the realm of reality , in which social action is taken. In the first, pure sociology proceeds axiomatically and deductively in order to form concepts; in the second, applied sociology explains reality with the concepts taken from the first. According to Tönnies, reality cannot be explained without terms from the realm of concepts, because otherwise one would have to explain an object of investigation using a term that would already contain this object of investigation itself. However, that would come close to a Petitio Principii and would therefore be problematic.

In contrast to Tönnies' normal type, Max Weber's concept formation by means of ideal types is not entirely located in a realm of concepts: rather, ideal types are formed by emphasizing important features of reality and abstraction. Today, instead of the formation of normal terms, one speaks more of modeling in numerous areas .

literature

Ferdinand Tönnies : Community and Society . Treatise on communism and socialism as empirical forms of culture . Fues, Leipzig 1887 ( online ; current editions are mostly based on the 8th edition from 1935, for example: Ferdinand Tönnies: Community and Society. Basic Concepts of Pure Sociology . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2010, ISBN 978-3-534-23158-4 ).
Paolo Ammassari : Tönnies e la tradizione tipologica. In: Annali di sociologia. = Sociological yearbook. Jg. 4, H. 1, 1987, pp. 297-307, it. (and German).

Individual evidence

^ Eugene Kamenka, Alice Erh-Soon Tay: 'Community', 'Society' and the Nature of Law . In: Carsten Schlüter, Lars Clausen (Ed.): Renaissance of the community? Stable theory and new theorems . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-428-07027-5 ( Contributions to Social Research , Vol. 5), pp. 131–152, here p. 135.

[1] Eugene Kamenka, Alice Erh-Soon Tay: 'Community', 'Society' and the Nature of Law . In: Carsten Schlüter, Lars Clausen (Ed.): Renaissance of the community? Stable theory and new theorems . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-428-07027-5 ( Contributions to Social Research , Vol. 5), pp. 131–152, here p. 135.