Ferdinand Tönnies: A Candidate for the Canon?

Tönnies' classic work develops an account of contrasted models of society and associated personality types: a rational choice one and a communitarian one. There is a related philosophy of history, torn between nostalgia and modernity. He looks forward to a resolution of these oppositions which is socialist and loosely Marxist while rejecting the command economy and historical inevitability. These themes are saturated with ideas of gender, which are used to illuminate the human being, social relationships and history. His preferred socialist future is androgynous. All of this is richly elaborated, complex and relevant and eminently discussable.