Gesellschaft

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Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft

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Gesellschaft (plural Gesellschaften or Gesellschafts)

(sociology) A hypothetical mode of society, made up of self-serving individuals linked by impersonal ties; as opposed to Gemeinschaft.
- 1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow:
  Seven years later, Hernández wrote a Return of Martín Fierro in which the Gaucho sells out: assimilates back into Christian society, gives up his freedom for the kind of constitutional Gesellschaft being pushed in those days by Buenos Aires.

Cognate with Dutch gezelschap.

Gesellschaft f (genitive Gesellschaft, plural Gesellschaften)

company (presence of other people in general)
Ich habe Gesellschaft. ― I have company. / I'm not alone.
company (group of people)
- Da kam eine Gesellschaft.
  There came a group of people.
society, the public (abstract concept of an organised social group or a local population in general)
- 1932, Erich Mühsam, Die Befreiung der Gesellschaft vom Staat, in: Erich Mühsam: Prosaschriften II, Verlag europäische ideen Berlin (1978), page 253:
  Wie stellt ihr euch eine Gesellschaft ohne Staat und Obrigkeit vor?
  How do you imagine a society without state and authorities?
- 1995, “Digital ist Besser”, performed by Tocotronic:
  In einer Gesellschaft in der man bunte Uhren trägt / In einer Gesellschaft wie dieser bin ich nur im Weg
  In a society where one wears coloured watches, I only stand in the way.
society (organised group of people with common interests)
Die Goethe-Gesellschaft lädt zur Lesung.
The Goethe Society invites you to a reading.
(law) company, corporation (collection of people and assets with a legal identity, which may or may not be separate from that of its members)

Declension of Gesellschaft [feminine]