Normal type

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In sociology, the typological term normal type (in German: Normaltyp) was coined by the German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies (1855–1936). It should not be confused with Max Weber's term ideal type (in German Idealtyp).

Tönnies drew a sharp line between the realm of conceptuality (of sociological terms, including "normal types") and the realm of reality (of social action). The first must be treated axiomatically and in a deductive way (pure sociology), the second, empirically and in an inductive way (applied sociology). Following Tönnies, reality (the second realm) cannot be explained without concepts, which belong to the first realm, or else you will fail because you try to define x by something derived from x.

Tönnies' Normaltyp was hitting at the German sociologist Max Weber, whose "ideal type" (Idealtyp) was coined as an "accentuation" of certain elements of a real social process, which is under sociological (or historical) scrutiny. From Tönnies' point of view, an ideal type cannot explain reality, because it is derived from reality by accentuation (x' is accentuating x). The ideal type might help to understand reality.

Nevertheless, Weber's term survived in the sociological community, since his Idealtyp helped to understand social forces, and for him "sociology" had both to explain and to understand things – a daring combination, but successful in the eyes of many sociologists.

See also

• Georg Simmel
• Structure and agency

This sociology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Sociological terms Sociology stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая? Bush regeneration Mike Sullivan (Wyoming) Look at other dictionaries: Normal-type pigment paper — Нормальная пигментная бумага …   Краткий толковый словарь по полиграфии Normal-inverse Gaussian distribution — Normal inverse Gaussian (NIG) parameters: μ location (real) α tail heavyness (real) β asymmetry parameter (real) δ scale parameter (real) support …   Wikipedia Normal-gamma distribution — Normal gamma parameters: location (real) (real) (real) (real) support …   Wikipedia Normal-scaled inverse gamma distribution — Normal scaled inverse gamma parameters: location (real) (real) (real) (real) support …   Wikipedia Normal — Nor mal (n[^o]r mal), a. [L. normalis, fr. norma rule, pattern, carpenter s square; prob. akin to noscere to know; cf. Gr. gnw rimos well known, gnw mwn gnomon, also, carpenter s square: cf. F. normal. See {Known}, and cf. {Abnormal},… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English Normal equations — Normal Nor mal (n[^o]r mal), a. [L. normalis, fr. norma rule, pattern, carpenter s square; prob. akin to noscere to know; cf. Gr. gnw rimos well known, gnw mwn gnomon, also, carpenter s square: cf. F. normal. See {Known}, and cf. {Abnormal},… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English Normal group — Normal Nor mal (n[^o]r mal), a. [L. normalis, fr. norma rule, pattern, carpenter s square; prob. akin to noscere to know; cf. Gr. gnw rimos well known, gnw mwn gnomon, also, carpenter s square: cf. F. normal. See {Known}, and cf. {Abnormal},… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English Normal place — Normal Nor mal (n[^o]r mal), a. [L. normalis, fr. norma rule, pattern, carpenter s square; prob. akin to noscere to know; cf. Gr. gnw rimos well known, gnw mwn gnomon, also, carpenter s square: cf. F. normal. See {Known}, and cf. {Abnormal},… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English Normal school — Normal Nor mal (n[^o]r mal), a. [L. normalis, fr. norma rule, pattern, carpenter s square; prob. akin to noscere to know; cf. Gr. gnw rimos well known, gnw mwn gnomon, also, carpenter s square: cf. F. normal. See {Known}, and cf. {Abnormal},… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English Type — may refer to:In philosophy: *A type is a category of being *Type token distinction *Type theory, basis for the study of type systemsIn mathematics: *Type (model theory) *Type or Arity, the number of operands a function takes *Type, any… …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”