ABSTRACT
A striking characteristic of modern societies is that they contain two types of communities. I shall treat them as ideal types, each representative of their respective kinds of social systems. As an ideal type, I shall treat the dominant traits of each in conceptual rather than historical terms. The adjective "ideal" is to be understood as having no moral reference, being only logically ideal. Ideal types are in the nature of concepts, because they are names for classes of objects. They do not tell one the precise and "real" attributes of each object, but rather its general characteristics as a type. Ideal types are thus useful fictions.
