 Having propounded his conception of the "Gemeinschaft"–"Gesellschaft" dichotomy, Tönnies was drawn into a sharp polemic with Émile Durkheim.In a review of Tönnies' book in 1889, Durkheim interpreted "Gemeinschaft" as an organic community, and "Gesellschaft" as a mechanical one, reproaching Tönnies for considering the second type of social organisation artificial, and not seeing the transition from the one type to the other.Tönnies did not agree with such an interpretation of his views, and in turn, when reviewing Durkheim's "The Division of Labour in Society" (1896), wrote that Durkheim's whole sociology was a modification and variant of Spencer's, which was also unjust.