In any study of urban sociology it is inevitable to encounter few scholars who have contributed as much to our current understanding of the structure and evolution of society as Ferdinand Tönnies and Robert Park. Both born in the late 19th century and lived into the early part of the 20th century, they offer each the opportunity to experience radical industrial growth, political and economic upheaval, and the first major international war. Despite these similarities, each theorist offered unique perspectives on the sociological changes they saw around them. In this article, I will attempt to explore the similarities and differences of these theories and apply each to the problem of social stratification and inequality in contemporary society. Ferdinand Tönnies is best known for his publication Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft, which was originally published in 1887 and was considered his most important work (Samples, 1987). In this book he introduced two new terms into the sociologist's lexicon: Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft. Having done this, he established the concepts of “community” and “society” and examined them in terms of their opposition to each other (Samples, 1987). According to Inglis, Gemeinschaft is a term that identifies a social structure defined by “closely related and affectively based groups” while Gesellschaft represents a society in which “selfish and rationally calculated individuals occupied center stage” (2009, p. 817) . . Tönnies' main area of ​​research concerned the movement of societies from strong community-based societies to what were (for him) simple extensions of individual will onto others. Adair-Toteff states that Tönnies' work “convinced [Tönnies] that the natural and organic Gemeinscha… at the heart of the paper… Helmes-Hayes, R. C. (1987). “A dualistic view”: Robert Ezra Park and the classical ecological theory of social inequality. The Sociological Quarterly, 28(3, Conceptions of Temporality in Sociological Theory), 387-409. Inglis, D. (2009). Cosmopolitan sociology and the classical canon: Ferdinand tönnies and the emergence of global gesellschaft. British Journal of Sociology, 60(4), 813-832. doi:10.1111/j.1468-4446.2009.01276.xTönnies, F. (1957). Community and society (C. Loomis, Trans.). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul (original work published 1887) Samples, J. (1987). Ferdinand toennies: Dark times for a liberal intellectual. Society, 24(6), 65-68.Smith, A. (1776). An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations [electronic resource]. Dublin: Printed for Messrs. Whitestone, Chamberlaine, W. Watson, Potts, S. Watson and 15 others in Dublin.