The following thoughts are a brief summary of my PhD. The PhD was written in the 1990s but its central theme \u2013 the use and misuse of the term \u201ccommunity\u201d in politics – seems not to have gone away. So, for what it\u2019s worth, here are my thoughts on what \u201ccommunity\u201d means and why it\u2019s an important concept for people interested in social change\u2026<\/p>\n
The word \u201ccommunity\u201d has a strange power to it. It conveys a sense of togetherness and positivity. It speaks both of solidarity and homeliness. For example, attach the word \u201ccommunity\u201d to \u201cpolicing\u201d and it turns the legitimate monopoly power of the state over the use of force into something warm and cuddly.<\/p>\n
You will hear \u201ccommunity\u201d from the mouths of politicians, officials and other people with microphones in their hands. They speak of \u201cthe community\u201d and how important it is to listen to, consult with or hear the voice of this strange collective thing. You will never hear someone in this context say that \u201ccommunity\u201d is a thing that can be ignored or should be feared. And you will, almost never, hear people say what they mean by \u201ccommunity\u201d.<\/p>\n
So \u2013 what does community mean? And why is important?<\/strong><\/p>\n Here are the things that I think a definition of community must be able to explain in order to reflect the various communities in the world, and to be useful as a tool for social analysis.<\/p>\n Given that framing, I offer this as my definition of \u201ccommunity\u201d:<\/p>\n A community is a group of people who share an identity-forming narrative. <\/strong><\/p>\n This means, a group of people who share a story that is so important to them that it defines an aspect of who they are. Those people build the shared story archetypes (characters) of that community into their sense of themselves; they build the history of those communities into their own personal history; and they see the world through the lens of those shared stories.<\/p>\n So, one of the communities that I consider myself to be part of is the community based around the city of Newcastle. The manifestations of this are that I take pride in showing people around the city. I feel slighted when people say horrible things about it. I feel at home whenever I hear a Geordie (Newcastle) accent (despite not having one myself). And so on.<\/p>\n But what makes me part of this community is my choice to write Newcastle\u2019s stories into my own story: the character traits for how Geordies are supposed to behave (be friendly, talk to strangers at bus stops, support Newcastle United etc etc) are character traits that I have adopted. I take part in shared events where this story is played out \u2013 such as attending football matches at St James Park and other cultural events in the city. I feel that arguments about the future of the city (should this building be built here? What green spaces does the city need? etc etc) are arguments about my own future. I see arguments about the UK\u2019s future through the lens of the future of Newcastle.<\/p>\n It is this choice to participate in the making and remaking of these stories about the city that makes me part of the community of Newcastle. It\u2019s not just about where you live, or where you work: it is possible to live and work in Newcastle without doing these things, without becoming part of this community. And there are many people who are from Newcastle originally, but who now live elsewhere, who would still consider themselves part of the Newcastle community because they still take an active part in conversations about what it means to be a part of this community.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s see how this definition works against the six key criteria for being an accurate and useful definition of \u201ccommunity\u201d:<\/p>\n On one level, this is simply a plea for a more precise use of language. I am not saying that \u201ccommunity\u201d is the only (or even most important) social grouping, but it is a particular type of social grouping that explains the strong sense of shared identity that people feel, and membership of particular groups give us a lens through which we see the world.<\/p>\n Sometimes, this will make \u201ccommunity\u201d important to our political (policy\/management) conversations. Many times community will not be relevant. In those cases people should stop using the word \u201ccommunity\u201d just to generate a warm fuzzy feeling, or as a euphemism for talking about poor people. If you mean \u201cpeople\u201d, say \u201cpeople\u201d.\u00a0 If you mean \u201ccommunity\u201d, say which community you mean, and say why those identity-forming narratives are important to what you\u2019re trying to do.<\/p>\n I think my key message is that community is an important concept for social change because it helps us to see that social change requires a change in some of the most important stories we tell ourselves. Social change requires that we rewrite our communal narratives. Social change is change in community.<\/p>\n Our communities shape our understanding of the world. If you\u2019re looking to create change in the world, it is these meanings and understandings which have to change. This applies whether the change you seek is macro scale (like gender equality) or micro scale (like making this street a better place to live).<\/p>\n It is easy to understand why changing people\u2019s sense of community is important on the micro scale (if you want to change how it is to live on this street, you need people\u2019s sense of what it means to live on this street, and what is possible for the people who live here \u2013 like this story of change in Granby<\/a>).<\/p>\n It is less immediately obvious why \u2018community\u2019 is important for macro change like gender equality. I think it is important because what gender equality looks like will be different for each community. Translating gender equality from the abstract language of human rights into the concrete practices of people requires each set of stories that define men and women\u2019s roles in each community to change (and also the stories that construct our sense of what men and women are). It is change in these stories that makes macro change real.<\/p>\n This understanding helps us to understand that a key part of social change is narrative change. It helps us to ask the following types of question: what are the stories that define our understanding of how life should be lived in this context? Who and what shapes those stories? Where are they told, and who tells them? In technical language, social change must include the politics of narrative construction.<\/p>\n Obviously, these aren\u2019t the only important questions. But if they\u2019re not addressed, social change becomes significantly harder.<\/p>\n If social change involves narrative change for each community, then it is up to members of those communities to challenge and refresh their own narrative construction processes. \u00a0We know that imposing change on the stories of others is perilous (and usually counter-productive). That gives each community a responsibility to (critically) reflect on their own stories, and on the story-making process. What do our stories have to say about justice\/care\/kindness (whatever value is the subject of reflection)? Who is involved in this process? Who gets to explore and tell their stories? Whose voice counts?<\/p>\n We can also view other questions through the lens of community. What\u2019s our attitude to those who don\u2019t share our stories? What can we learn from the narratives of others? What is required for people to have a voice in our shared story-making?<\/p>\n And finally, community helps us to understand what freedom means. It means being free to write your own story \u2013 and that is both an individual and collective process. It means being free to find the community that best suits you, and it means participating in the creation of narratives that enable others to be free.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I hope that\u2019s been useful. Inevitably, some of the shortcuts I\u2019ve taken in order to fit this into any kind of readable length mean I\u2019ve also skipped over a range of important ideas and questions too quickly. But I hope some of the key ideas are expressed with enough clarity to be useful.<\/p>\n My grateful thanks to Pritpal Tamber<\/a> for giving helpful feedback on drafts of this. Go check out his excellent work on Health and Community<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What is Community and why is it important? The following thoughts are a brief summary of my PhD. The PhD was written in the 1990s but its central theme \u2013 the use and misuse of the term \u201ccommunity\u201d in politics … Continue reading \n
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Why does this matter?<\/h2>\n
Why \u2018community\u2019 is a helpful concept for understanding and creating social change<\/h2>\n
Social change is always particular \u2013 it looks and feels different depending on the communities of which you are part<\/h3>\n
Narrative change is (part of) social change<\/h3>\n
Challenging our own narratives<\/h3>\n
Freedom, diversity and tolerance<\/h3>\n