The Dynamics of Community, Place, and Identity

Abstract

The dynamics of community, place, and identity Introduction The aim of this theme issue is to explore the concept of community in the light of a number of important theoretical trends within the academy, and the upsurge in popularity of 'big themes' based upon it in North American and UK politics. I will make no attempt to provide a comprehensive treatment of community in terms either of breadth of theory or of range of empirical studies. However, the five papers that follow this introductory essay provide excellent examples of the different directions in which contemporary studies of community can lead.There are several areas of theoretical development that I find particularly promising and interesting.The first is politicomoral and is centred on a debate between liberals and communitarians. One sphere of this debate is in political and moral philosophy; the other revolves around 'popular communitarianism' whose advocates have the ear of politicians. In each liberals and communitarians are often at odds, and both are subject to feminist critiques. Much discussion here is focused on the extent to which community is, or should be, a moral force. Another important relationship, too often neglected, is that between community and the subject position of citizen.The second area of development owes much to new conceptions of relations between place and space influenced by poststructuralism and recent work on globalisation which, I will argue, have been exemplified by the sociospatial relations of community for some time.Another strand consists of theoretical work in which community is dealt with in terms of collective identity and collective action, and in which account is taken both of instrumental and of communicative rationality. The notion of purposive and instrumental community action is an important one that can be neglected, given the 'cultural turn' in geography and the tendency to give priority to discursive-symbolic factors.Fourth, there is work in which the constructed and contested nature of community in the context of power relations and 'difference' is stressed. Strongly influenced by poststructuralism, this work has a 'mongrel' pedigree which includes political economy and the politics of identity. CommunitarianismThere is a broad distinction between the high theory of philosophical communitarianism, and its popular appropriations which have direct policy implications. The high theoreticians focus more on the difference between the atomised individual and the relational self; and the popularisers upon the relative importance of individual rights and community obligations, although there is considerable crossover. Here I provide the broadest outline of this terrain, recognising that the terms 'liberalism' and 'communitarianism' mean different things to different people-for a comprehensive review see Arthur and Shaw (1991) or Mulhall and Swift (1992). There are also important feminist critiques which Smith considers in his paper in this issue.In a paradigmatic statement of the liberal position, Rawls (197...

Risk, trust and knowledge networks in farmers’ learning

“…In this way participants seemed to be evoking characteristics of a ''community of interest'' (Silk, 1999) as much as a community of locality as being important to them. While writers such as Svendsen and Svendsen (2000) have stressed the importance of ''regular face to face interaction'' (p. 75) in establishing trust, the present study indicates that we should not neglect the significance of relationships maintained at a geographical distance.…”

Who is Who? Identifying the Different Sub-groups of Secondary Stakeholders within a Community: A Case Study of the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria Communities

“…It explains issues of belonging and identity, inclusion and exclusion, difference and similarity, time and place, and processes such as modernisation (Delanty, 2003;Silk, 1999;Crow and Allen, 1994;Cater and Jones, 1989;Bell and Newby, 1971). Likewise, Silk (1999: 6) stated that community encapsulates "common needs and goals, a sense of the common good, shared lives, culture and views of the world, and collective action".…”

Land tenure change and rural housing in Scotland

“…This is not the place to rehearse the extensive sociological history of its (re)definition (see Bell & Newby, 1974;Cohen, 1985;Avineri & de-Shalit (1992) bring together critical political-philosophical interpretations), but identify some key points from recent contributions. Silk (1999) argues that "community" might be characterised by one or more of a set of features: "... common needs and goals, a sense of the common good, shared lives, culture and views of the world, and collective action (and further that)... the chances for development of community are maximised when there is unmediated face-to-face contact between people, as when they share a restricted territory" (p. 8). There is debate, however, on the specific characteristics used and the way in which community is construed.…”