The Trouble With Community

The Trouble With Community
Author: Vered Amit
Publisher: Pluto Press (UK)
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2002-08-20
Genre: Social Science
ISBN:

'Community' is one of social science's longest-standing concepts. The assumption of much social science has been that humans belong in communities, as social and cultural beings.The trouble with 'community' is that this is not necessarily so; the personal social networks of individuals' actual experience crosscut collective categories, situations and institutions. Communities can prove unviable or imprisoning; the reality of community life and identity can often be very different from the ideology and the ideal.In this book, the authors draw on their ethnographic experiences to reappraise the concept and the reality of 'community', in the light of globalisation, religious fundamentalism, identity politics, and renascent localisms. How might anthropology better apprehend social identities which are intrinsically plural, transgressive and ironic? What has anthropology to say about the way in which civil society might hope to accommodate the ongoing construction and the rightful expression of such migrant identities?

Living into Community

Living into Community
Author: Christine D. Pohl
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2011-12-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1467431869

Every church, every organization, has experienced them: betrayal, deception, grumbling, envy, exclusion. They make life together difficult and prevent congregations from developing the skills, virtues, and practices they need to nurture sturdy, life-giving communities. In Living into Community Christine Pohl explores four specific Christian practices -- gratitude, promise-keeping, truth-telling, and hospitality -- that can counteract those destructive forces and help churches and individuals build and sustain vibrant communities. Drawing on a wealth of personal and professional experience and interacting with the biblical, historical, and moral traditions, Pohl thoughtfully discusses each practice, including its possible complications and deformations, and points to how these essential practices can be better cultivated within communities and families.

A New Species of Trouble

A New Species of Trouble
Author: Kai Erikson
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 268
Release: 1995
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780393313192

In the twentieth century, disasters caused by human beings have become more and more common. Unlike earthquakes and other natural catastrophes, this 'new species of trouble' afflicts person and groups in particularly disruptive ways.

A Time to Build

A Time to Build
Author: Yuval Levin
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2020-01-21
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1541699289

A leading conservative intellectual argues that to renew America we must recommit to our institutions Americans are living through a social crisis. Our politics is polarized and bitterly divided. Culture wars rage on campus, in the media, social media, and other arenas of our common life. And for too many Americans, alienation can descend into despair, weakening families and communities and even driving an explosion of opioid abuse. Left and right alike have responded with populist anger at our institutions, and use only metaphors of destruction to describe the path forward: cleaning house, draining swamps. But, as Yuval Levin argues, this is a misguided prescription, rooted in a defective diagnosis. The social crisis we confront is defined not by an oppressive presence but by a debilitating absence of the forces that unite us and militate against alienation. As Levin argues, now is not a time to tear down, but rather to build and rebuild by committing ourselves to the institutions around us. From the military to churches, from families to schools, these institutions provide the forms and structures we need to be free. By taking concrete steps to help them be more trustworthy, we can renew the ties that bind Americans to one another.

Bowling Alone: Revised and Updated

Bowling Alone: Revised and Updated
Author: Robert D. Putnam
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Total Pages: 592
Release: 2020-10-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 1982130849

Updated to include a new chapter about the influence of social media and the Internet—the 20th anniversary edition of Bowling Alone remains a seminal work of social analysis, and its examination of what happened to our sense of community remains more relevant than ever in today’s fractured America. Twenty years, ago, Robert D. Putnam made a seemingly simple observation: once we bowled in leagues, usually after work; but no longer. This seemingly small phenomenon symbolized a significant social change that became the basis of the acclaimed bestseller, Bowling Alone, which The Washington Post called “a very important book” and Putnam, “the de Tocqueville of our generation.” Bowling Alone surveyed in detail Americans’ changing behavior over the decades, showing how we had become increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors, and social structures, whether it’s with the PTA, church, clubs, political parties, or bowling leagues. In the revised edition of his classic work, Putnam shows how our shrinking access to the “social capital” that is the reward of communal activity and community sharing still poses a serious threat to our civic and personal health, and how these consequences have a new resonance for our divided country today. He includes critical new material on the pervasive influence of social media and the internet, which has introduced previously unthinkable opportunities for social connection—as well as unprecedented levels of alienation and isolation. At the time of its publication, Putnam’s then-groundbreaking work showed how social bonds are the most powerful predictor of life satisfaction, and how the loss of social capital is felt in critical ways, acting as a strong predictor of crime rates and other measures of neighborhood quality of life, and affecting our health in other ways. While the ways in which we connect, or become disconnected, have changed over the decades, his central argument remains as powerful and urgent as ever: mending our frayed social capital is key to preserving the very fabric of our society.

Community and the Problem of Crime

Community and the Problem of Crime
Author: Karen Evans
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2023-08-11
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1000922316

This book offers a useful theoretical overview of key approaches to the subject of crime and community and considers the ways in which these have been applied in more practical settings. Written by an expert in the field and drawing on a range of international case studies from Europe, North America, Australia and Asia, this book explores both why and how crime and community have been linked and the implications of their relationship within criminology and crime prevention policy. Topics covered in the book include: the different crime prevention paradigms which have been utilized in the ‘fight against crime’ the turn to community in crime prevention policy, which took place during the 1980s in the UK and US, and its subsequent development the theoretical and ideological underpinnings to crime prevention work in and with different communities the significance and impact of fear of crime on crime prevention policy different institutional responses to working with community in crime prevention and community safety the ways in which the experiences of the UK and US have been translated into the European context a comparison between traditional western responses to the growing interest in restorative and community-based approaches in other regions. The new edition has been fully revised and updated to include discussion of the rise of populist politics and the centrality of ‘crime’ and ‘disorder’ as a divisive element used in populist political rhetoric; the politics of austerity and the management of crises – economic, environmental and COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdowns; the impact of Black Lives Matter, MeToo and Extinction Rebellion; the significance of social media and virtual community; the further erosion of civil liberties and the right to protest; and racialized US policing practices and police-related deaths. This book offers essential reading for students taking courses on crime and community, crime prevention and community safety and community corrections.

The Third Pillar

The Third Pillar
Author: Raghuram Rajan
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 466
Release: 2020-02-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0525558330

Revised and updated Shortlisted for the Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award From one of the most important economic thinkers of our time, a brilliant and far-seeing analysis of the current populist backlash against globalization. Raghuram Rajan, distinguished University of Chicago professor, former IMF chief economist, head of India's central bank, and author of the 2010 FT-Goldman-Sachs Book of the Year Fault Lines, has an unparalleled vantage point onto the social and economic consequences of globalization and their ultimate effect on our politics. In The Third Pillar he offers up a magnificent big-picture framework for understanding how these three forces--the state, markets, and our communities--interact, why things begin to break down, and how we can find our way back to a more secure and stable plane. The "third pillar" of the title is the community we live in. Economists all too often understand their field as the relationship between markets and the state, and they leave squishy social issues for other people. That's not just myopic, Rajan argues; it's dangerous. All economics is actually socioeconomics - all markets are embedded in a web of human relations, values and norms. As he shows, throughout history, technological phase shifts have ripped the market out of those old webs and led to violent backlashes, and to what we now call populism. Eventually, a new equilibrium is reached, but it can be ugly and messy, especially if done wrong. Right now, we're doing it wrong. As markets scale up, the state scales up with it, concentrating economic and political power in flourishing central hubs and leaving the periphery to decompose, figuratively and even literally. Instead, Rajan offers a way to rethink the relationship between the market and civil society and argues for a return to strengthening and empowering local communities as an antidote to growing despair and unrest. Rajan is not a doctrinaire conservative, so his ultimate argument that decision-making has to be devolved to the grass roots or our democracy will continue to wither, is sure to be provocative. But even setting aside its solutions, The Third Pillar is a masterpiece of explication, a book that will be a classic of its kind for its offering of a wise, authoritative and humane explanation of the forces that have wrought such a sea change in our lives.

Bulletin

Bulletin
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 988
Release: 1918
Genre: Education
ISBN:

The Trouble With Sharing

The Trouble With Sharing
Author: Airi Lampinen
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 116
Release: 2022-05-31
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 3031022343

Peer-to-peer exchange is a type of sharing that involves the transfer of valued resources, such as goods and services, among members of a local community and/or between parties who have not met before the exchange encounter. It involves online systems that allow strangers to exchange in ways that were previously confined to the realm of kinship and friendship. Through the examples in this book, we encounter attempts to foster the sharing of goods and services in local communities and consider the intricacies of sharing homes temporarily with strangers (also referred to as hospitality exchange or network hospitality). Some of the exchange arrangements discussed involve money while others explicitly ban participants from using it. All rely on digital technologies, but the trickiest challenges have more to do with social interaction than technical features. This book explores what makes peer-to-peer exchange challenging, with an emphasis on reciprocity, closeness, and participation: How should we reciprocate? How might we manage interactions with those we encounter to attain some closeness but not too much? What keeps people from getting involved or draws them into exchange activities that they would rather avoid? This book adds to the growing body of research on exchange platforms and the sharing economy. It provides empirical examples and conceptual grounding for thinking about interpersonal challenges in peer-to-peer exchange and the efforts that are required for exchange arrangements to flourish. It offers inspiration for how we might think and design differently to better understand and support the efforts of those involved in peer-to-peer exchange. While the issues cannot be simply “solved” by technology, it matters which digital tools an exchange arrangement relies on, and even seemingly small design decisions can have a significant impact on what it is like to participate in exchange processes. The technologies that support exchange arrangements—often platforms of some sort—can be driven by differing sets of values and commitments. This book invites students and scholars in the Human–Computer Interaction community, and beyond, to envision and design alternative exchange arrangements and future economies.

Cocoon Communities

Cocoon Communities
Author: Fred Dervin
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2013-02-14
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1443846341

Filling a gap in the literature on communities, this innovative and critical volume proposes the concept of Cocoon Communities. Cocoon communities are highly significant for its members and yet not binding. Membership is voluntary and informal. Weaving together interdisciplinary perspectives, the contributors offer theoretical perspectives and research findings on communities of international students, online mourners, farmworkers, expatriates, and ‘Westerners’ in India. The volume will be of great interest to scholars and students in anthropology, education, social psychology and sociology.