The Future of Community with Dave Clements

April 2009

Dave Clements will introduce a discussion on the themes in the new book 'The Future of Community (Reports of a Death Greatly Exaggerated)', edited by himself, Alastair Donald, Martin Earnshaw & Austin Williams. We will aim to evaluate the claim that communities are alive and well, despite the government’s best efforts.

With a particular focus on the government's attempts to 'support' traditional tight knit communities of northern England with interventions by external and politically prescribed lines, we'll try and get to grips current developments.

About the Book

We are constantly being told that communities are under threat, that we are losing a "sense of community." This book finds that the notion of community in Britain is actually threatened by the very thing intended to protect it: relentless government and third party interventions bent on imposing their own forms of social cohesion on the population.

There is no doubt that modern societies, underpinned by a ruthlessly competitive and individualistic economic system, have undermined ties of family, solidarity, and commonality. However, when an idea of community is articulated it is almost invariably along conservative and reactionary lines---with unelected spokespeople unquestionably accepted as "community leaders," and with formal contractual relationships taking the place of "traditional" social order. The short, punchy articles in this book criticize attempts by the state and other agencies to correct the so-called collapse of communities.

This book is for students and citizens looking to get beyond the hysterical rhetoric of the government and media to find out about the real communities of the 21st century.

Published by Pluto Press and available from Amazon.

Additional Reading

'Supporting communities to support individuals' - Hazel Blears statement promoting the benefits of the government's interventionist approach to 'supporting' local communities.

'Aspirations and attainment in deprived communities' by Social Exclusion Task Force, DCSF and CLG and download the PDF document for justification for 'supporting' communities the government don't approve of with intervention to help them 'design their own solutions'.

'Sources of resentment, and perceptions of ethnic minorities among poor white people in England' compiled for the NATIONAL COMMUNITY FORUM and Department for Communities and Local Government.