Community

by Gerard Delanty

The increasing individualism of modern Western society has been accompanied by an enduring nostalgia for the idea of community as a source of security and belonging and, in recent years, as an alternative to the state as a basis for politics.

Gerard Delanty begins this stimulating introduction to the concept with an analysis of the origins of the idea of community in Western Utopian thought, and as an imagined primitive state equated with traditional societies in classical sociology and anthropology. He goes on to chart the resurgence of the idea within communitarian thought, the complications and critiques of multiculturalism, and its new manifestations within a society where new modes of communication produce both fragmentation and the possibilities of new social bonds. Contemporary community, he argues, is essentially a communication community based on new kinds of belonging. No longer bounded by place, we are able to belong to multiple communities based on religion, nationalism, ethnicity, life-styles and gender.

Genres: Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Bahattin Cizreli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ele aldığı konunun önemi, aktardığı teorik derinlik ve bu konunun işlenme biçimi kitabı sosyologlar için okumaya değer kılıyor. Fakat benim bu yorumda ifade etmek istediğim bir kavram veya olgunun irdelenerek bir metne nasıl dönüştürüleceğine dair örnek bir çalışma. Özcesi akademik bir kitap böyle yazılır.

[Tarjei Skille]

lese litt fag også. phd-prosjektskissa ska være inne om 2 uker. greit å ha noe teori å vise til

[Oktagerard]

A comprehensive understanding about community.
The author gives crisp and easy wording to understand the discourse about community.
A good book to start some investigation in the theme of community before go to the specific thinkers.

[Liisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good introduction into the topic, busting some common misconceptions. Easy and pleasant to read.