Counterfeit Community: The Exploitation of Our Longings for Connectedness

by John F. Freie

From gated communities to Heaven's Gate, the idea and practice of community in America have not only declined but mutated. In the process, Americans' longing to be connected to something greater than themselves has intensified. This longing, coupled with an absence of genuine community alternatives, opens the way to counterfeit claims by those promoting economic rather than social agendas. This book examines 'counterfeit community' as it has become manifest throughout contemporary American society_in housing, as it shapes our public spaces; in the workplace; in politics; in religion; and most recently, in cyberspace. Promises of community come from those hawking exclusive golf course housing developments, from shopping malls and shopping channels, from 'total quality management' and mission statement rhetoric, from televangelists and electronic town meetings_and all lure us in, only to disappoint. As Counterfeit Community shows, building genuine community means no quick fixes and no false appeals. The hard work of weaving relationships must be combined with political, economic, and social change to counter the counterfeit trend. Marshaling positive examples of genuine community as well as increasing our sensitivity to false ringers, this book starts us along the way.

250 pages, Paperback

First published May 28, 1998

Reviews

[Lindsay · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could give this book negative stars I would. I don't even know where or how to start a review of this book it's so bad. Although presented as a scholarly analysis of modern forms of community (and its imitations, as the author claims), it is really nothing more than one person's opinion/political agenda. First major problem--no evidence. A very large majority of the claims in the book are given no supporting evidence to back them up, not even circumstantial evidence! The author just makes these bold claims that we are supposed to believe. For the few claims that do have evidence listed, the evidence given to us is hand-picked to support the claim while other evidence that would disprove the claim is not even mentioned. I know this because I have previously done research on some of these topics (e.g. online communities). Second major problem--bad logic. The author needs to take a course on logic because sometimes he even uses logic that ends up contradicting his main point! What??!!

Please note, that some of the authors opinions and ideas I actually agreed with. But because the book was presented as a scholarly one, I couldn't get past the glaring errors and mistakes in his assumptions, logic, and evidence.