The Spirit of Community - Case Study Example

The concept of community as perceived by a layman is best depicted in the Amish community via the movie “The Witness.” (The Witness: 1985) The Amish have their ancestral roots in Switzerland in the 18th century.  They live in a close group and avoid strangers.  Farming is their main source of sustenance.  As Christians, they believe they should live as brethrens, that their faith is distinct from the State, and that they are committed to live peacefully.  They live a simple life and wear modest clothes.  Sunday evening “sing” is attended by all teenagers.  The men do the outside work like farming while the women do the household work like cooking.  Amish believe that their faith calls for good works.  Children receive education in the Amish schools.  In the movie, they are seen taking care of each other. The people in this water-tight community do not like police. They do not follow the rules of any other community because they see their own rules well and sufficient. (‘The Amish: history, beliefs, practices, conflicts, etc’, n.d.) If this is a popular perception of community and looking at the huge attention that this so called communitarian movie has got in the western countries, then it is only natural to begin our study with some form of skepticism while examining if communitarian movement can adequately recognize, support, and promote moral and cultural diversity.  After all, it is one thing to recognize, support, and promotes moral and cultural values, which, we could find in plenty in our Amish community and it is another thing when the question of diversity comes in. the paper here discusses the question - Can communitarianism adequately recognize, support and promote moral and cultural diversity? Illustrate your answer with particular reference to nationality and family?   However, the renewed stress that we see on communitarian movement from the 1990s (Johnson, 1999, p8) is not in response to increased interchange of diverse ideas and culture between people through globalization. It is rather in response to a vacuum that is created in their personal life because of their failure to adhere to any strict norm of living, be it under a banner of religion or any other moral philosophy. Thus in our pursuit of being secular, there is little motivation on the part of many citizens to adhere to any strict laws other than legal rulings by the state.  Ordinary people find it hard to understand what family stands for, what the role of a man and a woman should be, and where a child stands with respect to the responsibility of parents.  At a time, when most states do not prohibit abortion and are neutral towards homosexual behavior, there is an emotional crisis on the part of many of its citizens because of too much freedom. This has laid utmost impact on family, the building block of any community or society.  By putting stress on moral responsibility of each individual in the society, it appears that the goal of current communitarian movement is to address some of the excesses of human behavior which has made their personal, family, and social life miserable in qualitative terms.  (Johnson, 1999) When one examines the realistic geographical limit of this new communitarian movement, one finds it limited in context of current western society.  So, it is important to keep that limitation in mind.   Elsewhere and in the western countries, there has also been a rise in religious fundamentalism.  As a result, there is compulsion on the part of policymakers to be neutral towards religion while promoting good ethics. In a secular setup, the only way to bring all people together and make them agree to adhere to good moral behavior is through channels that are religiously neutral.  Communitarian movement promises itself one such powerful channel. How to stop religious fundamentalism which is at the heart of serious threats of global terrorism and induce people toward good moral behavior can be challenging for peace activists. One of the goals of such communitarian movement is to form an ideology where people adopt moral ethics in their day-to-day life without religious discourse.  But any strong idea which calls in for adoption of certain good ethics may ultimately take a form of religion. It may even take a form of extreme religion which does not recognize any religion, as we see in case of socialism and communism in many countries. If communitarian movement gets huge popularity, it is doubtful whether it can resist that trend. Family is the basis for community in this philosophy.  Not surprisingly, the family is seen to be primary unit to suffer.  It is seen that the proportion of nuclear families had decreased from 42 percent in 1960 to 26 percent in 1990. The rate of divorce doubled while rates of illegitimacy rose from 21 per 1000 births in 1960 to 42 in 1989. (Prideaux, 2002) These, according to communitarian leaders, speak amply of the continuing erosion-cum-disintegration of the moral order in family within society during the period.  According to them, the revival of the highly functional institutions of family, neighborhood, and community, and moral education would start reinforcement of family values. Subsequently it would continue to manifest in a vibrant communal atmosphere.  The renewed communitarian movement perhaps is targeted towards families where parents are negligent of their parental obligations. It seeks to instill in those parents a sense of moral responsibility towards their children. For example, Amitai Etzioni, a renowned socialist and influential in making communitarian movement popular, believes that while the essence of 1950s was a deep sense of obligation, 1960s to 1980s saw growing temptation to eschew from social responsibilities. The reasons cited are decrease of influence of religion in personal life. (Prideaux 2002) The nation is one big community in this communitarian model. Miller, for example, argues that nation is one large community on which provision for welfare of its people depends. (Spicker, 2008) Etzioni did a study of communitarian trend in the US dividing it under distinct time phases.  He observed that US society in the 1950s was marked by a high-degree of imposed discipline. Nonetheless, he still appreciates that it was offset with a high-degree of moral suasion. He comments on the fact that it was compulsory for college students to take a number of prescribed classes and prescribed subjects, which in his word “reflected unabashedly” the dominant set of values.  Coercion, according to him, may be good at times, but it can be destructive if applied too generously. In his view, low autonomy is not always a bad thing. (Prideaux 2002) Experiences in a close community living in Arab however show how rigid its family and society became over time. There was little room for flexibility in thought, and society was intolerant of other religion or culture. There were few rights and privileges for women, who were exploited in the name of maintaining good family and good community. Children were coaxed to follow tradition. Moreover, there is no thin line of difference between prescribed justified coercion by communitarian leaders like Etzioni and excessive coercion. It is feared that if parents start taking a too proactive role in bringing their children, the very interest might be counterproductive. It may curtail the individual freedom of a child to grow and thrive in realistic ways.  Lifestyle a child as well as parents is affected on many parameters. Western people are known and appreciated for being independent-minded. When it comes to laying foundation for a good family, women naturally takes a center stage. Feminism has been a successful movement over these past decades which liberated women of many restrictions in their family and social life and gave them equal rights to men. Despite this, there are many contemporary issues such as abortion, child care that are unique to women and cannot be competed in terms of equal rights for men and women. Communitarian movement apparently seeks to address some of the crisis in family due to such uniqueness and gained liberty. This movement is labeled by many feminists as communitarian conservatism. While communitarian leaders address many feminist issues keeping it under the context of a good family, others like Brenner argue that they must be set in political and economic context (Brenner, 2006). Also, the huge success of women-rights activist through legal rulings and state policies led to so called counter –feminists such as Schlafly who fought against its excesses and lobbied to stop the attempts to legislate feminist philosophy:  the Equal Rights Amendment.  The motive was to instill some form of order in family and justice for children who are victims of negligence of their parents due to divorce, indifference, or any such reason. (The Original Counter-Feminist 2007)   Whether communitarian movement has any independent standing, or it is just a repeat of basic moral lessons that children have been taught in their primary classes over the years can be open to debate for anyone. For many skeptics, it is just an old wine in a new bottle What we see as ideals for good community in Scotland, Wales, and Norway as cited by many communitarian leaders is perhaps the result of high level of refinement on the part of their citizens through a long history that began with the renaissance. (Scott, 2000, p.15) It appears that the present communitarian movement is carried under western model of living where people are expected to apply good moral judgment while enjoying personal liberty.  It is doubtful whether it has any independent standing of its own other than just imposing certain good etiquettes on behalf of its citizens. The fact that they have given asylum to political refugees and political prisoners, and thus applauded their openness, may be the result of their political interests. The communitarian movement often overlaps with other initiatives in society such as welfare and applied ethics.  Philosophers such as Fitzpatrick have tried to explore vivid practical problems through these, such as how ethical theories can be relevant to social policy in a welfare community. The economic concept of welfare state is not new. The same age old concept of welfare state is approached by many philosophers in a community setup, making a case for good family and personal satisfaction of all its members. (Fitzpatrick 2001; Fitzpatrick 2008 ; Pierson and Castles 2006) Popple and Stepney made an outstanding contribution in making a link between community and social policy in present context. After exploring communitarian movement today and Labour’s distinct way to project the welfare state in United Kingdom, they predict the future possibility for community-based social work in an international context. (Popple & Stepney 1995) The context of community as a target for social work practice has found renewed vigor with the popularization of this movement. Community is seen as a point of care and support as well as conflict and discrimination. If one stretches the concept of community, it can be all embracing from welfare of single family to whole nation. It has suggestions on ways to improve family life, tackle feminist issues, and protect rights of children, rights of mentally and physically challenged people. This, however, makes its doctrine rather some form of wishful thinking than focused on few practical things that can be done and delivered. For many, the term good community is too vague to be worthy of any serious discussion. It promises wellbeing for all people, it is full of worthy suggestions, and that makes it somewhat unrealistic and unviable in the light of scarcity of resources. However, taking a more discerning approach, one can appreciate the fact that present communitarian movement is targeted against the fallout of excessive liberty enjoyed by the citizens of USA and western countries in their personal and family life since the 1960s. (Pridreaux, 2002)   For many political leaders, talking about “good community” is just a gimmick to win audience and gain votes. We see in United Kingdom that this has become a battleground for its political parties. It is important to discern facts from rhetoric without which this term can be open to loose interpretation and will not help to serve any meaningful community reform. For instance, the following Blair’s speech appears in line with the tone used while building a case for going to war in Iraq: “At the heart of my beliefs is the idea of community. I don’t just mean the villages, towns and cities in which we live. I mean that our fulfillment as individuals lies in a decent society of others. My argument to you today is that the renewal of community is the answer to the challenges of a changing world.” (Cohen, 2002). In one part of his speech here, Blair relates community first with local area, then stretches it to society as a whole, and then defines it as a way to personal fulfillment, as rejuvenation, and more strikingly, as a universal remedy.  (Hale 2002 p.18).     Moreover, many of the notions put forward by communitarian leaders are fuzzy and cannot be taken without a grain of salt.  For instance, the intense obsession of Etzioni with the society before the 1950s in USA and ironic consequence for the decades that followed till 1990s appears to be a personal way of viewing things that old days were good days.  The fact is that over the years US society has become more open, more diverse, and more receptive to new culture.  If communitarian leaders have objection to that, then this may instill in them some form of nostalgia, returning to old days where Church visit was an integral part of living.    Many small European experiments of this good-community model are just a judicious allocation of economic resources on a well-trained breed of human beings. (Scott, 2000) It could be predicted to be non-inclusive because anyone who will not be seen “good” in this model will be left out of its benefits. Etzioni’s The Spirit of Community: Rights, Responsibilities and the Communitarian Agenda have many suggestions for government to take specific actions. (Etzioni 1995) If economic incentives or legal rules favor such defined good people in community, it will obviously indirectly penalize those who do not match their version or definition.  There is no doubt that communitarian movement has become popular over the last decade or so. However, their doctrine seems to be in limbo when it comes to making a choice between capitalism and socialism or prescribe any concrete policy for the government functioning. Communitarian leaders are not comfortable with mainstream economic culture of too much stress on individualism and Spencerism. (Klein 1994). They usually suggest a middle path. But this is nothing new. As Klein argues despite the popularity of communitarians being apparent, one cannot say the same about its basic message. He further agrees that in its core lies the importance it places on cultural values that are indeed vital to the proper framework of society. Klein sums up the inability of communitarian leaders to take any specific stand other than oscillate to and fro from one extreme to the other when it comes to economics and politics - “A favorite method among communitarians for adumbrating this message is to chide “mainstream” economics for viewing individuals as atomistic agents with preferences that are mysteriously “given”. As for politics, the communitarians are rather squishy. Given their intellectual base in sociology and their emphasis on community norms, it isn’t surprising that few communitarians regard capitalism as the unknown ideal. Laissez-faire capitalism is sometimes fingered as a source of our problems.” (Klein 1994).   The new communitarian movement moderates the aspirations of extreme socialists and prods those who are too individualistic in their personal life to take a family and community oriented approach.  Giving importance to individual satisfaction and personal autonomy is important. Otherwise, there will be tendency on the part of communitarian leaders to dictate their own philosophy, which at some point, might restrict society to exercise diversity in thoughts, religion, and everything which such communitarian leaders will not be comfortable with.  Empirically, this is found true with erstwhile USSR, which was formed on huge hopes of laying a big community where community goals will take precedence over individual interests.  Over time, it ruthlessly sanctioned practice of religion and any philosophy which stood against its perception of ideal community.  When intermixed with politics and economics, this has been the problem with traditional communitarian movement.  Gradually, the focus shifts on dictating ordinary people in the community.  However, hopefully, the present communitarian movement is not based on changing political structure.  So long as it induces people for good moral behavior, there is little to be intimidated by it per se.  But the repeated association of western philosophers like John Mcmurray, Tony Blair, and Christian socialism with this movement raises concern whether it is just that limited in its scope or crossing its limit. (Hale, 2002). Is it another form of western crusade to revive their past culture which has been threatened by influx of mass arrival of immigrants over the years? This may be an exaggerated statement today. Thus, standing at the current position, time will answer whether this communitarian movement will slip into conservative route or actually serve the cause of making a good family and good community, which are open to moral and cultural diversity through its influence. References   1. Blair, T. (2000), Speech to the Women’s Institutes’ Triennial General Meeting, June 7 2. Cohen, N. (2002). The lesson the Prime Minister forgot, New Statesman, July, available at: http://www.newstatesman.com/200207010015 (accessed on November 3, 2009) 3. Brenner, J. (2006), Women and the Politics of Class, Aakar Books. 4. Etzioni, A. (1995), The Spirit of Community, London: Fontana.   5. Fitzpatrick, T. (2008), Applied Ethics and Social Problems: Moral Questions of Birth, Society and Death, Bristol: Policy Press. 6. Fitzpatrick, T. (2001), Welfare Theory:  An Introduction, Palgrave Macmillan. 7. Hale, S. (2002), ‘Professor Macmurray and Mr. Blair: The Strange Case of the Communitarian Guru that Never Was’, viewed 30 October 2009, http://www.amitaietzioni.org/documents/2002ProfessorMacmurray.pdf 8. Johnson, CE. (1999), ‘Emerging Perspectives in Leadership Ethics’ in selected proceedings from the 1999 annual conference of The International Leadership Association, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 22-24 October, 1999, The International Leadership Association, viewed 3 November 2009, http://www.ila-net.org/publications/proceedings/1999/cjohnson.pdf. 9. Klein, DB. (1994), ‘Libertarianism as communitarianism,’ Freeman: Ideas on Liberty, Volume 44, Issue 12. Viewed on 3 November 2009,< http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/libertarianism-as-communitarianism/>. 10. Miller, D. (1990), Market state and community, Oxford University Press. 11. Pierson, C. and Castles, FG. (2006), The Welfare State Reader, Polity Press, Cam- bridge. 12. Popple, K. and Stepney, P. (2008), Social Work and the Community: A Critical Framework for Practice, Palgrave Macmillan. 13. Prideaux, S. (2002), ‘From organisational theory to the new communitarianism of Amitai Etzioni’, Canadian Journal of Sociology Wntr, viewed 3 November 2009, http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:2ubHboZpA1gJ:dspace.wrlc.org/bitstream/1961/1407/1/From%2520organisational%2520theory%2520to%2520the%2520new%2520communitarianism%2520of%2520Amitai%2520Etzioni,%2520U.%2520of%2520Alberta,%25202002.doc+reflected+unabashedly,+Etzioni,+the+spirit+of+community,+reference&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in 14. Scott S. (2000), ‘The Peoples Republic of Yoker: A case study of tenant management in Scotland,’ Journal of Co-operative Studies Vol. 33:1 (No 98) April 2000. viewed on 3 November, 2009, < http://www.co-opstudies.org/Journal/April%2000/suzie_scott_article.htm>. 15. Spicker, P. (2008), An Introduction to Social Policy, viewed 3 November, 2009, from http://www2.rgu.ac.uk/publicpolicy/introduction/society.htm. 16. The Amish: history, beliefs, practices, conflicts, etc (n.d.), The Religious Tolerance. Org, Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, viewed 3 November, 2009, http://www.religioustolerance.org/amish.htm. 17. The Original Counter-Feminist, (2007), Hawaiian Libertarian.  November 2007.  Accessed on 30 October from http://hawaiianlibertarian.blogspot.com/2007/11/original-counter-feminist.html 18. The Witness, (1985). Peter Weir (director), Kelley, W. and P. Wallace (writers), Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis (performers), Pennsylvania: Paramount Pictures.   Read More