The Relational Fabric of Community

Description

Theoretical and philosophical work on community has yielded multifold definitions and analytical frameworks. Kenneth C. Bessant reflects on the inherent complexity and diversity of this deeply intersubjective aspect of lived social experience. He explores the relational underpinnings of early and more contemporary approaches to the study of community, with a particular emphasis on their core assumptions, concepts, and tenets. Each of these perspectives offers a relatively distinct interpretation of community, while also revealing the intrinsically relational fabric of its perpetual emergence, dynamism, and transformation. The ‘being-with’ of relational social existence is the fundamental basis upon which all conceptions of community are built, and this is the epicenter around which the book revolves. Community is born of, exists within, and brings forth social relations. It is a living expression of relational willing, thinking, and acting. Front Matter ....Pages i-ix Introduction: The Enigma of Community (Kenneth C. Bessant)....Pages 1-35 Entering into Relation: Being as Social Being (Kenneth C. Bessant)....Pages 37-63 Evolving Conceptions of Community (Kenneth C. Bessant)....Pages 65-97 The Field-Interactional Approach to Community (Kenneth C. Bessant)....Pages 99-126 Dialogical Conceptions of the Self and Community (Kenneth C. Bessant)....Pages 127-153 The Socio-symbolic Construction and Social Representation of Community (Kenneth C. Bessant)....Pages 155-183 Relational Sociology and Emergent Community (Kenneth C. Bessant)....Pages 185-209 Intersubjectivity, Community, and Agency (Kenneth C. Bessant)....Pages 211-236 Back Matter ....Pages 237-249