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FOCUS ON:
Community
The LifeWhys framework fully succeeds when communities truly work together in supporting one another, treating all with respect and as valued individuals. The trouble is that we often don’t understand what ‘community’ really means. For many people it is understood as a geographic place/area where people live and interact to a greater or lesser extent – this is sometimes referred to as ‘social cohesion’. However, community can also mean a group of people who share common values, beliefs or cultural/ethnic identity and, more recently, a virtual community through the internet with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.
The LifeWhys framework can incorporate all of these concepts of community, but we believe it should mean fellowship, from the original Latin root word communitas (cum, "with/together" + munus, "gift"). This is because a community is made up of individuals of all ages and families; it is in this context that we need to develop positive, nurturing and enduring relationships so that all can thrive. This concept of community is positive, sociable and proactive – what we call pro-sociodynamic. This is not easy for many people but requires those who are captured by this vision of a caring, mutually-supportive community to begin to act – it starts with a greeting – a smile or a wave. It is as the Orange advert says “I am who I am, because of everyone.” If we just ‘stonewall’ everyone, then we will become a hard society, but if we start to express care for others then, like a spark lights a fire, we can transform our communities, society and nation.
The challenge is not small. Recent reports have identified the UK as the worst ‘walk on by’ society in Europe. For example, less than 29% of the Britons think they can trust others,compared to over 66% in Scandinavian countries. Also, 86% of young people do not feel valued by their community and 79% feel adults do not model positive and responsible behaviour (role models). The pressures of modern life, not least the current economic climate, also contribute towards the fact that 48% of all children born today will experience family breakdown. This has enormous ‘knock on’ effects which a supportive community can help.
Individualism is another big challenge to successful communities. According to Hofstede's Intercultural Dimensions the UK scores 89 out of 100 on the individualism scale. This means that individuality and individual rights are dominant so that people tend to form relationships with larger numbers of people, but the relationships tend to be weak (e.g. Facebook). Also, the nuclear family is the more predominant form of basic social structure, whereas in the community the individual may be more concerned with themselves rather than their neighbours.
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