Premium
Discourses of community: challenges for social work
Author(s) -
Lynn Margaret
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
international journal of social welfare
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1468-2397
pISSN - 1369-6866
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2397.2006.00431.x
Subject(s) - contest , ambiguity , sociology , ideology , collective action , action (physics) , power (physics) , empowerment , government (linguistics) , social space , work (physics) , social control , public relations , control (management) , epistemology , space (punctuation) , political science , social science , politics , computer science , law , mechanical engineering , linguistics , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , programming language , engineering , operating system
The ambiguity of community allows it to be a space for a vast range of imposed and ‘organic’ social reproduction functions, and an accessible site for meaningful collective action, but it also has the potential for disempowerment. The breadth of the concept of ‘community’ allows for it to be critiqued as ephemeral or as romantic fiction, but also used and exploited by government. It is because it retains such power to evoke reaction and contest that we need to understand the power that drives it, and the ideological purpose for which it may be used or misused. The notion of discourse immediately becomes useful. We can recognise competing discourses of community, and examine how they are used politically. We can recognise ways in which social work can engage with community discourses of empowerment rather than control. The article will explore a number of discourses and examine their usefulness for practice.