Conceptualising Community Beyond the State and Individual [Hardcover]

Community is the dark shadow of sociology - an issue around which sociologists always duck and dive. This book examines the reasons for this reticence through an exegesis of contemporary debates. Additionally it utilizes the work of Hannah Arendt to propose an alternative anti-mechanistic and anti-essentialist approach to community and sociality; an approach that not only moves beyond Foucault and his oppositional work but also offers perhaps the basis for a different approach to politics.Introduction PART I: CONCIEVING COMMUNITY AND SOCIALITY The Social Science Approach to Sociality and Community Social Capital and New Forms of Trust The Third Way and Communitarians PART II: CURRENT CONCEPTIONS - PROBLEMS WITH METHOD The Individual/State Axis Mechanistic Theory and the Social PART III: NEW CONCEPTIONS: COMMUNITY THROUGH SOCIALITY Arendt: Sociality and Community on its Own Terms Community Through Sociality Conclusion: Looking Forward References IndexDAVID STUDDERT is a Research Fellow at the Open University, UK.