The Future of Rural Communities Winnie Law
Fig. 1 Villagers teaching visiting how to make Hakka tea cake, 2017 Photo Credit: Policy for Sustainability Lab
“Neighbourhood”, “community” and “society” are the terms used to describe a collective body of individuals sharing something in common. The “commons” that a community is made up of may include a wide range of building blocks, both tangible and intangible. Individuals are united because of shared history and culture: the same language and customs adopted, a common list of social, economic, and political issues, or simply having to live in the same geographical area and being governed by the same set of laws and policies. Going beyond the “commons”, what make a place truly a community are the interactions between the individuals. The interactions can take place at different activity levels in a community: chit chat between a butcher and a customer, between the craftsman from a street corner shoe repair shop and a local passer-by in a neighbourhood, discussion between citizens and government officials in a public forum concerning greening in the district, an election campaign speech attended by constituency voters, or simply the expression of “Likes” on social media. While
the interactions may or may not serve a specific functional purpose, social capital is generated from the contacts. “Social capital is defined as an accumulation of the knowledge and identity resources drawn on by communities-of-common-purpose.” (Falk and Kilpatrick 2000) Social capital is often explained as networks, norms, and trust embedded in communities. It is the product of social interactions (Falk and Kilpatrick 2000). Its existence reinforces social relationships (Bourdieu 1986) and facilitates certain actions of actors in the social structure (Coleman 1988). Social capital and its virtues are considered the essential “glue” that links individuals and allows citizens (“I”) to expand their roles into a connected platform of institutions (“We”) – where a community is genuinely formed. As we envision a livable and sustainable community, most of the items on this ideal
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