Community empowerment and community cohesion: parallel agendas for community building in England?
Community empowerment and community capacity building have been central to government agendas in Britain over the past decade. Agendas for tackling the so-called ‘War on Terrorism’ and promoting community cohesion have become increasingly significant in addition, especially since the bombings in Lo...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
University of Applied Sciences Rotterdam
2009-02-01
|
| Series: | Journal of Social Intervention: Theory and Practice |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.journalsi.org/articles/10.18352/jsi.122/ |
| _version_ | 1797383747641802752 |
|---|---|
| author | Marjorie Mayo Geraldine Blake John Diamond Jane Foot Ben Gidley Kalbir Shukra Martin Yamit |
| author_facet | Marjorie Mayo Geraldine Blake John Diamond Jane Foot Ben Gidley Kalbir Shukra Martin Yamit |
| author_sort | Marjorie Mayo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Community empowerment and community capacity building have been central to government agendas in Britain over the past decade. Agendas for tackling the so-called ‘War on Terrorism’ and promoting community cohesion have become increasingly significant in addition, especially since the bombings in London in 2005. This article focuses upon the current gap between these differing agendas. This is particularly relevant in an era of increasing globalisation, with considerable debate on the impact of migration, and anxieties about previous approaches to multiculturalism that have been the subject of growing criticism.
Having set out these gaps in public policy and research in this field, the article examines the evidence from research, including 100 interviews together with focus groups conducted in three localities in England, identifying the problems, in terms of the lack of engagement of ‘new communities’ and in terms of the potential tensions within and between communities. There was, however, encouraging evidence that strategies were being developed to develop more inclusive, more democratically accountable and more effective forms of community engagement. The article concludes by summarising potential implications for building community cohesion and social solidarity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T21:26:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8992de7bc5eb46d481a321a8d172f665 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1876-8830 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T21:26:25Z |
| publishDate | 2009-02-01 |
| publisher | University of Applied Sciences Rotterdam |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Social Intervention: Theory and Practice |
| spelling | doaj.art-8992de7bc5eb46d481a321a8d172f6652023-12-21T07:36:16ZengUniversity of Applied Sciences RotterdamJournal of Social Intervention: Theory and Practice1876-88302009-02-01181234310.18352/jsi.122116Community empowerment and community cohesion: parallel agendas for community building in England?Marjorie Mayo0Geraldine Blake1John Diamond2Jane FootBen Gidley3Kalbir Shukra4Martin Yamitis Professor of Community Development at Goldsmiths, University of LondonCommunity LinksEdge Hill UniversityGoldsmiths, University of LondonGoldsmiths, University of LondonCommunity empowerment and community capacity building have been central to government agendas in Britain over the past decade. Agendas for tackling the so-called ‘War on Terrorism’ and promoting community cohesion have become increasingly significant in addition, especially since the bombings in London in 2005. This article focuses upon the current gap between these differing agendas. This is particularly relevant in an era of increasing globalisation, with considerable debate on the impact of migration, and anxieties about previous approaches to multiculturalism that have been the subject of growing criticism. Having set out these gaps in public policy and research in this field, the article examines the evidence from research, including 100 interviews together with focus groups conducted in three localities in England, identifying the problems, in terms of the lack of engagement of ‘new communities’ and in terms of the potential tensions within and between communities. There was, however, encouraging evidence that strategies were being developed to develop more inclusive, more democratically accountable and more effective forms of community engagement. The article concludes by summarising potential implications for building community cohesion and social solidarity.http://www.journalsi.org/articles/10.18352/jsi.122/communityempowermentsocial cohesion‘new’ communities |
| spellingShingle | Marjorie Mayo Geraldine Blake John Diamond Jane Foot Ben Gidley Kalbir Shukra Martin Yamit Community empowerment and community cohesion: parallel agendas for community building in England? Journal of Social Intervention: Theory and Practice community empowerment social cohesion ‘new’ communities |
| title | Community empowerment and community cohesion: parallel agendas for community building in England? |
| title_full | Community empowerment and community cohesion: parallel agendas for community building in England? |
| title_fullStr | Community empowerment and community cohesion: parallel agendas for community building in England? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Community empowerment and community cohesion: parallel agendas for community building in England? |
| title_short | Community empowerment and community cohesion: parallel agendas for community building in England? |
| title_sort | community empowerment and community cohesion parallel agendas for community building in england |
| topic | community empowerment social cohesion ‘new’ communities |
| url | http://www.journalsi.org/articles/10.18352/jsi.122/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT marjoriemayo communityempowermentandcommunitycohesionparallelagendasforcommunitybuildinginengland AT geraldineblake communityempowermentandcommunitycohesionparallelagendasforcommunitybuildinginengland AT johndiamond communityempowermentandcommunitycohesionparallelagendasforcommunitybuildinginengland AT janefoot communityempowermentandcommunitycohesionparallelagendasforcommunitybuildinginengland AT bengidley communityempowermentandcommunitycohesionparallelagendasforcommunitybuildinginengland AT kalbirshukra communityempowermentandcommunitycohesionparallelagendasforcommunitybuildinginengland AT martinyamit communityempowermentandcommunitycohesionparallelagendasforcommunitybuildinginengland |