Network Logic - Index of

11. Developing the wellconnected
community
Alison Gilchrist
Over the recent past, society has become both more informal and
more complex. We prefer to live without status and hierarchy,
abandoning bureaucratic rules and conventions in favour of more
fluid notions of identity, and becoming more flexible about how, and
by whom, decisions are made.
These trends are recognised in many current debates about
‘community’. Nonetheless, government policies to promote stronger
communities and active citizenship have tended to emphasise the
role of individuals within formal structures, and, until recently,
have overlooked the significance of informal activities within
community settings. The related concepts of ‘community’ and
‘networks’ must be better understood by policy-makers if they are to
avoid the risk of masking common experiences of inequality and
discrimination, based on enduring power imbalances and social
exclusion.
Government’s love affair with ‘community’
Strategies for public participation in decision-making date back
several decades. The Labour government has simply accelerated this
trend with its current emphasis on subsidiarity and partnership
working based on community involvement and leadership. 1 Policy
debates have often been premised on an image of community as a
homogenous and harmonious dimension of social life, securely
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