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The New Politics of Community

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The New Politics of Community 2009 Presidential Address American Sociological Review 75(1) 7–30 The New Politics of Ó American Sociological Association 2010 DOI: 10.1177/0003122410363293 Community http://asr.sagepub.com Patricia Hill Collinsa Abstract Ideas about community are especially prominent in late-twentieth-century U.S. society. The term community resonates throughout social policy, scholarship, popular culture, and every- day social interactions. It holds significance for different populations with competing political agendas (e.g., political groups of the right and the left invoke ideas of community yet have very different ideas in mind). No longer seen as naturally occurring, apolitical spaces to which one retreats to escape the pressures of modern life, communities of all sorts now constitute sites of political engagement and contestation. The new politics of community reveals how the idea of community constitutes an elastic political construct that holds a variety of contradictory mean- ings and around which diverse social practices occur. In this address, I analyze how reframing the idea of community as a political construct might provide new avenues for investigating social inequalities. I first explore the utility of community as a political construct for rethinking both intersecting systems of power and activities that are routinely characterized as ‘‘political.’’ Next, by examining five contemporary sites where community is either visibly named as a polit- ical construct or implicated in significant political phenomena, I investigate how the construct of community operates within contemporary power relations of class, gender, ethnicity, sexu- ality, age, ability, nation, and race. Finally, I explore the potential intellectual and political sig- nificance of these developments. Keywords sociology of knowledge, social inequality, intersectionality, political sociology aUniversity of Maryland 8 American Sociological Review 75(1) Barack Obama’s election in 2008 catalyzed patterns of social inequalities. Finally, I explore new questions concerning democracy’s the potential significance of the construct of capacity to grapple with social inequalities. community for contemporary power relations The election of the first African American of class, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, age, ability, president seemingly signaled a substantive nation, and race. change within social relations of inequality, one where marginalized peoples might use mechanisms of democracy for advancement. WHY COMMUNITY? At the same time, the Obama presidency Power relations are typically organized reignited deep-seated concerns that demo- around core ideas, namely, the cultural stock cratic institutions, no matter who runs that forms the bedrock of social relations, them, are not capable of dramatically alter- that shapes social structures, and that makes ing deeply-entrenched social inequalities. those structures comprehensible to people. Understanding social and political phenom- Important core ideas typically reflect a syn- ena such as the Obama election may require ergy between the taken-for-granted, com- a new language of politics that more effec- monsense, everyday knowledge that circu- tively addresses how social inequalities simul- lates throughout a social setting and the taneously change yet stay the same. Toward technical, formal knowledge of public tran- this end, redefining the construct of commu- scripts. While elites and ordinary people nity might be useful for grappling with the may agree that any given core idea is signif- ‘‘changing-same’’ patterns of social inequal- icant, they may disagree on the meaning of ities that characterize intersecting power rela- the idea. The most significant of these core tions of race, class, gender, ethnicity, sexual- ideas are sites of political contestation over 1 ity, age, ability, and nation. Because the the social practices and institutional forma- construct of community constitutes both a prin- tions that ensue. Typically, elite knowledge ciple of actual social organization and an idea permeates a society’s public transcripts—its that people use to make sense of and shape formal knowledge of theology, philosophy, their everyday lived realities, it may be central and science—and, as a result, is recognized to the workings of intersecting power relations as authoritative. By contrast, the everyday in heretofore unrecognized ways. Recasting knowledge of ordinary people, especially the notion of community as a political con- political knowledge, may operate through struct highlights how social inequalities are hidden transcripts. Elites may discredit these organized via structural principles of commu- hidden transcripts, but they can be important nity and are made comprehensible through sites of political contestation for ordinary a language of community. people (Scott 1990). In this address, I analyze how reframing the Core ideas constitute the contested terrain idea of community as a political construct might of symbolic and structural dimensions of provide new avenues for investigating the a society, regardless of whether an idea is 2 changing-same patterns of social inequalities. identified as political. Take, for example, I first explore the utility of community as a polit- the idea of ‘‘love’’ within American society. ical construct for rethinking both intersecting Despite its prominence within theology, systems of power and activities that are routinely music, literature, and everyday use, defining characterized as ‘‘political.’’ Next, by exa- love with any degree of precision or authority mining five contemporary sites where com- remains elusive, and building causal or munity is either visibly named as a political con- predictive models of love seems impractical. struct or implicated in significant political Instead, love circulates as an ambiguous, phenomena, I investigate how the construct of contradictory, and messy construct that community operates within changing-same people use in a variety of ways. When love Collins 9 becomes intertwined with sexuality and the contestation.3 Historically, the concept of erotic, it may constitute a site of political community occupies one side of Ferdinand contestation (Foucault 1980; Lorde 1984). To¨nnies’s ideal types of Gemeinschaft (com- When connected to projects of contentious munity) and Gesellschaft (civil society) politics, love becomes central to political (To¨nnies 2001). Conceptually, family, com- action (Emirbayer and Goldberg 2005). munity, and love are tightly bundled together Martin Luther King Jr. subscribed to a politi- within the idea of Gemeinschaft: the seem- cized version of love, noting in his ‘‘Where ingly natural and loving kinship relationships Do We Go From Here?’’ speech, that ‘‘one of mother and child or among siblings, and of the great problems of history is that the the biological relationship of a man and concepts of love and power have usually a woman (To¨nnies 2001). Claiming that been contrasted as opposites, polar opposites, ‘‘fatherhood is the clearest foundation for so that love is identified with a resignation of the concept of authority with community’’ power, and power with a denial of love. (To¨nnies 2001:25), To¨nnies describes how What is needed is a realization that power structures of power within families form the without love is reckless and abusive, and bedrock of communities.4 that love without power is sentimental and Within sociology, To¨nnies’s conception of anemic’’ (Carson and Shepard 2002:186). community laid the foundation for subsequent Love illustrates a contested terrain of ideas, uncritical acceptance of the idea of commu- in this case, the power of an idea to mean nity as the marginalized, nonpolitical sphere many things and to move people to action. that frames more important debates about civil The construct of family constitutes another society, the true site of politics. These natural- core idea central to social relations of power ized and normalized views situate community whose meaning and valence varies dramati- as geographically specific, culturally homoge- cally. Simultaneously a principle of actual neous, and inherently apolitical entities— social organization as well as an idea people seemingly natural phenomena of families, vil- use to make sense of everyday lived realities, lages, neighborhoods, and ethnic and religious historically the construct of family was theo- groups. Moreover, To¨nnies’s endorsement of rized in apolitical terms, safely tucked away naturalized authority buttresses perceptions in the private sphere of household and neigh- of naturalized hierarchy within family line- borhood. This view advanced an uncritical ages and among races, ethnicities, and reli- binary idea of society, dividing social relations gious groups (Banton 1998). Whether by into the nonpolitical private sphere of family choice or by force, people belong to primary (where love and loved ones naturally reside) communities, and such communities are typi- and the public sphere of work and civil soci- cally ranked. Institutional practices concern- ety. Feminist theory challenges this view, ing families and communities, as well as elite pointing out its deeply gendered meanings. and everyday knowledge about family and In particular, scholars show how the construct community, form building blocks of social of family is not only a building block of patri- inequalities of class, gender, ethnicity, race, archy but also helps structure social inequal- age, sexuality, and religion. ities of sexuality, class, race, and age.
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