Community, ethics, and values
Proceedings of the IV European Congress of Community Psychology
Organized by the European Network of Community Psychologists (ENCP) in collaboration
with the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Barcelona and the Institute
of Education of Barcelona.
Barcelona 6-8 November 2002.
Barcelona University in press.
Towards
a common future: hope, social responsability and sense of community.
Caterina
Arcidiacono·
Abstract
The paper analyses the
interaction between the individual and his context in the modern,
changing world, ,focusing on the following issues:
·
the need for ethical values, i.e. social
responsability as opposed to
social individual interests;
·
how the
respect of differences entails the
ethical principle of social justice
·
how
multiculturalism needs to pursue rights of the individual, and of women
Further significant topics discussed: social identity and sense of community, at a local and global
level, in the context of a virtual and
technological society. With regards to these topics, connectedness and sense of belonging do not seem sufficient to
explain all the implications of social identity and sense of community. The application of research findings on
the latter seem to imply that memories and roots can strengthen
social identity, but that sense of community requires a trust in the
community and hope for its future.
If we agree with Rappaport that
sense of community, identity and belonging derive from shared history, symbols
and values, and not merely from territorial divisions, the question becomes: what is the role, potential and
significance of the new communication technologies?
The aim, in my
opinion, should be to take part in globalization
without succumbing to the homogenization produced by the new technologies. As
Jacques Cauvin stated, human settlement began in the Neolithic age in order to
meet human needs for culture and relationships. It was stone – in the form of
dolmens, menhirs, caves, and later columns and palaces – which stood as both
the sign and symbol of humanity, as the indicator of cultural and creative
progress, interpersonal relationships and human interaction with the
environment Stone and its inscriptions in the distant past had analogous
functions to the interactive communication of new technologies and know-how in
the present era.
Taking our cue from Calvino in Le città invisibili (1972), we can affirm that "the future
that becomes reality is the freshest branch of memory". In order to be
alive, a branch has to be part of the same tree year in year out; yet it will
always be new compared to what it was before, different and yet the same in the
continuity of the tree. While in the past stone, and then paper, had constantly
renewed functions of relating and communicating, today technology has largely
taken over these functions, becoming the instrument of connection,
communication and symbology. By engraving and sculpting stone, humanity created
the first interactive gate which, among other things, made it possible to
communicate human relationships from one generation to another.
The stockpiling of
munitions on the Parthenon by the Turks or the grazing of sheep in the
Colosseum stand as lessons passed down by centuries which had lost their
historical memory. If we are to be able to live in the future, stone will still
be the lynchpin of our memory, but it will no longer represent the totality.
Multimedia and communities in an undefined space are the new scenario, and have
brought new problems and different strategies.
The reconciliation of memory with the future obliges
individuals, cities and local communities to update the traditional components
of their quality of life. Those who are able to come up with new ideas for
living comfortably in their own mental dimension and in shared social spaces
will emerge as the strongest and most successful individuals: the key is to
discover how to put the new technologies to good use.
Today’s great urban contexts are the containers of
dynamic communities, where people’s aspirations for a good life are invested.
Here the local sense of belonging, whether neglected or exaggerated, comes up
against the processes of globalization and social transformation.
If, thanks to the new communications systems, our
cities constitute the most important stock of ancient values, and represent a
catalyst for change, what, then, are the forms and effects of this new phenomenon?
What are the
tasks, resources and prospects for the new communication technologies? Which
instruments are available to give back a sense of community and solidarity to
our universe of rootless,virtual citizens?
Our various affiliations, seen as resources and roots,
reconcile territorial identity with our memory of differences. They allow us
not to lose ourselves in the byways of a society whose territorial boundaries
have disappeared.
If for Kavafis Ithaca was the place which granted
Ulysses the dimension of the voyage, the places of everyday life are the basic
connective dimension which makes possible the virtual explorations and
globalization of the production processes without a sense of anomy.
In this scenario, according to Serena Dinelli (2002)
new technologies can act as an instrument of connection, as an
active and interactive gate, a source of active mediation. The challenge is
to create rapid links for common projects, exchanges of know-how, and reciprocal implementation of techniques and
knowledge. Or, indeed, there may be new possibilities yet to come.
2.Roots,memories and sense of belonging
History, culture, ethics and sense of community give
an insight into the ties between individuals and the community they belong to.
Similarity, interdependence, mutual trust in the meeting of needs, and a sense
of social responsibility are all
elements of social cohesion and empowerment.
Nevertheless, in relations between wealthy, highly industrialised nations and
countries with agricultural or pastoral economies, or indeed with reference to degraded areas inhabited by deprived
social groupings, the sense of community
represents an element of isolation and cultural stagnation..
Following
Sarason (1974), sense of community is what makes possible mutual relationships
in a grouping of individuals who share the same territory and living spaces, so
as to overcome reciprocal indifference, whether with or without reference to
social rules and sanctions.
At the
local level, in the Euromediterranean area there is nowadays the urgent
evidence to foster communities involving ethnic groupings, nations and cultures
in which the elements of difference are the source of mutual diffidence and
conflict. This is a fertile ground for many of the fundamentalisms threatening
today’s world. At the same time, a connected
issue is that of the interaction of these communities, at a local well
rooted level, with the wider processes of globalization. According to Manuel Castells, this is the
challenge of glocalisation (1996): a re-balancing of the the global and
local with a world-wide network of cities which aims at strengthening economic,
social and cultural sectors, through peace building and development projects.
This approach is based on the belief that globalization can be synchronised
with the strengthening of the local quality of life. It therefore calls for the
accommodation of global perspectives to local conditions, as well as for a more
pronounced role of local subjects in addressing global challenges.
In
this respect, as we shall see, social psychology has various leads to give us.
Local cultures and religions
which are rooted in territorial
traditions fear losing their relevance in the face of the intensifying
globalization of cultures and markets. Yet the rhythm and intensity of the
relations and communications to which we are constantly subjected requires a
strong grounding in which identification processes can still be established.
What is at stake is the possibility of maintaining
one’s roots and sense of belonging without going back to the fundamental
origins. Perverse processes of identification are engendered by a strong sense
of tradition combined with a lack of confidence in oneself, in the world and in
one’s own potential. A static adhesion to the past and to memory while refusing
to look ahead, are the hallmarks of someone who is too firmly rooted in
tradition. Disaggregation, social uncertainty and malaise find an the appeal to
the past a protective shell against social disturbances. In this perspective
the homeland and local interests will become a basic component of the
identification processes, acting as the collective point of reference. This is
the seedbed in which all the various forms of religious and ethnic
fundamentalism proliferate. We can thus identify in this defence of
narrow-mindedness a defence against the malaise of change, that is impervious
to a policy that recognises differences.
Our hypothesis is that, in order to reduce the effects
of disorientation and loss of identity, the defence of values and the memory of
local community traditions must accompany the processes of global interaction.
People should
be encouraged to consider identity through a non-homogenizing dialogue, and
towards the recognition of differences (regarding spaces, rites and
customs). It is not enough to be
tolerant while remaining fundamentally indifferent, and there has to be a
reciprocal contamination of boundaries and bonds. In this sense we propose
linking the local community with the globalized dimension; the local dimension
will become a powerful tool for living in a cosmopolitan community. The
homeland (Heimat) will itself sustain
the exchanges and globalization, rather than serving as a defence of petty
identities and its attendant xenophobia. The challenge is to succeed in getting
the differences to interact, but to
avoid the personal liberty of one
individual violating that of his neighbour.
The war in the Balkans has been described as a “war
between memories”[1], but this does not mean that we should dismiss the ties generated by the
history of peoples. The Turkish writer Gürsel has described[2] how, having been invited to Serbia a few years ago to participate in a
commemoration of the “glorious” defeat of the Serbs in the battle of Kosovo
Polje in 1389, he failed to see how that event could possibly provide political
and ideological support for waging a new war.
At the same time, if memories and roots are extirpated, life itself will
be suppressed. The challenge is to consider multiple social identities which
interact together, while overcoming the limits of tolerance and the damage of
reciprocal impositions. A virtual society, lacking roots and boundaries, is an
infinite space in which the absence of a limit or difference causes the absence
of social identities, producing a planet of uprooted individuals. This is the
new threat, whose consequences are no less serious than those linked to
constructing an absolute identity by the exclusion of others. The
depersonalizing effect of virtual relationships may find an antidote in what is
known as “globalization from below”. This promotes interaction and social
activity on a planetary scale in which communications technology is used to
further the globalization of rights: it is a genuine interconnection which
provides new solutions to basic needs for identity, a sense of belonging and change (Brecher,Costello 1995).
It is common knowledge that uprootedness and
depersonalization are the prime constituents of the negative and dangerous
aspects of totalitarian institutions – prisons, asylums, authoritarian regimes
– against which libertarians have to fight. Thus the globalization of cultures
cannot be accompanied by a culture of uprootedness, nor can “globalization from
below” be substituted by local connective systems. In complex societies,
individual identities take on multiple dimensions, rooting themselves in
partialities which are differentiated and mutually dissimilar: the memory of
foods, traditions in taste, ways of dressing. Customs and habits emerge as
privileged events during our existence and accompany our socialization, as does
the pleasure of discovering new tastes, or the significant sharing with others
of what we have identified as pleasurable. This is not an individualisitic dimension, but rather the recognition that our
identities are made up of many little segments of greater or lesser
significance.
Thus the global melting pot does not tend to be homogeneous: inside it mediation and
intercommunication proceed undisturbed. An individual will not learn
self-control in a condition of uprootedness. On the contrary, individual
identity is based on the multiple coexistence of various belongings and
identifications. In this sense the absence of identity is not a cure for
problems deriving from its excess (fundamentalism and particularism).
Similarly, the retrograde
dimension of laudator temporis actis [everything was better in the good old
days], together with failure to look to the future with confidence in one’s
self, the world and one’s own capabilities, contribute to the social framework
in which perverse processes of
identification can originate.
What is vital
is the necessity for both the globalization of local cultures and the
localization of global processes. This would be reassuring for those who see in
global processes the risk of cultural domination. This is due to the fact that
the globalization of the world creates shared images at the trans-national
level, but with meanings which differ in the various local contexts, creating
new interrelations and exchanges. (Courchene 2001).
Our priority
task as community psychologists is to help the community to find and
develop forms of aggregation that will
produce peaceful relations, not fundamentalism and the invocation of the past;
to create a better common future, while not standing in fear of the new interface between tradition and new
forms of social aggregation and shared
images.
4.Sense of community
The concept of sense of community embodies the possible reciprocal
relationships between individuals who share the same living space, and who therefore
overcome each others’ indifference without specific reference to rules or
social sanctions. This concept allows us also to examine a given social
environment and the ways different
individuals interact reciprocally within it.
Hence the development of this thematic
from a psychological perspective allows us to understand how
individuals’ relationships are articulated within a given social group.
.
Social and community psychology, especially in recent
British and American publications, have
contributed to an understanding of social living through the concepts of social
identity and sense of community.
It would seem possible to make a clear
distinction between the identity of a community as it is ‘perceived,
represented or ascribed’ and the sense of community which defines the
attitudes of its inhabitants towards that community, thus hypothesising a
different application of the two concepts (Arcidiacono, 2002)[3].
Puddifoot
(I995) introduced the concept of community distinctiveness in connection with
the identity of a community: that is to say, a community with a very strong
tradition and historic memory, its own language, art or unique masterpieces.
Rather ingenuously, we might allow sense of community and the distinctiveness of a community to overlap. However, my own research in Naples would appear to indicate that sense of community is significantly characterized by trade and trust-influence and power of the community.
So, if we feel a deep identification with a community
through a strong feeling of belonging but we don’t trust this community, its
influence and power, in its future perspectives, we cannot speak about sense of
community.
There is still much to define with regard to the
question of trust. So far it has only fleetingly been mentioned in
publications, whereas it is the foundation for future bonding. It is of equal
importance compared to history, which on the contrary is more commonly
recognised as having a founding role in the building of community ties.
If
we consider the banking system , economic exchange and the quotation of the
value of companies, we see that these are based on future confidence in the
development of their specific sectors. Similarly, in the case of social
processes we need to think in terms of
specifying and promoting areas and values capable of aggregating and
building a shared future.
We need
to view the community not only from the perspective identifying elements
proposed by the collective memory, but
rather through the identification of the links and the social opportunities
that offer a shared vision. It is no accident that studies on sense of
community have been considerable in the United States, despite the relative
brevity of the country’s history. If we follow the suggestions of the social
identity approach (Haslam, 2001), it would be useful to consider the
aggregation function that would derive from overlapping shared objectives.
Finally. What is urgently required are tools capable
of measuring with greater specificity and exactness this trust which is the aggregating and binding agent for social processes and social exchanges.
4.An intriguing issue: Women
and multiculturality
“The empowerment of women
and the respect of differences are two topics which are intrinsically linked,
if we assume that feminism can
contribute to a process of globalization that includes diversity and
promotes mobility and inclusiveness.
The presence of both women and men in decision-takingl in society’s
institutions, and the social models within families, relationships and
childcare, are key areas for evaluating the contribution of women to the life
of a community and the role they play. The differences of gender are rooted in
the individual’s cultural, religious, economic and social background. The
women’s empowerment proposed at the Peking conference thus acquires specific
goals which differ from one cultural and social reality to another.
Looking at the theme of this
congress, one question that immediately comes to mind is: what are the
objectives of the liberation and promotion of women in an era of cultural
globalization? How are we to affirm the individual rights of women? The
hypothesis presented here is that the individual cannot exist if she has no
roots and relationships. Hence the need to build both a concrete and conceptual
universe, so that individuals may be true to the roots of their own identity
and become capable of respecting differences in others.”[4]
If in a global society the safeguarding of cultural
diversity is one of the most important challenges, when it comes to
differences, integration understood in
the sense of “hybridization” and promotion of rights of citizenship are the new
emergencies for successful coexistence. The role of women in the promotion of
their own rights, as much as of their states, is crucial.
For women who have always had their place in the
management of the private sphere, a question that needs to be answered is
whether multiculturalism means safeguarding traditions with respect to the
individual’s liberty. This thesis, sustained by Susan Moller Okin in Is
multiculturalism bad for women? (1997)
has caused great debate in recent years. This is not the place to
consider all the aspects of the question. Nevertheless, one can state that the
respect of differences must include the ethical principle of social justice, in
the context of which, criticism of the patriarchate and gender domination
cannot be avoided. Women must work out concrete strategies against the
perpetuation of violence. Thus equal opportunitiy is the necessary condition
for women’s empowerment.
In the illuminating work of Marina Calloni, a feminist sociologist at the London School
of Economics (2000, p.58), we must hold fast to a new idea of citizenship which
a) contains an
ethical basis including a critique of violence
(taken to mean the will to impose control over the body and hence
affirmation of a subject which is integral and non-humiliated)
b) affirms a conception of equality which is
"complex" and distributive, and not merely in formal terms.
c) conceives of politics as a public domain, not
limitable to "ties of blood".
Returning to women’s empowerment, we can see that
feminist research is working within the wider framework of the debate on
"differences". What I am proposing is to empower the presence of
women in the various sectors of society, favouring their promotion in
decision-making in all institutions; to combine the traditions of culture and
religion in the respect of the rights of women as citizens; this will probably
mean revising, on the time-scale imposed by history, the roles and functions
which religion and the law attribute to
women in the private sphere, concerning ties, sentiments and children; to
institutionalise women’s studies in universities and promote work opportunities
by setting up firms run by women.
4.Sense
of ties ( solidarity) and the pursuit of communitas
The Neapolitan philosopher Esposito (1998), who has
devoted much study to the concept of community, believes that social ties do
not need common roots and identities: the Latin word munus means the debt that
is shared by the “community”, a voluntary reciprocal debt which
underwrites relationships and increases reciprocal wellbeing. The originality
and indeed fascination of this perspective, for us who view difference as a
precious asset, lies in thinking of community as a value and a limit to be
accepted, but not an end in itself. Thus his belief, which does indeed evoke
the necessity of community processes, does not advocate a return to the values
of one’s origins, nor to view communitas
as a venue for collective processes of identification. It is not a proposal of
the myth of “all things in common”, but a safeguarding of the scope for
difference in the construction of the common good. His stance turns on its head
the myth of common values as the basis for a community and gives value and
meaning to the encounter with differences. He advocates the construction of
non-obligatory ties which entail bonds and reciprocity. Being in relation to is thus the additional value in the social system
which determines its viability and wellbeing. What emerges is a critique of the
possibility in absolute terms of disengaging from the social debt, and at the
same time a society of bonds, where a tie is a guarantee of wellbeing and not a
risk of invasiveness and transgression.
My background as an analyst and psychologist with an interest in the interactive
processes between the individual and the social context led me (Arcidiacono
2001) to focus on the need to go beyond the contrast between identity of being
and identity of doing. If common memories define belongings and common matrixes
of belonging define identity, it should also be possible to accommodate desires
and hopes, which are key ingredients for the confidence that can open up the
future. Thus it is necessary to learn to combine memory and belonging with the
ability to make plans and hope. Our aim must be to build a universe, both real
and conceptual, in order to affirm rooted identities, projected into the future
and able to interact through reciprocal relationships and communal
participation.
I wish to finish by recalling that today the heritage
of a community is to be found not only in its distinctive past but also in its
ability to look to the future with hope. This approach presupposes respect for
cultural and linguistic diversity, and favours a genuine dialogue between
cultures. Far from being a utopia, this
is, in the words of Butros Ghali, "un enjeu politique , économique, social et
culturel pour tous... Scientific and technical progress, economic and financial
globalization, the instant circulation of information have revealed the
commonalty of humankind. Does this mean a common destiny? Perhaps so, but it is
undoubtedly still some way off. One only has to think of the exacerbation of the
instances of inequality and poverty in the world! The numerical segregation
between those who possess information and those who don’t! Or again in the risk
of hegemonisation of some powers in the drawing up of norms and decisions in
which the future of the planet is at stake!" [5]
Our considerations lead to the proposal of some key
points on which to focus:
It seems appropriate here to propose that social psychology is in a
position to offer new strategies for society, in particular for the setting up resources to achieve
common objectives between different groups, and suggesting the best strategies
for attaining the objectives specified. The methodology of social and community
psychology are valuable tools for the promotion of a world made not only of memory, but of the construction of hope
and trust in a common future.
The new challenge is that the theories and models of
social psychology, which are the interpreters of the processes of
identification between groups, should act as both guide and support for
inter-cultural and inter-ethnic dialogue, above all between groups that are in
conflict or at war.
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