COMMUNITARIAN VALUES
Fourth World Services, PO Box 1666, Denver, CO 80201, 303-355-4501.
as AMERICAN LUXURIES *
There are different ways to view the
effort to build community. One view, that our
only choices are chaos or community, suggests
that building intentional community is a neces-
sity in order to assure our long-term survival. A
less fatalistic view is that building community,
of any kind, is the effort to create luxuries that
can not otherwise be enjoyed. These luxuries
can also be called “communitarian values.”
As fifty years of the post-war housing
industry has shown, communitarian values are
luxuries that we do not absolutely need if all that
we are trying to do is acquire housing. Today,
however, the challenge is to build a social fabric
that provides, in addition to mere shelter, a
culture that engenders in the individual an
appreciation of others and a sense of responsi-
bility for the environment we share.
Communitarian values focus upon
providing a safe and nurturing environment for
children and seniors, community food service,
and other collective services, such as building
and auto maintenance, where people work
together for mutual advantage and efficient
resource usage. Communitarian values are
experienced in neighborhood forums where
people resolve disputes or discuss opportunities
or challenges from within or from outside of the
community. Communitarian values are sup-
ported by architectural and land use designs that
encourage the random kindnesses and senseless
acts of beauty that encourage interactions among
people, and the development of friendships and
other primary and secondary social bonds.
* Edited from, “CoHousing as an American Luxury,” by A. Allen Butcher printed in CoHousing, Summer, 1996.
A PHILOSOPHY
For more detail on these concepts, see: Classifications of Communitarianism,
A. Allen Butcher, March, 1998
Introduction to
Communitarianism
OF HAPPINESS
In the pursuit of happiness, many people
Cohousing, Ecovillages, Communal Societies
As the effort to build community must
seek to counter the generations of acculturation realize that good health, a personal outlook of
and other Intentional Community Designs
to the paradigm of home as moated castle, a new optimism, personal control over one’s own life,
paradigm may be created in order to replace the physical activity, and the quality of relationships
materialistic American Dream and the paternal- we enjoy are all more important than personal
istic “domestic mystique,” with a more transcen- wealth alone.*
dent American Dream focused upon the egali- Through interweaving our concerns,
tarian “community mystique.” Presenting cares, sadnesses, joys and loves with those of
communitarian values as a set of luxuries that others, all of the elements of happiness, includ-
money alone can not buy can serve this end. ing health, optimism, control, activity and
Consider the priceless value of the peace relationships, can be concentrated into a mutu-
of mind that comes with knowing on a first ally supportive dynamic. Communitarianism
name basis everyone in your neighborhood, then becomes a philosophy of happiness as the
because you talk and work with them regularly individual realizes that the well being of others
in day-to-day living. This we might call the is important to the securing of their own per-
“trust luxury.” The informal ambience of the sonal happiness. **
common spaces, serving to facilitate interactions This introduction to communitarianism
among people, we might call a “social luxury.” presents ways of understanding how people
Consider too how the fellowship of community have collectively expressed and are living
respects the spiritual ideals of brother- and of various philosophies of happiness. All
sisterhood, of living by the Golden Rule, or of communitarian designs share basic values of
practicing a love-thy-neighbor ethic. The mutual aid, sharing and cooperation, yet their
opportunity to conform our lifestyle to our methods run the full spectrum of social and
spiritual ideals can be cast as a “spiritually- cultural designs. This brochure offers a set of
correct luxury,” while the focus upon sharing definitions of terms and a classification struc-
and ecological design is presented as a “politi- ture for various intentional community designs.
cally-correct luxury.” And more than mere
luxury, intergenerational community where both * John Stossel, “Happiness in America,” ABC, 20-20,
April, 1996. See also: Amitai Etzioni, The Spirit of
young and old are encouraged to care for the
Community: The Reinvention of American Society,
other, in comparison with the usual pattern of Touchstone, 1993. The Communitarian Network, 2130 H
DISTRIBUTE
age segregation in America, is cultural elegance. St. NW, Ste. 714, Wash. DC 20052, (202) 994-7997.
COPY and
FREELY
Visiting other communities around the world is
a “holiday luxury.” All of these and more are ** See: Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of
Being, Van Nostrand, 1968, and, Adam Smith, The Theory
communitarian luxuries available to everyone.
of Moral Sentiments, 1790, as quoted by Francis Moore
Lappe in “Self and Society,” Creation, March/April 1988.
 THE ROLE of COMMUNITY in The COMMUNITARIAN CONTINUUM SHARING--to-PRIVACY CONTINUUM WAVES of COMMUNITARIANISM
CONTEMPORARY CULTURE Describing different communities according to their degree
When considering what kind of community to build or
1st Wave - 1600s and 1700s, spiritual and authoritarian
of common awareness and of collective action. German/Swiss Pietist and English Separatist.
As many intentional communities are created in to join, the issue of sharing versus privacy can be the most
2nd Wave - 1840s secular: Anarchist Socialist, Associa-
response to problems perceived in the larger culture, these INTENTIONAL CIRCUMSTAN- helpful. In communities which share private property
tionist, Mutualist Cooperative, Owenite, Perfectionist,
may be seen as small-scale, experimental societies, COMMUNITY BALANCE or TIAL (collective) as in cohousing, one begins with the assump-
and the religious: Christian Socialist, Adventist.
developing innovations in architecture and land use, Substantial MODERATION COMMUNITY tion of privacy and asks, “How much am I willing to
3rd Wave - crested in the 1890s (50 years later) Hutterite,
governmental structures, family and relationships, and common agree- within a commu- Minimum of share?” In communities which share commonly owned
Mennonite, Amish, and first Georgist single-tax colony.
other aspects of culture that may provide viable alterna- ments and nity between common agree- property (communal) one begins with the assumption of
4th Wave - 1930s (40 years later) New Deal Green-Belt
tives to our global, monolithic, consumerist society. collective separatism from ments and of sharing and asks, “How much privacy do I need?”
Towns, Catholic Worker, Emissary, School of Living.
As crucibles-of-culture, intentional communities tend to actions: and integration collective actions: The difference is in the often expressed conflict
5th Wave - 1960s (30 years later) peace/ecology/feminism.
attract many of the new and hopeful ideas of the day, with the larger between individuality and collectivity, and each commu-
6th Wave - 1990s cohousing, ecovillages, various networks.
develop them in living, small-scale societies into useful Zealotry culture. May be Apathy nity design finds an appropriate balance between these
innovations, and then model successful adaptations of Self-sufficiency either an inten- Homogeneity levels of consciousness, such that neither the individual
these ideas to the outside world. tional or a nor the group is submerged by the other. OWNERSHIP-CONTROL MATRIX
Separatism Integration
Although some intentional communities become Diversity among circumstantial Uniformity of Communal Mixed-Economy Collective Common Mixed Private
very doctrinaire, closed societies, frozen in time like many communities community. communities. Intentional Intentional Intentional Ownership Economic Ownership
Catholic monasteries and Hutterite colonies, others are Communities Communities Communities of Wealth Systems of Wealth
open, encouraging an ongoing exchange with the larger Inter- The commu- For some people The family Consensus Egalitarian Egalitarian Egalitarian
culture. Open communities like cohousing, ecovillages TWO METHODS of DE- personal nity is the the family may is the process Communalism. Common- Collectivism.
and egalitarian societies provide insights into the direction Relation- primary be primary, for primary
of the larger society through their successful cultural SCRIBING INTENTIONAL ships social bond others the comm. social bond
control of Sharing com- wealth. (land Sharing priv-
wealth mon property, trusts; com-
innovations. In this way, intentional community serves to COMMUNITIES: Family Shared par- Mutual aid child Some mutual (win-win) and income. munal cores)
ate property
(cohousing).
anticipate, reflect and quicken social change. Structure, enting, serial care, diverse aid child care
DESCRIPTIVE TERMS - CLASSIFICATIONS -
focus upon the primary compare socio-cultural Child monogomy, family designs among nuc- Majority Democratic Democratic Economic
shared concern, value or factors in different commu- Care polyfidelity lear families rule and Communalism. Common- Democracy.
DEFINITIONS of TERMS characteristic held by a nities. A relative measure, other Common equity wealth. All coopera-
Archi- Common Private living No or some
COMMUNITY - a group of people sharing any particular community. such as a continuum, win-lose (some Israeli Capitalism & tives.
tectural land & build- spaces with common
common identity or characteristic, whether geographic, Examples: “Christian presents a range of differ- processes Kibbutzim). socialism. (Mondragon)
Design, ings, group group housing & spaces, single
economic, political, spiritual, cultural, psychological, etc. community,” “Yoga society,” ent approaches to particular Land Use residences common space family houses
Authori- Totalitarianism Authoritar- Plutocratic
COMMUNITARIANISM - the idea and “activist,” “back-to-the- issues. Example: govern- tarian Complete ianism. Capitalism.
practice of mutual responsibility by members of a society. land,” etc. Those that are mental forms may range Labor Labor credit Individual in- Private
CIRCUMSTANTIAL COMMUNITY - a control of social control. Theocracy. Corporate
part of networks use a from authoritarian to Systems, systems, come labor with businesses,
wealth Communism. Patriarchy. Fascism.
group of people living in proximity by chance, such as in a catagorical name, such as participatory decision- Manage- Community community labor some group
city, neighborhood or village, the residents of which may businesses projects labor projects The two aspects of society and culture that
“land trust,” “cohousing,” making processes. Con- ment
or may not individually choose to be active participants in combine to create distinctively different patterns are:
“ecovillage,” or a network tinua can be arranged in
the pre-existing association. name such as “Carmalite two-dimentional matrices, Property Commonly Some common, Private decision-making structures and methods of property
INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY - a fellowship Codes, owned some private property & ownership. Together these are called a “political-
nunnery” and “Emissary such as for political-
of individuals and families practicing common agreement Equity assets/equity property equity economy,” and they can be explained by placing the
community.” economic structures.
and collective action. two continua, government (beliefs or control) and
PLURALIST- philosophy, but not economic processes. Pluralist Belief Structure: Secular; Open society; Inclusive; Integra- economics (sharing/privacy or ownership), at right
Either circumstantial or intentional Thus, very different economic systems can tionist; Expressed individuality; Participatory. Examples: angles to each other, forming a matrix.
community can function as the other. to-UNIFIED have the same belief structure. Complications: cohousing, land trust, egalitarian community. The political-economic matrix can be used to model the
For example, an intentional community BELIEFS cross-overs exist between “Pluralism” and Few Common Beliefs: Group has a shared belief but is tolerant of entire range of human organization, from community to city
may abandon its common agreements, “Few Common Beliefs,” and these may use differences. Ex. ecovillages (ecology), Kibbutz Artzi (Zionism). to nation-state to global civilization. It can also be used to
causing the people to drift apart, or a CONTINUUM either consensus or democratic decision- Unified Belief Structure: Dogmatic; Closed/Class society; Exclusive; track the changes in a given culture over time, since when a
town may pull together in collective Beliefs include spirit- making processes. Communities with uniform Isolationist; Suppressed individuality; Authoritarian. Examples: group or a country changes its economy or form of govern-
action to respond to a common threat. uality, religion and beliefs often have authoritarian governments. monasteries, Hutterites, Kibbutz Dati (Zionism/Judism). ment, it would move from one cell in the matrix to another.