ABSTRACT
From the late nineteenth century a new conception of community emerged. With the rise of sociology and anthropology, community began to be conceived in terms of a culturally-defined social group rather than a political ideal. The classical conceptions of community were discussed in Chapter 1. It was argued that for much of the modern age community signified a normative conception of society – an ideal to be attained. Community was defined in opposition to the state rather than to society. The twentieth century was to bring about a change in the understanding of society, and with this went a corresponding change in the idea of community. Community became perceived as based more and more on the allegedly thick values of tradition, a moral entity on the one hand and, on the other hand, society increasingly became an alien and objective entity that was based on very ‘thin’ values. In this dichotomy, the very idea and reality of communitas as a form of imagining social relations disappeared or was diluted. As the distinction between society and the state became less evident, community came to be seen as the residual category of the social, namely that which is left when society becomes more and more rationalized by the state and by economic relations.
