ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the condition of community life within advanced industrial societies, something which is difficult, perhaps impossible, to determine. More specifically, the consequences of the shift towards more individualistic and private-orientated modes of behaviour, engendered by the primary processes of late modernity, are considered. The chapter argues that this development is almost certainly having a detrimental impact upon local communities and social capital within many advanced industrial societies. It also looks at other developments potentially undermining local communities such as the rise of a consumer society, changing leisure patterns and aspects of urban life. The overriding aim is to outline how these developments challenge local community life and erode social capital in the contemporary period. Most importantly, social capital is required in the form of shared norms and values, a level of trust, regular contact and sociability between its members, and forms of community and civic activity.
