ABSTRACT
It is now almost commonplace to invoke a conceptualisation of the community as constituting one of the building blocks of effective social life and as being the means by which effective social policy can be put into place. This is the case whether or not one is talking about ‘care in the
community’ in the context of issues relating to health or one is talking about ‘community safety’ in the context of issues relating to crime. In the latter respect the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 makes it a statutory requirement that local partnerships are formed in order to put crime reduction and community safety plans in place. To summarise a range of developments over the last two decades, the idea of ‘community’ as a ‘good thing’ and consequently as the conduit for policy has become deeply embedded both in policy and political rhetoric (Crawford 1997). But what do we mean by community? What kinds of communities are assumed by such policies? What is the lived reality of community life, and why has this notion so captured policy and political imagination?
