Two Community development in an unequal world: challenging neo-liberal values
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Keith Popple
Abstract
This is a very weird time in the world; we’ve sort of lost faith in our political system, we’ve lost faith in our leaders, we’re not quite sure of our values, and I just hope that my winning the Nobel Prize contributes something that engenders goodwill and peace. It reminds us of how international the world is, and we have to contribute things from our different corners of the world.
(The British author Kazuo Ishiguro on hearing he was the winner of the 2017 Nobel in Literature, quoted in Ellis-Peterson and Flood, 2017: 1)
We’re in the middle of a global struggle between liberal democracy and authoritarianism.
(Hillary Clinton, former US Democratic presidential candidate, speaking at the Cheltenham Literary Festival, England, October 2017, quoted in Wintour, 2017: 4)
This chapter offers an overview of the rapidly changing social, economic and political context for community development practice globally and locally, highlighting the growing challenge to neo-liberalism as a credible economic and political strategy that offers stability and growth. I will consider the indicators of rising income and wealth inequality internationally and the resultant polarisation of societies, which are creating considerable risks to sound and secure global activity. The chapter discusses the drift of power away from the state and into the hands of unelected corporations, which presently receive vast sums of taxpayers’ money for delivering what previously was public sector managed provision. The fast-changing milieu has created a situation where, particularly in the global North, people feel left behind and not listened to. I will look at the resultant rise in nationalism, and the demands for regional self-determination, all of which are reactions to circumstances with which people feel unable to identify.
Abstract
This is a very weird time in the world; we’ve sort of lost faith in our political system, we’ve lost faith in our leaders, we’re not quite sure of our values, and I just hope that my winning the Nobel Prize contributes something that engenders goodwill and peace. It reminds us of how international the world is, and we have to contribute things from our different corners of the world.
(The British author Kazuo Ishiguro on hearing he was the winner of the 2017 Nobel in Literature, quoted in Ellis-Peterson and Flood, 2017: 1)
We’re in the middle of a global struggle between liberal democracy and authoritarianism.
(Hillary Clinton, former US Democratic presidential candidate, speaking at the Cheltenham Literary Festival, England, October 2017, quoted in Wintour, 2017: 4)
This chapter offers an overview of the rapidly changing social, economic and political context for community development practice globally and locally, highlighting the growing challenge to neo-liberalism as a credible economic and political strategy that offers stability and growth. I will consider the indicators of rising income and wealth inequality internationally and the resultant polarisation of societies, which are creating considerable risks to sound and secure global activity. The chapter discusses the drift of power away from the state and into the hands of unelected corporations, which presently receive vast sums of taxpayers’ money for delivering what previously was public sector managed provision. The fast-changing milieu has created a situation where, particularly in the global North, people feel left behind and not listened to. I will look at the resultant rise in nationalism, and the demands for regional self-determination, all of which are reactions to circumstances with which people feel unable to identify.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures and tables vii
- Rethinking Community Development ix
- Acknowledgements xi
- Notes on contributors xiii
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The ethico-political context
- Ethics, equity and community development: mapping the terrain 3
- Community development in an unequal world: challenging neo-liberal values 37
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Everyday ethics in community development practice
- Negotiating roles and boundaries: ethical challenges in community work 59
- Negotiating consent in neighbourhood-based community development work 83
- Whose ethics counts? Ethical issues in community development and action research with communities facing stigmatisation 103
- Koorliny birniny, ni, quoppa katatjin respect and ethics in working with Indigenous Australian communities 123
- Corporate social responsibility and community development in a mining region in India: issues of power, control and co-option 143
-
Envisioning an ethical space for community development
- Relational ethics and transformative community organising in the neo-liberal US context 167
- A Community Economies perspective for ethical community development 189
- Concluding reflections: philosophical perspectives on community and community development 209
- Index 221
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures and tables vii
- Rethinking Community Development ix
- Acknowledgements xi
- Notes on contributors xiii
-
The ethico-political context
- Ethics, equity and community development: mapping the terrain 3
- Community development in an unequal world: challenging neo-liberal values 37
-
Everyday ethics in community development practice
- Negotiating roles and boundaries: ethical challenges in community work 59
- Negotiating consent in neighbourhood-based community development work 83
- Whose ethics counts? Ethical issues in community development and action research with communities facing stigmatisation 103
- Koorliny birniny, ni, quoppa katatjin respect and ethics in working with Indigenous Australian communities 123
- Corporate social responsibility and community development in a mining region in India: issues of power, control and co-option 143
-
Envisioning an ethical space for community development
- Relational ethics and transformative community organising in the neo-liberal US context 167
- A Community Economies perspective for ethical community development 189
- Concluding reflections: philosophical perspectives on community and community development 209
- Index 221
