Re-establishment of Community in a Western 
                     Society: a Brief View

A brief look at the need for the re-establishment of 
community, at least in Western society. Comments and 
suggestions are welcome.

Gene S. Thomas

April 1994

Copyright 1994 Gene S. Thomas. All rights reserved. 
Correspondence regarding this document may be addressed to 
the author at:

215 Pineridge
Ann Arbor, MI 48103

email: gthomas@ciesin.org



Need and opportunity are converging on a grand scale in the 
world and in America, in particular. They are sometimes 
viewed as two sides of the same coin but for long periods in 
our history there are examples of need without opportunity. 
The United States may be in the beginning stage of a 
transition to a period marked by opportunity coming together 
with need at the most resource poor levels of society. 
Traditional sources of opportunity (resources) such as 
government and civic organizations will play a role in the 
transition but the main driver will be the awakening of 
individuals to the fact that they create their own future and 
that by uniting in communities they can achieve far more than 
by acting alone. We lived in communities when humankind was 
younger and we need to return to that social mode to restore 
our humanity.

Western society, as manifested in the United States of 
America and elsewhere, is demonstrating self-destructive 
tendencies. Its view of the environment as commodity, the 
production and release of toxic substances, promotion of mass 
consumption as a necessary component of a desirable 
lifestyle, the widening gulf between the haves and the have 
nots with the concentration of great wealth in relatively few 
hands, and the acceptance of a large class of unprivileged, 
resource challenged, and in some cases, environmentally 
poisoned people are all unhealthy characteristics of our 
"modern" society.

It is believed that the institutions (rules), power 
structures and power people in society who benefit the most 
from the current paradigm are the least likely to want to 
change it. It is also believed that the sense of community, 
which is enjoyed by few people in America today but which 
strikes strong chords in people in a wide range of the 
socioeconomic spectrum, can be used to move society away from  
self-destructive behavior and into an age of ecological 
awareness and behavior geared toward the long haul.

People must be empowered in a variety of ways so that they 
can begin the process of social change that can lead to a 
stable, sustainable, and equitable global society. Minds must 
be opened to new possibilities and jobs must be created that 
provide the means for the achievement of those possibilities. 
The work of those jobs doesn't have to be created; it exists 
already. It must simply be described, packaged and paid-for.

Empowerment comes, in part, from control over satisfaction of 
basic human needs. These needs include shelter, food, 
security and self-worth. Maintenance of the state of 
community also has a need: a focus that will last as long as 
society does. One of the basic human needs that requires 
constant satisfaction is food. 
Satisfaction of this need by a community can provide a wide 
range of opportunities including teaching, employment, 
enhanced self-esteem, generation of capital, linkages with 
other communities, urban visual enhancement, and security. 
Food production within communities, accomplished using 
restorative farming techniques and without synthetic chemical 
input, could be the universal tie that binds communities 
together giving us this and every day our daily (wholesome) 
bread.

Empowerment also comes from creating the future we choose 
(even from just thinking that we can create our future). 
Imagining an optimal future allows us to focus the energies 
we put into satisfaction of our basic needs so that the 
products we make and use and the processes we create all 
support our vision of an optimal future, in addition to 
satisfying an immediate need. One example of a useful tool to 
help us look beyond immediate needs could be termed a social 
engine. This engine gathers critical components and spins off 
focused opportunities. It could be embodied in a small 
business that, through networking with resource providers and 
end users in a variety of fora, assists in the establishment 
of new businesses that subscribe to a predefined set of 
ecologically sound principles and that contribute to 
predefined social (community) goals, both in their operation 
and in their products.