Community Cohesion In Crisis

This book examines how new dimensions of diversity and difference, so often debated in the national context, are emerging at the neighbourhood level.

There is an alleged crisis of cohesion in the UK, manifested in debates about identity and 'Britishness', the breakdown of social connections along the fault lines of geography, ethnicity, faith, income and age, and the fragile relationship between citizen and state. This book examines how these new dimensions of diversity and difference, so often debated in the national context, are emerging at the neighbourhood level. Contributors from a range of disciplinary backgrounds critically assess, and go beyond the limits of, contemporary policy discourses on 'community cohesion' to explore the dynamics of diversity and cohesion within neighbourhoods and to identify new dimensions of disconnection between and within neighbourhoods. The chapters provide theoretically informed critiques of the policy responses of public, private, voluntary and community organisations and present a wealth of new empirical research evidence about the dynamics of cohesion in UK neighbourhoods. Topics covered include new immigration, religion and social capital, faith schools, labour and housing market disconnections, neighbourhood territoriality, information technology and neighbourhood construction, and gated communities. Community cohesion in crisis? will be of interest to academics, policy makers, practitioners and students in the fields of human and urban geography, urban studies, sociology, politics, governance, social policy, criminology and housing studies.

This book examines how new dimensions of diversity and difference, so often debated in the national context, are emerging at the neighbourhood level.

This book examines how new dimensions of diversity and difference, so often debated in the national context, are emerging at the neighbourhood level.

In an original, and highly interdisciplinary, mixed method approach, Green and Janmaat identify four major traditions of social cohesion in developed societies, analyzing how these various mechanisms are withstanding the strains of the current global financial crisis.

This volume presents a new perspective for discussing the European social contract and its main challenges, bringing together single-nation and comparative studies from across Europe. Presenting both theoretical discussions and empirical case studies, it explores various aspects of social cohesion, including social protection, the labour market, social movements, healthcare, social inequalities and poverty. With particular attention to the effects of the international economic and financial crisis on social cohesion, particularly in the light of the implementation of so-called ‘austerity measures’, authors engage with questions surrounding the possible fragmentation of the European model of social cohesion and the transformation of forms of social protection, asking whether social cohesion continues to represent - if it ever did - a common feature of European countries.

This book makes a forthright case for a shift in policy focus from 'community cohesion' to the broader notion of social cohesion, and is distinctive and innovative in its focus on evaluation. It constitutes an extremely valuable source both for practitioners involved in social cohesion interventions and for researchers and students studying theory-based evaluation and the policy areas highlighted (housing, intergenerational issues, the recession, education, communications, community development).

This book calls for a shift in policy focus from 'community cohesion' to social cohesion, and makes a valuable source both for practitioners, researchers and students.