Self-fulfillment and decline of civic territorial community

Abstract

Few historians would argue that our times are not characterized by a concern for community. What we have not acknowledged is that the rise of interest in community and neighborhood organization since the 1950s has coincided with a revolt against a deterministic notion of culture as a total way of life definitive of the possibilities of human behavior in particular locations or times. In the past two decades that revolt has centered on a quest for self‐fulfillment. This has led to a public policy dilemma and to a semiparalysis in politics, for in a community of liberated individuals in pursuit of self‐fulfillment there can be no public welfare toward which to work and to sacrifice and over which to argue and make compromises.

Critical Issues: Circles of Kinship, Friendship, Position, and Power: Examining the Community in Community-Based Literacy Research

“…Miller (1986) argued that local and particular community associations have developed from the resistance to the essentializing of cultural relations and practices:…”

“…The conflating of community with ethnic cultural relationships should also be worrisome for those who study literacy practices in communities. Miller (1986) argued that local and particular community associations have developed from the resistance to the essentializing of cultural relations and practices:…”

Social capital and rural development: An exploratory case study of a failed recreational trail project

“…To some extent, the law also disregards federal law with which the predominantly agricultural state does not necessarily agree in the NTSA 's approach to eliminating reversiona1y property rights. In line with Miller's (1986) contentions that protecting individual rights is to act in the public good, this legislative event provides a contempora1y and local example of the distinctly Ame1ican approach to public policy regarding decisions about private prope1iy rights.…”

“…Strong norms of civic engagement are closely tied to the stmcture of the community and are often used to get things done ( or stopped). However, despite the apparent norms of civic involvement, the American value for individuality has not released its stronghold on The drive for self-fulfillment is an insatiable desire for personal freedom (Miller, 1986). This was amply demonstrated by one Meadville resident's view that "Everybody kind of leaves you alone and you live your own life."…”