Communitarianism

This thoroughly revised and updated second edition of Henry Tam's Communitarianism brings different strands of communitarian thought together into a critical synthesis, at the centre of which is the ideal of inclusive communities based on the three principles of mutual responsibility, cooperative enquiry, and citizen participation. Communitarianism, the idea that human identities are largely shaped by different kinds of constitutive communities (or social relations), poses a major challenge to the left-right divide in politics and the competing principles of individualism and authoritarianism. Tam shows how communitarian ideas can be applied in practice, addressing key problems in social, economic, and political life, with case studies from the state sector, business sector, and the voluntary sector to demonstrate how we can more effectively respond to the major problems facing society. With key pedagogical features including a timeline of the emergence of key communitarian ideas, diagrams illustrating conceptual differences relating to communitarian, authoritarian and individualist thinking, and a selection of global case studies and further readings, this is the authoritative guide to Communitarianism theory and practice.