The Community of the Future
and
The Future of Community
by
Arthur Morgan
This is a detailed outline and study guide for
this book written by Arthur Morgan. It is intended to be a summary and a
study guide so that the reader may more quickly and more deeply absorb
Morgan's theories and practices. We suggest the reader peruse the outline in
total. Next read the outline before and after each chapter.
This outline can also be printed and used as the basis
for more detailed notation.
PART ONE
I. INTRODUCTION, 1
America feels what is small or local is unimportant. Bigness is
significant.
But details are important - the local is universal. The community
has the
universal.
Much writing of community is nostalgic - back to the farm.
The small face to face community is a vital and controlling
factor in human life.
We contend face to face community is a fundamental and necessary
unit of
society. It and the family are chief mediums of transmitting cultural
inheritance.
Some argue for either/or approach -
Gemeinschaft - informal spontaneous social group.
Gesellschaft - formal organization. Laws,
constitutions, rules.
Community is gemeinschaft. - an informal institution.
There is dynamic interaction between the two - not
one or the other.
Others argue for individual vs. social group.
Russia - supremacy of state,
America, supremacy of individual.
Individual has separate existence but contributes to
community.
Key message - in the nearly universal basic core of the cultural
tradition of
mankind there are values which are essential to the continuity and health of
human society. This is best done in small face to face community.
Technology and change of ordinary life requires reexamining the
function of
community. Are there community qualities that transcend any form of
organizations? Can urban qualities and small community qualities me
merged?
II. WHAT DO WE MEAN BY COMMUNITY, 8
Two senses of the word community
Quality of society
Particular kind of local population group.
There are biological traits and social traits.
Social traits of mutual trust and confidence are
learned.
Traits are learned by participating in a society where they are
present - of not
present in society, will not be learned. Many learned in small social groups
-
family and community. Traits can be lost in a generation if no examples.
Key qualities include: good will, considerateness, courtesy,
mutual helpfulness.
These traits of “mutuality” develop by living together in
intimate relationships -
which include intimate acquaintance, mutual confidence, regard,
responsibility, sharing of the risks and opportunities of life and a feeling
of
oneness. These turn a group of individuals into a social organism.
People
have not only individual characters and minds but a group character and
a group mind. They have a social personality.
Key points -
1. No human society can exist without some mutual confidence and good will
and brotherhood.
2. Fuller development of these qualities results in a
stronger and better
society.
3. Not innate or biological but learned in association
with those who have them
4. Small community (intimate face to face social group) is
most factorable
environment for these qualities.
Community is Where You Find It, 11
Spirit of community is mostly found in small face-to-face
communities but can be
found anywhere. All associations of people have some degree of intimate
acquaintance, mutual confidence, cooperation and a spirit of brotherhood.
Found
often in cities in immigrant neighborhoods. Also exists to an extent in
business and other types of organizations.
Good will and confidence often temper and humanize the
practice of
competition. This is community as a spirit.
Community as a Localized Population Group, 12
99% of all who have lived have been villagers. Man is a
small community animal.
Urban
associations can valuable but are poor substitutes for full community life.
Urban associates fail in not providing opportunity for children to learn
better
processes of living by sharing live and experience with elders.
Community describes these two elements in association - the
spirit of community
and a
small localized population group.
What Is a Typical Community?, 13
Two fundamental social units - the family and the community.
Both can
manifest dysfunctions but both have possibilities of excellence.
III. THE EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL CONTROLS, 14
Historically there have been 3 kinds of controls or guides of
attitudes and actions.
First are
biological drives including instincts.
Second there
is cultural inheritance or social tradition.
Third is the
process of critical thinking, including conscious inquiry, exploration,
research and creative thinking.
Some believe
there is a fourth source of control and guidance.
Animal Drives, 15
Instincts and inborn drives are inherited with the body and need
not be learned.
These inborn
drives evolve very slow over time.
The Emergence of Social Tradition, 15
Intelligence and community life increase prospects for survival
and added control
over inborn drives.
Essence of
cultural traditions (called mores, culture pattern, social tradition,
cultural inheritance) is passing on from one generation to another
accumulated skills, experience, knowledge, insights, judgments and wisdom.
The forms are
manners, customs, morals, religion and laws.
The social discipline of inborn drives takes many, many
generations.
Control of revenge and control of sex drives are
examples.
Children learn language in their community. Children also learn
good will,
considerateness, and mutual helpfulness in their community if they are
present
- and if interactions were intimate enough to acquire these traits by example
and imitation.
Social controls can overcome instinct and change faster than
inborn drives.
Key social
ideals are qualities such as integrity, loyalty, considerateness, and
mutual helpfulness.
The Community's Part in Social Tradition, 19
The two dominant and interacting factors in evolving of cultural
tradition are
intelligence and community. These factors are worldwide - part
of every
human group.
Mating outside the home community and trade disseminated common
cultures
over large areas.
Note that cultural inheritance may also modify inborn traits such
as vocal cords
and hairlessness. Most humane qualities are products of small
community life.
A small community is not just a collection of persons, but a
living vital social
organism with a life and character of its own.
Small
community allows and supports very intimate personal acquaintance.
Deceit
becomes ineffective because each member knows every other member
thoroughly.
Mutual
confidence grew from this general intimacy.
Children
feared no community member and in that resulting mutual confidence,
good will and good citizenship develop.
Just as infants develop more normally if they have physical
contact and persona
affection of a mother, the intimate personal
relationships of the face-to-face
small community count heavily in developing
mutual trust and regard.
The quality of the common life depends on the
availability of community,
especially for children.
“The essence of human society is the emotional quality which goes
by such
names as social responsibility, mutual confidence and affection.”
“This spiritual quality, which we may properly call “community”
is essential to
human adventure. “
Some Limitations of Cultural Tradition, 22
Because of its importance, the preservation of the cultural
tradition became a
virtue.
Tradition was important and departure from customs
was viewed as criminal.
Many cultures believed in a divine source of their
social codes.
Orthodoxy was virtue - heterodoxy was sin.
The small community
conserved rather than created.
Innovation was not welcomed.
Isolated small
communities were not favorable to new ideas and new outlooks.
Socially inherited cultural traits are not all good.
Burdensome
superstitions and folkways can be very harmful and limiting to a
culture.
Example of India’s ostentatious marriages.
The Critical Faculties, 24
In addition to inborn drives and cultural tradition, a third
factor exists. This is
conscious critical inquiry and exploration, with
reason and reflection, including
the highest expression of creative thinking.
Conservatism often opposes this.
Traditional cultures are not sufficiently
sensitive to changing conditions and to
increasing knowledge.
Cities are the meeting place of different cultures and ideas.
Traders often meet
people very different them themselves. Different cultures
living together must
adjust to each others different outlooks and standards.
This results in the
emergence of tolerance. Tolerance attracts people of
inquiring mind and they
prefer the mixture of culture. This stimulates
creative thinking. This is the
attraction of the cities. However, critical
reasoning does not lead to the
qualities of character and attitude which give
society strength, stability and
refinement.
“Such traits as social responsibility, mutual confidence and
regard, friendship and
good will, while justified and supported by logical
thinking, have a large
emotional element.” Such traits are learned and
developed in intimate personal
contact and by largely unconscious imitation.
“Logical approval of such traits is very different from their
emotional expression.
An intelligent ‘Well informed” person may lean about a
sense of brotherhood
and yet never experience it. Such experience is not
acquired chiefly by
reasoning but by contact with those who feel it. To use a
Biblical expression,
“We love him because he first loved us.””
The small community carries this element but it also carries
undesirable
elements as well. Love and brotherhood may exist in the limits of
a community
while carrying a feud with an adjoining community.
Critical appraisal may change or discard obsolete elements of
cultural tradition.
The faculties of free inquiry, reflection, exploring,
appraisal and experiment
allows a community to master and change its cultural
inheritance. However,
these interrelate. Traditional culture persists in the
face of logical reasoning to
keep alive fundamental values such as good will,
mutual regard, and mutual
responsibility. A community does not choose
critical inquiry over cultural
inheritance but attempts to achieve the best
division of influence between
them.
The Conservation of the Cultural Tradition, 27
Conservation of cultural tradition n small communities preserves
these values.
Old democratic ways of small communities persisted through the
phases of
feudalism and empire.
Democracy of the small.
The philosophy of power and empire that exists today relies on
strategy ,
subterfuge and coercion. In international relations absolute self
interest is
paramount, without any regard for ethical considerations. In
these affairs and in
business the only important value is power. Other values
are subordinate.
Small communities maintain the values of human equality,
sincerity, dignity, good
will and brotherhood over power. This is in contrast
to the Machiavelli spirit.
The Eskimo culture is a good example of the persistence of small
community
values.
Machiavellian values seem to arise in conditions where large
numbers of people
are involved.
The power of “enlightened selfishness” compromises integrity. For
centuries
values of small community have opposed this.
The Spirit of Community, 34
The spiritual quality of community comes through tradition, not
logic or critical
inquiry. Physical, economic, and social settings of life
are important. Yet
seldom are the chief limitation of a community those which
can be described
in physical or sociological terms. American theory and
practice of community,
like the subject literature, have been concerned with
physical well-being and
efficient social arrangements. Often the soul of
community is absent.
Some practices actually destroy the soul or spirit of community.
These include:
School consolidation for our children
Creation of mass industries where they are not technically
required.
Drilling of your students in spirit and attitude of war by
inappropriate textbooks.
Universal military training in the spirit of war.
Radio and TV inciting desire for physical possession and
persona indulgence.
These practices create a materialistic mind and spirit.
Community must transcend this attitude.
Education and reduction
of poverty have not reduce delinquency and crime.
The spiritual element of community, which primary is a part of
the cultural
inheritance is based on multiple qualities.
Quote from Corinthians on describing the quality of love. This is
not only a
beautiful piece of poetical expression it is also good sociology
and good
psychology.
There
will never be sufficient programs or knowledge to avoid ill will. Without the
spirit of community, the best intelligence leads nowhere.
Love or affection has two practical functions. First it dissolves
resentment,
jealousy, suspicion and hurt feelings. Second it is an attractive
force which
pulls people together - creating a social organism from
individuals. Without it,
there is only competition, self interest and
external authority.
The quality of community, including love or affection, is not a
product of
intelligence but cultural inheritance. Consider the sometimes
vicious
competition in universities.
“Affection, mutual confidence and regard are emotional, rather
than intellectual
qualities, though they may be appraised, judged, and to
some extent directed,
by intelligence.”
They are both innate and part of the
cultural inheritance, resulting from intimate
contact with others. The
cultural inheritance must be modified and developed
by disciplined free
inquiry. The motive of love does not eliminate mistakes.
Love as emotion must
be guided and disciplined by love as intelligent
purpose, requiring use of
critical faculties. Nepotism is misdirected love.
Life control by cultural tradition alone is ineffective. Control
by conscious reason
only would not develop emotional commitment such as
friendship, family
affection, group loyalty and patriotism. Cultural
tradition provides the
emotional ties which transmute individuals into
society.
Often the emotions of cultural tradition are more accurate than
logical thinking.
“Sophistication includes knowing when not to be
sophisticated. No one is
more a creature of fashion than the average
intellectual.”
A
Fourth Source of Control and Guidance?, 39
Divine guidance is claimed as a fourth source. Revelation may
have human
origins or divine origins. Divine guidance appears similar to
“creative thinking”.
The best thought possible is given to a subject and then
one waits or prays for
some insight. Such insight may appear without
conscious reasoning and be so
profound that one thinks it has another source.
Such revelations occur in religion and in science. Personal
revelations,
“openings” and mystic experience predate modern psychology.
Revelations in
science are subjected to rigorous verification.
Using innate drives, cultural inheritance and critical thinking
overall judgment
improves. We should follow this course to understand the
values and
characteristics of the community of the future. Religion,
politics, science,
personal and social endeavors combine to create new forms
of human
purpose and action.
IV. MUST CULTURES AND CIVILIZATIONS DISAPPEAR?, 42
History show that civilizations and cultures have a tendency to
arise from
common qualities and circumstances of life, reach a climax of
power and of
culture, and then fade or disintegrate. Some conclude there is
inherit to
societies a cycle of birth, growth, maturity, age and death. But
it is not society
in essence that exhibits the decay and death but only
certain aspects, including
exhaustion of soil fertility, warfare, decline of
personal character and
urbanization.
Soil fertility - Farmers who own and live on their land take care
of it. Urbanization
brings the absentee landlord, who will exploit the farmer
and the land. Thus the
land is not maintained and declines.
Warfare - War for the most part results from expressions of
empire and
urbanization.
Decline of personal character - Personal character deteriorates
when the lineage
of the cultural tradition is broken. Cultural decline
usually occurs not in times of
adversity but in times of urban and national
prosperity. In many cases the
cultural tradition continues in rural area as
it declines in urban areas and in the
halls of government. In other cases,
the small community values cannot resist
the deterioration in urban areas.
Rural communities may maintain vitality for ages. Social
deteriorate usually
originates with sophisticated urban or official life.
Urban cultures that are cut off from the qualities of community
deteriorate. Good
manners take the place of good will and tact replaces
openness and integrity.
Cash transactions reduce mutual obligation by
eliminating neighborly
cooperation. Organization friends discourage knowing
our neighbors.
Psychiatrists serve the functions of intimate friends.
V. THE SPLIT PERSONALITY OF SOCIETY, 49
Two social traditions - conservatism and free inquiry/innovation.
Cities have existed for only 1% of recorded time.
In small community
cultures, intelligence and leadership are distributed
throughout population.
Leadership widely distributed, restraining instability of
innovation.
When free inquiry of cities meets conservatism of small
community, the small
community loses. City offers wealth, freedom and
cultural opportunity.
Concentration of stimulation in a city has negative
effects on the culture.
Competition increases. Families die our in fewer
generations. Country feeds
its talent to the city.
History shows cities restrict biological survival.
Small
communities renew the city but attrition hurts small community.
City fails to keep alive traits of mutual confidence and good
will.
Emotional ties of affection and regard decline.
Ethical standards of
human relations decline.
Cites attract the extremes of small communities.
Most intelligent
and best educated go to the city as well as the failures and
riffraff.
This trend is most active in America.
Small communities can be exceptional and cities can be provincial
but this is not
the rule in general.
Technology has accelerated the drift from rural to city. At
founding of the country,
farmers were 85% of population. Movement from rural
to city has accelerated
in recent decades.
Natural drift will not change the situation. The disappearance of
small community
life means the death of a culture or civilization.
Movement can be reversed and the small community can become
dominant.
Technology can remove many of the limitations of small community.
Small community of the future will be a new creation, merging the
values of city
and village. Excellent people will be attracted to small
communities. Small
communities will become attractive and more of them will
be needed. Small
community must deserve acceptance.
PART TWO, 55
VI . FOREWORD: THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD COMMUNITY, 55
One must determine the wholesome and unwholesome conditions which
can
have the advantages and eliminate the disadvantages of both city and
small
community. Modern technology makes this more possible than in the past.
If
wholesome conditions are recognized, people will make choices which
satisfy
conditions and form good relationships.
To achieve best communities, three things are required:
1 - Research for desirable conditions
2 - Education in social living and other elements
3 - Develop skills and habits to accomplish the change.
Doing so can
enhance civilizations. Will require a return to the past for some
situations and a breaking of the past for others.
VII. A COMMUNITY MUST HAVE NECESSARY COMMON FUNCTIONS, 57
In ancient villages, the whole of living was done with people
living together.
Acting together leads to friendship.
Funerals include best
friends, often from continuing relationships such as
business, church, labor
unionism or fellow workers. More friendships from a
life of involvement in
activity rather than personal acquaintance.
“The village dweller discovers man’s common humanity across all
lines of
classes, calling cult or creed.”
Modern life takes away these associations. People work outside
their community.
Consolidated schools take education away from community.
Government social security takes away responsibility of the community.
Utilities are taken from the community to large businesses or government
agencies. Management of these functions in the community adds to the life of
the community. Removing them to agencies detracts from the life. Standards
can
be beyond the community while work and control stay in the community.
Some functions like post office and railroads are on a scale
beyond community
control. Different responsibilities can be divided.
Communities need to
associate and participate and these functions provide the
opportunity.
VIII. THE OUTSIDE RELATIONSHIPS OF COMMUNITIES, 61
No community is completely isolated.
Trade, marriages, etc. in
the past all implied small communities interacting.
Movement of members
between communities still preserved community values.
America settled more by individuals. So community spirit
declined. Many
assumed spirit of community was part of human nature. America
has habit of
free movement for occupation, land, education, etc. regardless
of influence of
such movement on community life.
Biology and genetics a new biological type requires a degree of
isolation and
interbreeding from outside. Communities also require both.
Example of
industries invading and harming a community.
Cooperation among Communities, 64
Cooperation between small communities counters large scale
control.
Habit of intercommunity cooperation is important to achieve.
Cooperation can be by federation or by integration. Two communities united
for a
purpose is federation. A community giving up some individual identity
to
participate in a larger unit is integration.
Examples are irrigation
systems. Also flood control, parks, and water supplies.
Cooperation should
not be limited by county or state governments.
Other options are specialized
common service centers such as accounting,
purchasing, engineering, planning,
etc.
Goal is hundreds of regional service associations. Statistical and
financial
statements provided to the general center will allow comparisons
and benefits
achieved by other than economic competition. Benchmarking.
A variety of types of cooperation may appear. Counter to craving
for uniformity of
mass mind. Full development does not imply uniformity.
Good communities, like good people, seek balance and proportion.
Will be unique
but still cooperating with other communities. Adds richness
and variety to
culture.
Metropolitan Dominance, 67
Most of the population has crystallized itself in relationships
of “metropolitan
dominance”. May be either good or bad. If bad, there are
degrees of wealth and
poverty between center and edges. If good, there is
little difference of culture
and economic well being.
Education, economic
and cultural opportunities may be equalized. Many urban
metropolis
are centers of
power, luxury and exploitation. Even if metropolitan
centers become more a
center of service and less of privilege and exploitation,
decentralized
community living still has major advantages.
The Future of Extra-Community Relations, 69
Communities include many groups and associations which contribute
to its life
and character. Larger society will continue to be an interweaving
of
associations, relationships, interests and organizations in economics,
education, religion, culture, social life and recreation. There should be no
fixed
rules regarding relations of these units to each other, or to the
community,
region or state. Counter to Rousseau concepts of bad social
relations in social
relations. Without associations state control appears.
Beginning of
totalitarianism. Free play of human associations counters
totalitarianism.
Regional and nationwide associations may detract attention and
resources from
community life. However, opposite can result and associations
may strengthen
community life.
Some national organizations ignore the community, such as
national health
foundations. Even if some funds returned, the damage is not
repaired.
A change of attitude and spirit is required rather than a change
of rules.
Associations may encourage or draw off the life of the community.
IX. THE PHYSICAL SETTING OF THE COMMUNITY OF THE FUTURE, 71
Making the Best of Existing Community Sites, 71
Old communities have not been designed. They are never finished
and always
changing and can be bettered. There are values in continuity of
location.
Surveying the community may disclose opportunities. Damming a
small stream
for swimming. Using abandoned buildings for new purposes. There
are many
unnoticed possibilities.
There Will Be New Communities, 72
Communities will be created or relocated, often for employment
opportunities.
Originally village location was utilization - near a mine, a
shore or fields.
Throughout the ages community location has been set largely
for economic or
military reasons. Utilitarian reasons are less important
today. This is a mindset
that has not been reviewed.
The family
home used to be viewed as permanent. Now it changes during a
lifetime. Similar for communities. It might be best to choose the best
location
and build a new structure rather than to modernize the old.
The location of communities should be viewed as temporary, not
permanent. As
long as they serve the spirits and aspirations of members, they
should exist.
When they no longer due, they should be abandoned.
Americans move frequently, implying personal and family
rootlessness. Some of
this is due to defect of personality, changing outward
circumstances to avoid
inner change. Sometimes the move is to find better
living conditions or better
work. This modern nomadism is destructive of
community.
The custom of breaking away from a community to form a new one
has been a
natural part of human existence.
The Location of New Communities, 76
Modern technology and ease of travel lessens need to live in
proximity to work.
One could locate 15 miles from work, rather than a mile or
two.
More attractive communities could be created using earth moving
equipment.
Industries can now relocate and could send divisions to
attractive communities.
More of a mind set than a practical problem.
Space for the New Community, 77
Should consider other than economic factors. There should be
sufficient space.
Space is a common expression of successful people
(estates).
Space could be for community, rather than individuals, reducing
maintenance
load. Often attractive spaces are not those that require
agricultural lands e.g.
mountains. Class discriminations may make this more
difficult to achieve.
Society and Solitude in the Community of the Future, 79
Physical
setting should provide both for society and solitude. Both are necessary
American life is often mediocre because our social habits
discourage high quality.
Much of social life in small and large towns is banal. Mass
education coming from
school consolidation is intolerant of scholarship and
individual thinking. There is
a tyranny of youthful opinion.
Desire for partitions between people is due in part to the poor
quality of
community. Also no forest on the edge of town to visit.
Office partitions and other partitions are needless.
Individuals need time for solitude to grow. For many as necessary
as sleep.
Love of Nature in the Community of the Future, 81
Value of art and beauty.
Love of beauty not art appreciation. Art appreciation often
commercial and few
are interested. Love of nature is not costly or
prestigious. Need no training.
Nature brings relaxation, peace and harmony.
Natural beauty is available everywhere. May offer more to
communities than art
and beautification projects. Simple trails in the woods.
The Need for Bits of Nature about the New Community, 84
A good community sets up an environment for its children. More
important to
prepare for the potential new than to honor the great men of the
old. Physical
setting is important for the upcoming generations. Wild lands,
wilderness,
woods are needed for growth.
Much loss of this in America. No longer can one drink from a
stream. Pollution is
everywhere.
Land must be set aside for cultivation of the spirit.
The Technology of the Community of the Future, 86
Today security, comfort and abundance are available. But Rome and
other
cultures with wealth and power deteriorated. We must avoid spiritual
diseases
of prosperity. Need to avoid dishonesty. Also drugs, opiates, narcotics.
Need qualities to sustain and survive economic abundance. If so
technology will
provide many benefits. Could enclose towns or move materials
by pneumatic
tube. No need to plan the physical design. Rapid technological
change.
New concept for building. Small houses to larger to small. Not
technical issue. A
change in mental attitude. Need to break free of
conventional patterns.
Zoning can be reconsidered. Could have factories that are
attractive in
neighborhoods.
Incentives to Good Community Planning, 89
Affecting
professionals to consider the whole community.
Need some
standards of choice to counter salesmanship.
If people
consider what they want, designers will respond.
Informed
choice is to be developed.
Town Planning, 90
Several parameters of physical characteristics - climate,
topography,
transportation facilities,. Also water supply, closeness to
population centers.
Other factors include street width, traffic patterns,
zoning, etc. New patterns are
neighborhood development, limiting size of
towns by green belts, and limiting
strip towns.
X. LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN THE COMMUNITY OF THE FUTURE, 91
General attitudes, aims and considerations which affect local
government.
Community should govern itself. Local control cannot
discriminate. Things that
cannot be controlled locally only include postal
service, rail and road control,
social security, environment, etc.
Good Will in the Community Government of the Future, 92
Good will precedes government - it can solve many problems.
Small
face to face communities create good will.
Good will begins at local
community and extends to larger ones.
Good will eliminates need for eternal
vigilance.
Policemen as advisors. Correction not retaliation.
Decision by Consensus, 94
In ancient communities, voting was unknown. Refined form of
conflict.
Example of village elders meeting.
Time consuming to reach
consensus. Eliminate rancor and resentment. Example
of Quakers.
Close to
equal votes means premature decisions.
Variation in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
Consensus is important. Law is for convenience and effectiveness
of
administration, not organization of power.
The Issues of Local Government, 95
Good methodology is needed as well as good spirit.
Communities
must define own rules, not adopt state or nation.
Charter commission and council management form are positive
trends. Zoning
and local planning commissions are useful tools. Thrift and
social
responsibility are necessary qualities.
Local government is better for local issues than centralized
administration. Some
states determine the structure of local governments and
others allow the local
government to determine the structure.
Local governments must be effective or will lose power. Need
competent people
which is developed by participation.
Independent and local control will create diversity and useful
experience.
XI. ECONOMIC LIFE IN THE COMMUNITY OF THE FUTURE, 98
Economic conditions vary from locale to locale - some supportive
and others
restrictive. Yet all people have same aspirations and interests.
Limited
economic opportunity generates frustration.
If selecting economic options, few would choose a one company
isolated town or
one crop agricultural community. Communities and people need
varied
economic opportunities. Even in adverse situations, opportunities may
be
creatively developed.
Economic quality is a function of choice of employment as well as
the degree of
community experience. Fixed social patterns reduce economic
variety.
Key economic quality is that no one group violates the spirit of
another group.
In good community there is an attitude of general sharing of
opportunity and
responsibility. Many large corporations do not provide this.
Industry can move
and damage the citizens or make decisions in remote
headquarters.
There is an advantage to small human scale industry versus large
scale
impersonal industry. Preferably to have owners and managers a part of
the
community. Class consciousness less present in these environs.
Technological progress causes centralization and automation in
some fields but
causes birth of many small industries.
Small scale society can no longer live in isolation. World is
becoming
interdependent. Economic future is not small units in isolation but
small units in
some form of federation.
Growth of spirit of community makes interdependence and
cooperation feasible.
Small scale community interest will improve business ethics.
Suggested
Industrial Standards in a Good Community
1. Freedom for Industry and Freedom in Industry, 102
Conduct business so regulation in unneeded. Excessive size
reduces
individual freedom of action. Small business should be considered not
only
from profit perspective but social values.
Employees are people who crave freedom of action and interests.
Treat people fairly.
Employees should share in policy making and ownership.
2. Reasonableness, 103
Limit arbitrariness. Contracts are to be records of fair dealing,
not traps to
disadvantage someone.
3. A Fair Profit, 103
Reduce income to its elements so that all understand what a fair
profit
means.
Following are typical costs for which compensation is
justified:
a. Interest on the capital safely invested in the undertaking, 104.
The going
rate of interest with good security.
b. Compensation for risk and uncertainty, 104.
Not used to take great
profits.
c. Operating Expense, 104.
Must be complete but not a way to hide profits.
d. Obsolescence, 104.
Retire capitol investments in a reasonable time.
e. Management, 105.
Differential over salaried worker just. Avoid privileged class pay.
f. Compensation for the entrepreneur, 105.
Should be limited to years
invested remuneration.
g. Reserves for contingencies, 106.
Necessary but not limited to larger
profits.
h. Trusteeship funds, 106. Public debt.
All men are made by social
inheritance.
Excess profits due to fortunate circumstances should be used for public
good. A
fair profit must be analyzed to insure avoidance of “all the traffic
will
bear”.
4. Business Must Pay, 107
Business must pay its way or fail. Profits show competence.
Private business, if well conducted, is better than public business with
errors
hidden by subsidy or taxation.
Businesses should not exploit resources
or have special privileges.
5. Open Records, 108
Fundamental of business is mutual confidence. Openness and
confidence
go together. Finances should be public.
6. Business Competence, 108
Competence is required from everyone.
7. Business Continuity, 108
Employees and communities begin to rely on a business. Its
departure can
wreck a community. It is interdependent with people, suppliers
and
community. Management should constantly look for new opportunities,
new
blood, new products, new economies. Owners should pass on the
business, not
sell it to strangers. Selling only for profit betrays a public
trust.
8. Obligations to Employees, 109
Business is obligated to employees beyond wages and working
conditions.
Employee has similar personal desires to owners. Wants adventure.
Wants to count in affairs. Wants to make policy.
Business should search and
develop latent qualities in its employees.
Employees should decide on labor
organizations - not owners.
Collective bargaining can be replaced by working
together for common
ends.
9. Steady Operation, 110
Smooth out irregularities and avoid fluctuations.
10. Responsibility in Salesmanship, Advertising, and Representation of Goods
or Services, 110
Truthful and representative. Basic honesty in all these
functions.
11. Elimination of Waste, 111
Don’t change styles and models just to get more money.
Don’t
pander to low standards based on argument “giving the people
what they want”.
12. Avoidance of Excess, 111
Don’t try to grow very big or destroy competitors.
Don’t put
staff under strain.
13. Fair Competition, 111
Rely on quality of goods and services and not attacking of
competitors.
14. Cooperation, 111
In many cases cooperation and association are needed. Central
services
and central service organizations can help small businesses.
15. Reconciliation of Controversies, 112
Use open and sincere inquiry into the merits of issues.
16. Restraint on Personal Ambitions, 112
One should desire to have a useful and honorable part in the
words work,
not desire for prestige, power and prominence.
17. Control of Size, 112
Some businesses need size for effectiveness. Most don’t and size
is
not in the public interest. Large size reduces independence of people.
Create irresponsible and unmanageable power. Publicity gives it the
market
without merit. Tends toward monopoly, concentration of wealth
and social
stratification. Destroys community life as well as
communities themselves.
18. Desirable Incentives, 113
Chief reward is not wealth and power but chance to have an
honorable
part in the work of the world. Not necessary to have profit and
competition. Many businesses operate from the motive of wanting an
honorable
part in the work of the world.
19. The Right Relation of Business to Other Interests, 113
Business can be honorable and supportive of life. Work
environments can
be pleasant.
Practicing treating other people as one wants
to be treated can be a
spiritual practice at work. Business is not just for
making money.
Children learn what life is like from watching businesses.
Business largely
determines the pattern by which society lives and acts. It
sets the
standards for the society.
Economic Independence and Interdependence in the Community of the Future, 114
Today small communities are interdependent, not independent. May
not be
permanent. Local electricity generated is less than 10% more costly
than large
plants.
Three reasons for local self-sufficiency:
1-Living
together, working together, and sharing life together forms a living
community, not physical proximity.
2-If local industry is locally owned,
civic leadership may be present.
3-Community needs capacity for independent
economic activity to deal with
depressions.
In normal community much economic activity is serving each other.
In times of
depression, money may be tight and desired economic activities
may not
occur. Local exchange-credit coupons can be issued. Use as a medium
of
exchange with depreciation rather than as a form of property to horde.
In times of prosperity,
same principles can apply.
A community which has lost all economic independence of action is
no longer
fully a community, but is in part an economic vassal.
How May a Small Community be Industrialized?, 118
Tendency to pay companies to locate in a community.
Social
attitude of such a company may not be in harmony with the community.
Community of the future will desire that companies are a harmonious element
in
the fulfillment and enlargement of the community.
A community is best if it learns to build its own industry.
Develops its own people. And can compete for employees by offering the small
community environment rather than sports, landscaping or other commercial
activities.
What kinds of Small Industries are Best for Small Communities?, 121
Mass production and mass sales industries are poor prospects.
Mass advertising
limits small firms.
Some products require large scale operation. Automobiles.
Local product sales are normally not dependent on advertising.
Examples of small successful firms - Antioch Publishing, YSI
Sales are not to a few large companies.
Popular wisdom is that small businesses fail. Not so in Yellow
Springs.
Difficult now to start new businesses. Big corporations have
great power.
XII. EDUCATION IN THE COMMUNITY OF THE FUTURE, 125
Two differing philosophies Rousseau’s freedom. West Point
discipline.
Morgan avoids this selection.
Innate abilities are developed
uniquely through cultural tradition and critical inquiry.
Thus educations
patterns will differ as cultures differ.
For many millennia education was living in a community and
participating in it.
New way is to take students from the community and learn from
books.
12 years of studying baseball will not make a person a good ball
player.
Children should learn by participation in the culture, while
interweaving formally
transmitted elements.
Consolidated school makes community participation even more
difficult.
Discipline
should be based on considerateness, courtesy, integrity, courage,
stamina, etc.
Examples of families, education children.
Current educational and economic life limits appropriate
education.
Ghandi created educational system of children sharing in
community life.
Progressive education shared some elements but encouraged soft
living and
indulgence.
Children should labor but not in past way of economic
exploitation.
Non exploitive child labor should be part of education process.
But much freedom is also needed for children.
Education should be part of an overall pattern of living. The
basic conditioning of
formal education now is such that the life of childhood
and youth is cut off
from the common life.
The community of the future must reconsider the fundamental
processes of
education.
XIII. RELIGION IN THE COMMUNITY OF THE FUTURE, 130
Daily affairs take most attention and interest. But people crave
general purpose
and direction. Associations and influences to hold to their
better purposes may
be called religion.
Family and community are main associates for children so they
should be the
center of religious life. Outside influences provide guidance
and inspiration but
should not be authority. Purpose and direction should be
from person outward,
not imposed from without. If an individual works our his
way of life, will be more
satisfied than accepting a pattern.
Unity and
community loyalty do not arise from suppressing
individual purpose.
They come from realization that people are interdependent
social beings. If the
purpose is right, then harmony exists.
Similarly the
relationship between small
communities and nation. Respect for larger wiser
groups is acceptable but
does not allow for authoritarianism and tyranny.
XIV. RECREATION IN THE COMMUNITY OF THE FUTURE, 134
Recreation is
vital to living. First an end in itself - sheer you of living. Second it can
be training or activity in arts of life. Playing with dolls is beginning of
child
caring.
Nature has
put joy in life by making us like what we have to do.
Boys like
hunting/fishing. Do it yourself activities.
Third, play
is a chief means of bodily and mental exercise.
Recreation is
"re" - creation. We cease being a worker and become a human
being when recreating.
Sometimes
recreation is used to shorten lives without purpose or design. Mass
spectator sports, TV, etc. serve as drugs to avoid unpleasant living.
Recreation is
a major element of education and of health. Recreation with others
aids in mutual understanding and companionship. It balances economic life.
Recreation very important in community of the future.
Play is vital
for childhood. Out of doors is important. Children need this for proper
development more than hours in classrooms.
Mature people
also need recreation.
Daily lives
tend to confine us to narrow channels of experience. We need leisure
to fulfill our lives. Much variety is required - art in many many media.
Walking in
the woods. Drama. Gardening. Swimming. Family outings. All kinds of sports.
Cave exploring. Camping, Canoeing. Fold dancing.
There are no
stadiums in our village. De-emphasize spectators and support
players.
Reading is a
major recreation. However, reading as escapism is not helpful.
Physical
setting of community can support or limit recreation.
XV. INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES, 139
Three way for
better communities - revolution, slow improvement and starting of
new communities with new and better patterns. These are defined as
"intentional communities." There is a long history of such communities world
wide. US history has many such as Puritans, Quakers, Anabaptist and other
settlers.
US settled
with pioneers with new vision as well as those who wanted just
improved living.
Creating new
communities maintains vitality of societies.
It is
customary to ridicule these efforts. Only a small percent survive. Sometimes
discredited because of poor motives and other character failings of founders.
Major risk of failure is to assume that you know what is best.
It is best to
have interrelations amongst a variety of associations than putting all
together in a melting pot. Need respect for the differing approaches.
Present-Day Intentional Communities, 143
Discussion of
many different communities. Israel Kibbutzim. Bruderhof.
Fellowship of Intentional Communities. Hutterites. Amish. Mormans.
XVI. THE CONTROL AND DISCIPLINE OF POWER IN THE COMMUNITY OF THE FUTURE, 144
Key human
problem is taming power and ambition. May be the most important
problem. In ancient times, community limited personal power. Mass
populations and the growth of cities caused breakdown of power limitations.
History of empire is story of uncontrolled power and ambition.
In primitive
community, democratic government limited power. However,
democratic processes can be perverted by the powerful, by manipulating
voting. Machine politics shield economic exploiters.
Small
community is always being invaded by ambition and power in many ways.
Local machine politics exist. Community of the future must break free of
these
political structures.
Centralized
government injure community by taxing and by taking control of
community functions. Educational programs with policies and textbooks
dictated by higher government agencies eliminate local control. Educational
materials provide propaganda for various ideologies.
In economics,
small community can be injured by dominant local industrial
power.
Often in
small communities, there is a lack of democratic spirit and process in
the area of religion.
Racial
inequities also can exist. In America, school history has downplayed the
treatment of Indians.
Fashion is
also a way power is exercised against community.
Power and the Feeling of Crisis, 150
Power
controls the public by creating and maintaining a feeling of crisis.
Power
controls domestic unrest by foreign war.
"Either our country is everything, or it is nothing."
All loyalties
and authorities are relative. There are issues that should never be
surrendered to higher powers.
A good well
rooted community tend to resist the cry of "crisis".
XVII. THROUGH THE DARK VALLEY
Conviction of
this book is that the small face-to-face community in not a folkway
which had an interesting and useful past. The relationships of small
communities will continue to be necessary for the survival of the basic
cultural
qualities of humanity.
Society could
exist without small communities on another plane - of power, skillful
design, external controls and "enlightened self-interest" at the expense of
good
will, brotherhood and mutual confidence.
Examples of nations merging.
Many
community functions now exist only at national level.
Educational bureaucracies remove policy from local communities.
Military draft teaches youth to rely on force and arbitrary authority.
Big
business controls economic life.
Technology threatens small community. Earlier people knew about local home-
town affairs. Now learn about the world from TV and local community is not
mentioned. National newspapers replace community newspapers. Television
and radio are often more intimate and familiar to the young than the voices
of
their parents.
Most of
nation is now in urban areas.
Small
communities fostered democracy. Now giant states pervert it.
Power
must be controlled so that the "survival of the fittest" will be the survival
of
excellence.
Section
on the destruction of the American Indians. (The great American
inquisition)
"The
essence of community is fullness and fitness of life, in which the motives
men live by are those which have our deepest respect, and in which the
physical and social setting are most favorable for enduring values."
The
spirit of community faces heavy odds. Don't expect an easy course.
Remember that the recent centuries represent a fraction of a percent of
humans
time on earth.
REFERENCES
INDEX
|