I finished Peter Block’s Community: The Structure of Belonging last week and want to share some of his thoughts if it interests you. This book essentially is about community development and transformation. Block’s style is often theoretical and heady in its content and tone, yet there is a real commitment to organizing work and life around the dignity of human beings and the impact of relationships and organizing efforts on that dignity. This is one of the things I like about Block in his books.
What is helpful about this book is that it steers conversations in the process of community building away from victimization and learned helplessness and paternalism. His focus is on building what he calls the social fabric – the quality of relating within a community. He unpacks the ideas and patterns of modern society that are undermining true empowerment in society at large and argues for methods and community processes that both lead to the goal while also being the goal themselves.
Many want to build communities and build the social fabric, but they focus on the end result and meanwhile their methods and processes undermine the very relating and social fabric they want to achieve. Block proposes a set of commitments and processes to help communities begin relating in empowering and accountable ways that increase the consistency and quality of the social fabric. He argues that the small group is the unit of transformation.
There’s a lot here – and it’s a big that needs a lot of reflection to make connections for the sake of integration and application. But Block does a great job building a process around question asking and safe spaces. He argues that community transformation is driven by well-crafted questions that create the kind of anxiety and tension that drives people to get involved and commit. He offers sets of questions for key conversations around ownership, dissent, gifts, and other key areas. What is unique about Block is the methodology that seeks to bring the goal into the process. This is some of how I’ve tried to teach strategic planning – that leaders don’t lead towards a goal or vision, but they must live out that vision through the whole process from day one. That affects actions and relationships.
He offers sets of questions for key conversations around ownership, dissent, gifts, and other key areas. What is unique about Block is the methodology that seeks to bring the goal into the process. This is some of how I’ve tried to teach strategic planning – that leaders don’t lead towards a goal or vision, but they must live out that vision through the whole process from day one. That affects actions and relationships.
In today’s society, you have many groups in many places blaming other groups for their situation and looking externally for solutions. Block offers a methodology and community building approach that challenges all of us to take ownership of our communities and commit to something new together instead of engaging in the toxic cycles of blame and dependence. It’s easier said than done, but there’s a lot here to inform how we try to bridge differences today in a culture that is often very divided.
