Editing Communitarianism (section)

== Origins ==
While the term communitarian was coined only in the mid-nineteenth century, ideas that are communitarian in nature appeared much earlier. They are found in some classical socialist doctrines (e.g. writings about the early commune and about workers' solidarity), and further back in the [[New Testament]]. Communitarianism has been traced back to early [[monasticism]].

A number of early sociologists had strongly communitarian elements in their work, such as [[Ferdinand Tönnies]] in his comparison of [[Gemeinschaft]] (oppressive but nurturing communities) and Gesellschaft (liberating but impersonal societies), and [[Emile Durkheim]]'s concerns about the integrating role of social values and the relations between the individual and society. Both authors warned of the dangers of [[anomie]] (normlessness) and alienation in modern societies composed of atomized individuals who had gained their liberty but lost their social moorings.  Modern sociologists saw the rise of mass society and the decline of communal bonds and respect for traditional values and authority in the United States as of the 1960s. Among those who raised these issues were Robert Nisbet (Twilight of Authority),<ref>Nisbet, Robert, Twilight of Authority. Indianapolis: LibertyFund, 1975.</ref> [[Robert N. Bellah]] ''Habits of the Heart'',<ref>Bellah, Robert N., Habits of the Heart, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1985.</ref> and Alan Ehrenhalt (The Lost City: The Forgotten Virtues Of Community In America).<ref>Ehrenhalt Ehrenhalt, Alan, The Lost City: The Forgotten Virtues Of Community In America. New York: BasicBooks, 1995.</ref> In his book Bowling Alone (2000), Robert Putnam documented the decline of "social capital" and stressed the importance of "bridging social capital," in which bonds of connectedness are formed across diverse social groups.<ref name=":2">Putnam, Robert D., Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000.</ref>

In the twentieth century communitarianism also began to be formulated as a philosophy by [[Dorothy Day]] and the [[Catholic Worker movement]]. In an early article the ''Catholic Worker'' clarified the dogma of the Mystical Body of Christ as the basis for the movement's communitarianism.<ref>David E. Walker [http://www.catholicworkeraustin.org/cw_movement.html "The Catholic Worker Movement,"] ''Mary House Catholic Worker of Austin''.  Retrieved 2019-12-13</ref> Along similar lines, communitarianism is also related to the [[personalist]] philosophy of [[Emmanuel Mounier]].

Responding to criticism that the term 'community' is too vague or cannot be defined, [[Amitai Etzioni]], one of the leaders of the American communitarian movement, pointed out that communities can be defined with reasonable precision as having two characteristics: first, a web of affect-laden relationships among a group of individuals, relationships that often crisscross and reinforce one another (as opposed to one-on-one or chain-like individual relationships); and second, a measure of commitment to a set of shared values, norms, and meanings, and a shared history and identity – in short, a particular culture.<ref name=":0">Beckert, Jen. "Communitarianism." International Encyclopedia of Economic Sociology. London: Routledge, 2006. 81.</ref> Further, author David E. Pearson argued that "[t]o earn the appellation 'community,' it seems to me, groups must be able to exert moral suasion and extract a measure of compliance from their members. That is, communities are necessarily, indeed, by definition, coercive as well as moral, threatening their members with the stick of sanctions if they stray, offering them the carrot of certainty and stability if they don't."<ref name=":0" />

What is specifically meant by "community" in the context of communitarianism can vary greatly between authors and periods. Historically, communities have been small and localized. However, as the reach of economic and technological forces extended, more expansive communities became necessary to provide effective normative and political guidance to these forces, prompting the rise of national communities in Europe in the 17th century. Since the late 20th century there has been some growing recognition that the scope of even these communities is too limited, as many challenges that people now face, such as the threat of nuclear war and that of global environmental degradation and economic crises, cannot be handled on a national basis. This has led to the quest for more encompassing communities, such as the [[European Union]]. Whether truly supra-national communities can be developed is far from clear.

More modern communities can take many different forms, but are often limited in scope and reach. For example, members of one residential community are often also members of other communities – such as work, ethnic, or religious ones. As a result, modern community members have multiple sources of attachments, and if one threatens to become overwhelming, individuals will often pull back and turn to another community for their attachments. Thus, communitarianism is the reaction of some intellectuals to the problems of Western society, an attempt to find flexible forms of balance between the individual and society, the autonomy of the individual and the interests of the community, between the common good and freedom, rights, and duties.<ref>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://link-springer-com-443.webvpn.jmu.edu.cn/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-658-16864-3_37-1.pdf | doi=10.1007/978-3-658-16864-3_37-1 | chapter=Communitarianism: A Historical Overview | title=Handbuch Kommunitarismus | year=2018 | last1=Etzioni | first1=Amitai | pages=1–27 | isbn=978-3-658-16864-3 | access-date=2023-02-19 | archive-date=2020-07-09 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200709145532/https://link-springer-com-443.webvpn.jmu.edu.cn/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-658-16864-3_37-1.pdf }}</ref><ref name="britannica.com">{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/communitarianism/A-synthesis-Rights-and-responsibilities | title=Communitarianism – A synthesis: Rights and responsibilities &#124; Britannica }}</ref>