Cultivating Community Self‐Help in Deprived Urban Neighborhoods

Bibliographic Data

ID12765713
AuthorsColin C Williams (0000-0002-3610-1933, University of Leicester, corresponding author)
Year2005
Volume4
Issue2
Pages171-188
Publication date2005-05-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCity and Community (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1535-6841 • E-ISSN: 1540-6040
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1111/j.1540-6040.2005.00110.x
OpenAlexW2050665671
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited21

Attempts to nurture community self‐help in deprived urban neighborhoods currently follow the “third sector” route of developing existing community‐based groups. Here, the implications and legitimacy of pursuing this public policy approach in relation to British deprived urban neighborhoods are evaluated critically. Analyzing both secondary data from government surveys and primary data from 400 face‐to‐face interviews, I here find that such a policy approach imposes onto deprived neighborhoods a relatively foreign culture of engagement more characteristic of affluent areas. Identifying how the participatory culture in deprived neighborhoods is more oriented toward engagement in one‐to‐one reciprocal aid (i.e., informal community self‐help) rather than participation in groups (i.e., formal community self‐help), and that some form of payment is more often than not involved, a call is made for public policy to recognize the predominance of this form of community self‐help in deprived populations and to pursue policy initiatives that seek to nurture it. How this might be achieved is then outlined

Citizen journalism · Economic growth · Economics · Face (sociological concept · Government (linguistics · Legitimacy · Nature versus nurture · Political science · Politics · Public policy · Public relations · Social science · Sociology · Homelessness and Social Issues · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Social Capital and Networks

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