Community
The Structure of Belonging
By: Peter Block
Published: May 1, 2008
ISBN: 9781576754870
Format: Hardcover, 216pp
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Pub
Community offers the promise of belonging and calls for us to acknowledge our interdependence, writes Peter Block in his landmark book
Community: The Structure of Belonging. Understanding the sense of isolation that grips many members of a fragmenting community, Peter Block offers a positive and practical grassroots based solution for building on a community's existing strengths, for a stronger tomorrow.
Peter Block challenges the existing paradigms surrounding community building, whether it's the size of a local neighbourhood, an entire city, or even on a national or global scale. Instead of looking at community, and seeing the best of all possible worlds, the author's experienced eye recognizes possibilities for a brighter future. At the same time, Peter Block doesn't accept the status quo and the conventional wisdom surrounding leadership and change. Marginalized members of communities should be recognized and welcomed, for the abundant and unrecognized gifts and talents they bring to a community, instead of labeled for their alleged deficiencies.
Peter Block (photo left) presents a practical alternative to the current retribution and entitlement based society. He recognizes that the mainstream belief system is limiting in its approach and in its outlook for the future. In its place, Peter Block offers a community based system that places emphasis on empowering citizens to implement change based on inclusiveness and accountability.
No longer is it enough to leave communities stuck in treating the symptoms of community breakdown. In its place, the author proposes a solution that restores the language of healing, belonging, and relatedness to the conversation. In this paradigm, the individual chooses accountability and personal responsibility for the community instead of having only a sense of entitlement.
For me, the power of the book is its positive and practical message for community building, through personal empowerment. Peter Block shares ideas and techniques for building a community based on inclusiveness, and the understanding that every member of that formerly fragmented society possesses unique gifts and talents.
Instead of concentrating on what a person or the community supposedly lacks, Peter Block recognizes that the supposedly apparent problems, are only symptoms of the deeper issue of the breakdown of the community. The book offers ideas for healing and rebuilding the community into a healthy society by getting the right people together in the right way.
I highly recommend the powerful and empowering
Community: The Structure of Belonging by Peter Block, to anyone who is serious about community redevelopment through personal empowerment and accountability. The book is for anyone who is willing to take the leap of faith beyond dependence on politicians and traditional leaders, and build their own community that recognizes the human value and contribution of all of its residents.
Read
Community: The Structure of Belonging by Peter Block, and instead of seeing problems and deficiencies, you will recognize potential, and opportunities for transformation to a restorative society of belonging, based on possibilities, generosity, and gifts.
