Recent changes

adopted by successive governments, designed to build ‘community capacity’, ‘active citizenship’ and ‘collective resilience’, as well as to support ‘community engagement’ or ‘social enterprise/investment’ for addressing persistent local problems.

Recent changes

Global inequalities continue to rise, and progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals has stalled. Action is certainly much needed after a tumultuous period of increased destitution, polarisation and most recently the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic that has convulsed lives and livelihoods on an unprecedented scale. The negative effects of the pandemic, and consequent economic recession, have fallen disproportionately on women, Black and minority ethnic communities, young people and disabled people. Widespread hardship and uncertainty have generated stress and fuelled social tensions. Successive clampdowns on social interactions have had drastic effects for millions of people, causing unwanted social isolation and stifling many aspects of community life. But we have adapted to online networking, using different technologies to stay in touch, organise meetings and social activities to maintain groups, make decisions and access learning. The internet has enabled rapid access to reputable sources of knowledge and increased global solidarity and co-operation, potentially widening the scope of community development to combat the spread of misinformation and divisive conspiracy theories.

Awareness of the impact of globalisation is also reflected in widespread recognition that climate catastrophe could be imminent. Communities across the world are responding with innovative schemes to generate renewable energy, cut down waste and pollution, protect the habitats of endangered species and combat the complacency of politicians.

Ingrained inequalities have widened over recent years (Dorling, 2018) due to the long-term impact of austerity, and have been further exacerbated by the economic downturn induced by the pandemic and the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union. Notwithstanding the stark realities of income differentials and the seeming impregnability of super-rich elites, advances have been made on other fronts. Recent

years have witnessed a growing acceptance of diversity and more nuanced debates about the mutability of identity politics, particularly with regard to intersectionality and transgender issues (Morgan et al, 2020). We have been learning from much-needed discussion about the complicated nature of ‘race’ and the cumulative effect of unacknowledged privilege in people’s lives (Bhopal, 2018). Public conversations are more relaxed and better informed, with ideas from queer theory and anti-colonialist struggles infiltrating mainstream discourses. There is greater recognition of the systemic interplay between structural disparities, institutional discrimination and the unconscious stereotypes that are woven into the fabric of everyday life (Eddo-Lodge, 2017).

Nonetheless, the upheavals of recent years have left many people feeling insecure. While some embrace the cosmopolitan tide of different ethnicities, aspiring to notions of global citizenship and universal solidarity, others yearn for the ‘good old days’ of traditional communities and a stable, homogenous society. Generalised discontent, floating anxieties and resentments in significant parts of the population have focused on the establishment in the guise of elected politicians, elites and experts. In the UK discord lingers between ‘remainers’ and ‘leavers’ in the aftermath of Brexit, fuelled by xenophobia and the incitement of so-called ‘culture wars’ that distort debate and ferment mutual suspicion. Disgruntlement has festered over how the different parts of the UK have fared with respect both to Brexit and the pandemic. Populism and corruption are advancing in several countries, undermining democratic governance and posing a threat to governing structures and social stability (Kenny et al, 2021).

Luckily, these tendencies to blame and shame (O’Hara, 2020), to ‘divide and rule’ and to condemn outsiders are countered by currents flowing in the opposite direction. An epidemic of loneliness is being met with a surge in kindness, with assorted lockdown ‘bubbles’ forcing an acknowledgement of non-nuclear, non-traditional families. Awful as the coronavirus emergency has been (and we shouldn’t downplay some of the social schisms that appeared), many of us have been stirred to think beyond our immediate household to express collective responsibility and heed public health guidance. As we will