Communities in context: undefinitions, multiplicity and cultural difference

Abstract

After showing the plurality of notions of community, which inhabit the discipline, it is argued that theorisation on the concept of community needs to acknowledge and include the complexity encountered by psychologists in their community practices. Thus, departing from a representational logic, and resting on some empirical considerations, the paper will explore: a) the contextual diversity of meanings of community; b) the sometimes fractured, diverse character of communities, with blurred and variable limits and changing and contested identities: c) communities’ relational character, constructed through historical contexts and local practices -including community psychologists’ own perspectives. Moreover, it is argued that dialogic relations between members and non-members, and capturing the meaning of everyday situations, are good ways of making sense of identities and concepts of community, which can be used strategically by the community, in order to produce social changes.