Community\" Is \"Under Attack From Both Political

¶ … community" is "under attack from both political and ideological processes," including postmodernism and globalization (Burkett, 2001, p. 233). At the same time, Burkett continues, there is in the literature / scholarship a new interest in how the idea of "community" fits into the changing world dynamics, including the possibility of placing of "community" in a more wholistic framework, which could open the door to new approaches to community development (233).

What is impressive about Burkett's research is the idea that in the future community should be thought of as a "verb" and not always looked at as a "noun." As a verb, community implies "action, process and change" and hence community is "not an object which can be 'lost' or 'found'" (237). The concept of "community development also needs to be reexamined and "reinvented," Burkett insists (243). That is because in the past, community development meant a World Bank investment (in which tight fiscal controls and changes were forced on recipients), or it meant something rigid and fixed -- sometimes even a "tool for colonizing agendas" -- rather than what Burkett calls a need to create "spaces for different voiced to be heard…" (242).

Donna Baines discusses the way in which relationships are developed -- and the importance for community workers to understand the various types of relationship, and why some are more fruitful than other in the community development context. Baines also writes at length about the systems through which community development workers interact, the roles played by professionals and community members, he ecological perspectives that go into relationship building, and the need for self-awareness within the context of cultural differences. This was an important essay by Baines because it touches on many aspects of how relationships are developed, and if the social worker isn't fully ready to embrace the need to be flexible when building relationships within culturally diverse communities, that worker will be ineffective.

In the chapter, "Perspectives on Community Development," Baines reviews a myriad of political perspectives (liberal, conservative, feminist, ecological, etc.); this review helps the reader understand the various dynamics at work during community development. Among the most important developments in any community is economic development, without which jobs and financial security -- and commercial viability -- are not on solid ground. There isn't space in this paper to review all of the theories and perspectives put forward, but the point is, those social workers in a community development project or program, should become familiar with every political and social movement within that community.

Continuing along the lines of Baines' description of how political ideology shapes community development, Module 3 delves into perspectives and relationship in community work and asks highly pertinent questions of prospective social workers along the way. Knowing how important social justice is, understanding what makes an effective community worker, and having an understanding that "community" is a verb, not a noun, is an important in Module 3. The personal and professional qualities needed in social work include: intelligence; education; empathy; an understanding of cultural differences and perspectives; an ability to build relationships from the ground floor up; a strong sense of the need for social justice.