Culture

If you're thinking about joining or starting an intentional community then you're already a culture critic. Whether you've got a niggling sense that something needs to change or a thirteen-volume manifesto, your critical apparatus (or lack thereof) is going to have to hold up in the same arena, the messy political middle ground we call compromise where people come together to bring their dreams into reality, to build culture in the form of community. But before you can go about building a community, let alone a culture, here are some general considerations that will help you frame the discussion.

What is Culture?

Sorry to disappoint you, but even the social scientists have yet to nail down a definition of culture. It's clear at first glance - culture is the collective language, beliefs and practices of a given community. Every intentional community is hoping the change culture...intentionally. But if you want to change culture, where do you intervene? How much of the world you're coming from do you want to preserve? Is it even possible to isolate the problem areas? Or is your vision so radical that your only option is to strike out for the wilderness and start over?

These are some of the questions looming over every community project, and CiaB can't even begin to answer them for you. But we can set out some of the largest signposts in the discussion.

Counterculture: Conformity vs Disruption // Revisionism vs Revolution

If you want your community to differ substantially from the mainstream, to be part of a counterculture, then there is a hard reality you have to accept:

The more you differ from the mainstream, the harder it will be to get mainstream institutions to work with you.

Like it or not, you are going to need to stay on good-enough terms with certain mainstream institutions. If you want the community to have major infrastructure (land, buildings, vehicles) that are in the community's name, then you need to incorporate, open bank accounts, establish credit, get permits, pass inspections, pay taxes, obey relevant laws, and not piss the neighbors off too royally. And you

Other communities can be a life-saving resource, but again, the more you differ from the them, the less helpful they will be. And just because you think that your politics are aligned with another community's doesn't mean they agree. While cooperation is common in the world of community, so is factionalism. Forging connections with communities you hope will help you is crucial from the very beginning.

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Redundancy - how aspects of culture are often reinforced from multiple angles, ex. economic, linguistic, institutional, psychological, etc. How wanting to establish a particular outcome often requires intervention at multiple levels

Utopianism - whether or not you think of your dreams as utopian, you should know what the word means and have a response to the all-too-common write-off of your project as 'another doomed utopianism'

Isolationist vs Activist // Lifeboat vs Spaceship - where do you need to be to achieve your goals? are you rescuing/protecting a select few or are you trying to actively change the dominant culture?