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Evolution of Community and the Dissolution of Traditional Community
INTRODUCTION:
Traditional notions of community have been subject to an increasing amount of scrutiny as we have evolved from an industrial to post-industrial and modern to postmodern society. These profound societal transformations have had far reaching effects with regards to how we view ourselves as individuals in an ever-changing world; and more importantly where we view ourselves in the context of our communities. With the goal of progress as one of the basic tenets of Western society since the onset of the industrial revolution, we have been pushed at a rate faster than any before to adapt and assimilate new and profoundly consequential technologies into our everyday existence. Ultimately this has resulted in the present day phenomenon of post modernism. However, post modernism is not something we just happened upon, rather it has evolved as a result of technological innovation and the overall societal responses to such. A distinct process of historical evolution has taken place and brought us to where we are today. In order to more fully understand what this has meant in terms of community it is necessary to look at community in historical perspective.
DEFINING COMMUNITY:
The definition of community has undoubtedly changed over time. Traditionally however the word has been associated with a nostalgia for the "good life," connoting an almost romantic and surreal aura. Instinctively people will revert to images the past, small town U.S.A. and its glory days. This is likely because as modern day individuals (or maybe more appropriately postmodern day) we have come to realize that no longer is this an accurate illustration of our communal experience. Regardless how much we may long for it, the familial sense of community that once existed in our nations past is dissipating. This can be largely attributed to our dire pursuit of modernization, and hence urbanization, technological innovation and so on. Small town U.S.A. is indeed becoming a phenomenon before our very eyes and much to our dismay all we can do is sit by and watch. The forces of evil (or is that progress) have reached beyond our control and have mercilessly sent us on a downward spiral into uncertain oblivion (or is that suburbia?).
In its most basic sense community can be defined as, "a group of people living together as a smaller social unit within a larger one, having interests, work, etc. in common"(Wesbsters New World Dictionary). Aside from this however the definition of community has been under a constant barrage of construction and deconstruction with varying emphasis on geography, intensity of relationships, type of interaction and so on. In talking about a more authentic community. Thomas Bender states that community also entails, "shared understandings and a sense of obligation. Relationships are close, often intimate, and usually face to face. There is a "we-ness" in a community"(Bender, p.7). It is this understanding of community that will largely characterize the first phase in the evolution of community, or the pre-industrial phase.
MAKING HISTORY: COMMUNITY IN PERSPECTIVE
1. PRE-INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Up until the emergence of the Industrial Revolution, community in America was relatively stagnant in character. Primarily based on family/kinship ties and thus common locale, community was highly homogeneous and based on isolated individual units, both socially and economically (Bender, p.13). Also characteristic of these communities was a common underlying ideology with regards to religion and politics, this being a result of the overall familial nature of the community. However as time went on and options of increased mobility emerged, the isolationist character of communities began to gradually dissolve making more acceptable the option of migration. Individuals now had the opportunity to seek greater personal fulfillment, but in doing so they threatened the age old foundations which community had been built upon. The result was social change. Society was forced to accommodate this new migratory phenomenon, but without the complete dissolution of community as they had known it. What emerged was a new form of community; one divided up into neighborhoods, but still constituting what is by and large considered a traditional community. Also resulting from this trend was the first signs of development of major cosmopolitan centers. It is important to note however that even throughout these sizable transformations, community on the whole remained relatively close-knit, personable, locale based and homogeneous in character.
2. THE INDUSTRIALIZATION OF AMERICA: the question of modernity at the turn of the 20th century
The advent of the Industrial Revolution in American society brought with it seemingly catastrophic changes with regards to the traditionally held notions of community. Although locality remained a significant factor in ones identification with their community, it was no longer the bench marker from which they defined it. What served to most radically alter prior notions of community was the emergence of the market based economy, this being a result of the intense industrialization undertaken by government and society. "Different cultural groups within American society made the shift from the so-called premodern moral economy to a modern market orientation..."(Bender, p.113). The most immediate result of this giant leap was to pose challenge to the traditionally held role of the "community as a foundation for social order"(Bender, p.24).
Survival in a capitalist economy necessitates increased competition in all realms of public life. As capitalism grounded itself in the collective conscious of the American people; interactions between people, whether worker or manager, became increasingly self interested. Capitalism became the new Social Darwinism as competition began to dictate public discourse and interaction. Now more than ever before was the identity of the individual placed at the forefront of concern, causing the individual to struggle with the question of where their loyalties truly lied; with their community or their self interest. "Public activities were increasingly undertaken in the same spirit as market activity; notions of rationality, individual interest, functionalism, and impersonality were equally characteristic of the market and of public activity generally in the developing bifurcated society"(Bender, p.114).
Essentially what this meant was the need for a new definition of community; one that placed greater emphasis on the non familial factors acting within ones community and thus removing the restrictive air previously associated with it (i.e.. professional relationships and communities based on common interest rather than common history, tradition and memory).
3. MODERN AMERICA: privatization and the move to the suburbs
Accompanying the movement for the mass industrialization of society was the emergence of a new nation wide ideal; the steady push for progress to further future development and innovation, hence modernization, for the betterment of all society. 
Although at its conception this goal seemed a rational and highly beneficial step for all of mankind; the far reaching consequences that have emerged suggest a less blatantly optimistic picture. The industrialization of America (and hence the emergence of the market economy/capitalism) has both directly and indirectly resulted in the creation of a highly individualistic focused society. The mechanization of work, increased automation through advancement in transportation means (resulting in increased geographic mobility), and more recently, the extensive developments in communications technology (i.e. mass media) have all engendered the changing focus of community (both physically and ideologically). However, it is important to note that although technological innovation served to lower the barriers posed by distance and time, they did not eliminate them. "Places are still distinguished by the distances that separate them from other places. These distances pose costs to individuals in developing and maintaining social relations"(Fischer, p.186).
Starting in the 1950's there emerged a migratory trend within the U.S. to the suburbs. Suburbia was born, and like an infectious disease spread like wild fire breaking down the traditionally held notions of community in small town America. Mainly this was a phenomenon of the working, middle class for it was they, who were in many ways, most immediately affected by the market oriented economy (i.e. the working class struggle). The "burbs" were a new haven of hope for the average working class American family. 
In a seemingly contradictory way they fostered a new sense of community identification. Although at their epitome they were no more than several acres of manufactured homes with an economy sized play ground every few blocs; they still represented a new step in the direction of reclaiming and hence reenacting the nostalgia of small town America. As the suburbs developed and transformed into actual networks of families and individuals there emerged a growing sense of stability and coherence within. Thus while society itself was experiencing increasing fragmentation and dislocation, individuals were seeking rapprochement (whether conscious or not) through their shared sense of alienation. What unfolded was suburbia U.S.A.. Although intrinsically the suburbs are a far cry from community as we would like to think it, they do in fact constitute a significant moment in the history of community in the modern era.
In terms of community this has far reaching consequences, especially in understanding community (or the lack thereof) in postmodern society today. In an effort to revitalize community a mass migration movement to the suburbs by predominantly white, middle-class Americans was undertaken. This move to urban centers was largely due the increased centralization (in all realms of society) fundamental to modernist thought. Ultimately this represented a grave attempt at reconstructing community in the framework of modernity, which with all its promises continued to ware away at the shared sense of cohesion and familiarity common to pre-industrial society. As stated by Peter Berger,
A central feature in the modern world is technological production. [and the] ...principal cause of everything connected with modernization--[is the] transformation of the world by technology. ...Technology engendered higher economic living standards, which in turn with the general dissolution of commonly held belief, encouraged a new kind of individualism. (Rose, part 1).
It is this individualism that we hold so dear in Western culture that has ultimately fostered the trend from cohesion to fragmentation in our society, as is becoming increasingly evident with the rise of postmodernity.
4. THE CHALLENGE OF POST MODERNITY
Since the decade of the 1950's, society and hence community in America has taken another drastic turn. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution came also a ruthless push for technological innovation. From the 1890's until the early 1920's life in America was full of excitement as people sought to defy, and then redefine, the previously charted borders known to man. Both the public and private persona of the average American was under the strain of constant transformation as new innovations and advancements flooded into their lives, making the world both larger and smaller than ever before imagined. The automation of industry challenged the long held notions of work and family in the U.S. leaving many displaced and disillusioned. What resulted was cataclysmic and ultimately served to dismantle the traditional patterns of everyday life. Mass communication systems unfolded and automation peaked, indiscriminately conquering the world (or at least the American public), and once again posing challenge to traditionally held norms and conduct in community life.
The technological era unfolded, mercilessly spreading its wings of change and taking no remorse for those who were not yet prepared to confront its challenge nor its ubiquitous glory. Underneath all its glory however churned something not so glorious. As time went on the new and previously inaccessible innovations of the day became increasingly available to the average man, woman or family. The overall hype surrounding the latest technology began to subside. Of course since this time, there has been and will continue to be, an ever-present force pushing for bigger and better in the realm of technology; but also there has been a conscious recoiling within society. As the realm of technologies potential continues to grow, playing even greater roles in our daily lives, there emerges (and to no surprise) feelings of alienation, dehumanization. According to Berger,
...modern technological production brings about an anonymity in the area of social relations...This anonymity carries with it a constant threat of anomie. The individual is threatened not only by meaninglessness in the world of his work, but also by the loss of meaning in wide sectors of his relations with other people (Rose, part 1).
It is the emergence of these feelings (these being the result of the instabilities accompanying our market based economy and the increased role of technology, which have both in turn necessitated the highly individualistic nature of society) that has caused one, the fragmentation of society across all lines, and thus two, the dissolution of both "traditional" and urban community within postmodern society.
Moving into the postmodern age, where fragmentation and efficiency rule, traditional conceptions of community, while perhaps desirable, may perhaps no longer be feasible. ...the dislocation of social relations, the victory of individualism over societal concerns, the increasing (millennial?) ennui and anomie, stress, and information overload, all portend a change for society; a new definition of community may be needed (Rose, part 1).
It is in this context (the postmodern age) that we seek to find a working definition of community; one that is applicable to the ever-changing dynamics present in our society, and free from the illusive nostalgia that seems to do nothing than leave us more disheartened and alienated in an era already defined by such bleak characteristics. Although it is true that we are experiencing a dissolution of "traditional community", we are not in fact experiencing the dissolution of all community. Postmodernity has ultimately necessitated a search for new forms of community. What kind of communities will these be? More importantly, will or can they be built around the alienation and fragmentation so inherent to the postmodern reality?
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