Faith in community and communities of faith? government rhetoric and religious identity in Urban Britain
Faith in community and communities of faith? government rhetoric and religious identity in Urban Britain
复制标题
对社区和信仰社区的信仰？
DOI：
10.1080/1353790042000207700
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发表时间：
2004
影响因子：
1
通讯作者：
Greg Smith
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Greg Smith
本文在英国城市地区宗教多样性的背景下，考察了社区的概念及其周围的话语。社会学在研究、解构和有时拒绝“社区”一词的有用性方面有着悠久的历史，许多学者在后现代性的背景下更喜欢谈论身份形成和网络的过程。信仰归属扮演重要角色的身份建构可能正变得越来越普遍，也越来越具有政治意义。然而，一个关于宗教、社区、种族和身份之间关系的综合理论仍有待发展，本文尝试了一些试探性的第一步。在寻找“感觉良好”的术语时，英国等民主国家的政治家经常求助于社区语言，而且还在继续这样做。面对管理地方冲突和提供响应用户需求的服务的任务，当代政府越来越多地采用社区主义立场和社会资本的语言。近年来，在英国，宗教已经上升到政治议程上，围绕“信仰社区”概念的官方话语和政策倡议已经出现。新工党政府确实对社区充满信心，并试图将有信仰的社区纳入其“计划”。然而，对于信仰团体的概念或构成这个短语的两个词是否有一个连贯的理解，还远不清楚。人们可能会质疑政府的话语是否与当代城市中发现的主要信仰传统中对社区和身份的理解产生共鸣。对伦敦和其他英国城市中一些“信仰社区”不断变化和相互冲突的身份的一些官方话语的研究表明，英国政府目前对宗教多样性的简单处理方法是政策制定的不充分基础。
This paper examines the concept of community and the discourse around it in the context of the religious diversity in urban areas in England. Sociology has a long history of working with, deconstructing, and at times rejecting the usefulness of the term ‘community’ and many scholars have in the context of postmodernity preferred to talk about processes of identity formation and networking. Constructions of identity in which faith affiliation plays a salient role are probably becoming more common and more politically significant. However, an integrated theory of the relationship between religion, community, ethnicity, and identity remains to be developed and this paper attempts some tentative first steps. In their search for ‘feel good’ terminology, politicians in democracies such as the UK have often turned to the language of community and continue to do so. Faced with the task of managing local conflicts and delivering services which are responsive to the demands of users, contemporary governments have increasingly adopted communitarian positions and the language of social capital. In recent years in the UK, religion has moved up the political agenda and an official discourse and policy initiatives structured around the notion of ‘faith communities’ have emerged. The New Labour government has indeed put its faith in community and sought to co‐opt communities of faith into its ‘project’. However, it is far from clear that there is a coherent understanding of the notion of faith community or of the two words that make up the phrase. One may question whether the government discourse resonates with the understandings of community and identity in the major faith traditions found in the contemporary city. An examination of some of the official discourse set alongside the changing and conflicting identities of some ‘faith communities’ in London and other British cities suggests that the British State's current simplistic approach to engaging with religious diversity is an inadequate basis for policy development.