Title:
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Community as a documentary reality : a case study of Newtown South Aston, Birmingham
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This thesis is a three part investigation into the methodological assumptions employed by
professionals undertaking profiles of `community'. It is based on a case study of Newtown
South Aston in Birmingham, an area awarded City Challenge funding in 1992. Part one
addresses theoretical issues. It looks at the methodological framework of community theorising
and argues that there is a paradigmatic crisis in the study and definition of community. Part
two then summarises much of the documentary evidence collected and analysed in the course
of this research.I t asks the key question-: "What assumptions are made in order to produce
accounts of community?". These assumption are identified as is the type of evidence used to
describe the area. It is suggested that the content of documents relating to Newtown South
Aston were directly influenced the regeneration programme. The significant `source' document is identified and is subjected to a rhetorical analysis. It is concluded that the organisations
working in Newtown South Aston are playing a rhetorical game, using core assumptions and
ideas about `what community is' and `what community development' is in order to gain
funding. The thesis then turns its attention to answering the question-: "What might the
implications of these assumptions be? ". Using Winstanley's Stakeholder Power Matrix, the
rhetoric of empowerment in the `source' document is put to the test. It is concluded that
rhetoric is not matched in reality. It is proposed that in fact there is a `short-circuiting' of the
theory and understanding of `community'. Part two concludes that the paradigmatic crisis in
the theoretical literature is being matched in `real life'. The final part of this thesis presents a
new paradigmatic framework for the understanding of community. Using the argument
presented in Alan Macfarlane's "The Origins Of English Individualism" it is suggested that the
concept of community has been misunderstood by many contemporary sociologists. It is
concluded that the concept of community must be revisited in light of this argument. Finally
attention is turned to identifying the relevance this thesis has for the information profession.
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