The Quest For Community
In the fight against COVID-19, we have seen nations employ varying approaches that shed light on the role of the State, the individual, and communities in different societies. Some responses are agreeable, and others questionable. All, however, highlight the deeper complexities underpinning these relationships.
American sociologist Robert Nisbet’s The Quest for Community provides a framework for understanding the intricacies and tensions between central government, the rise of individualism, and the decline of community. Throughout the book, we get glimpses of Nisbet’s observations of what was happening throughout communities in the Western world, particularly the looming threats of totalitarianism and socialism.
“The quest for community will not be denied, for it springs from some of the powerful needs of human nature.”