Ties, Nets and an Elastic Bund: Community in the Postmodern City

This article attempts to clarify some of the many value-laden meanings of community found in the discourses of politics and community work in Britain in the 1990s. It examines some historical developments in society and sociological understandings of community down to present ‘postmodern’ times, majoring on the concepts of Gemeinschaft, Gesellschaft & Bund and the insights of community studies. Finally the paper will seek to set the notion and practice of community work within a value system derived from the Judaeo-Christian tradition, and to spell out the implications for community work in urban Britain at the end of the 20th century.