This paper explores the effects of the
automobile, television, and air conditioning on community life.
It emphasizes how strongly we have become attached to the
technologies without actually apprehending the way those
technologies are destroying community life and making social
life difficult. The study provides a brief exploration of
community theory and an analysis of the process of community
“de-development” through a combination of technologies and
explores the impact of the technologies on communities as a
whole, as well as, the families and individuals within them.
Introduction
In the South, we still find porches. Porches
which once had people on them, but now they have empty rocking
chairs. The chairs are relics of bygone communities. Oh people
"live" in the houses and interact somewhat, but the very life
has been sucked out of the communities. This is a tragedy
beyond what words can convey because while the life has been
sucked out of communities, the life has also been sucked out of
families as well. Ultimately, we humans shall receive no
sustenance from them. The communities die and their members are
absorbed into new structures. The new structures are no longer
autonomous; they are primarily organized to provide energy for
larger structures. They have been transformed from autonomous
active social organizations to primarily residential and
laboring units for the larger society. These reservoirs of
labor are fed, clothed, sheltered, and nurtured from outside.
Food, clothing, shelter, and therapies are generated from
without the communities. The communities no longer generate
their rules, nor do they actively maintain the norms. When
norms are broken, the infractions are reported to agencies of
the greater social order. These agencies of the greater social
order are responsible for exacting compliance with the rules of
law. The informal rules of morality are less important than the
rules of law because communities no longer generate the rules of
morality and the rules that are generated are generated by those
without the practical experiences of those within the
“communities.”
Etzioni asserts that communities have lost their
moral voices. In his view, “our society is suffering from a
severe case of deficient we-ness and the values only communities
can properly uphold; restoring communities and their moral voice
is what our current conditions require” (Etzioni, 1993:26). Etzioni is correct in his observation that communities no longer
have moral voices, or any voices at all. He is also correct in his
observation that “if we care about attaining a higher level of
moral conduct than we now experience, we must be ready to
express our moral sense, raise our moral voice a decibel or two”
(Etzioni, 1993:36). But Etzioni is unclear about what makes a
moral voice of a community possible. He is unclear about what
is required to make a community and what factors are actually
making community life impossible. It is not sufficient to
insist on a moral voice, many others (for example, Jerry Falwell,
1992) have made impassioned pleas to return to morality. The
key question is whether or not it is possible to return to
morality when the present conditions have led to a lack of
morality. Obviously, it is not simply an act of will that will
return the moral voice of communities. What is necessary is an
understanding of the mechanisms of community life. Such
understanding will reveal the problems and suggest solutions.
How did this abandonment of communities
happen? Why doesn't someone do something to change this
deplorable situation? Subsequently, I shall describe how
communities lost their liveliness, but for now it is necessary
to say a few words about why people do nothing to change the
situations.
We have been sold a bill of goods about
progress. We think that progress will always better our lives.
We have also associated changes in technology with progress and
consequently, we have associated changes in technology with
improvements in the quality of our lives. We have gone along
with technological changes that have been harmful to our
families, our communities, and us.
There are at least three technological
developments that we must take note of because they have had
deleterious and malignant effects on our communities and the
quality of our lives as human beings. I'll admit that these
technologies have also brought with them certain benefits, but
if we weigh the benefits versus the costs, we will find that the
benefits are small relative to the enormous costs we have
consented to in the name of progress. The three malignant
technologies are the automobile, air conditioning, and
television. All three of these technologies have histories
beginning early in the twentieth century, but each one came into
their own in the 1960s. Let us see how these technologies have
impacted our lives. Before examining these technologies, let us
review an important theory of community. We do this so that we
may assess the impact of these technologies on residential
communities. It is necessary to engage in a thought experiment
with communities to see how they operate.
The Definition of Community
Community in its everyday sense is primarily a
category that has a number of divergent meanings associated
with it. A community can be a small autonomous group, which
would be close to the meaning of the term society as defined in
this paper. It could be a large subordinate group such as an
ethnic group confined to a ghetto. It could also refer to a
sprawling suburban neighborhood with few of the characteristics
of a community as it is viewed here. Thus, a community, in its
everyday sense, need not be an autonomous group with solidarity.
Nevertheless, some “communities” are social organizations, i.e.,
there are some things that are referred to as “communities” that
are subsystems of societies. There are also some communities
that are very small but are isolated from other communities and
therefore function as societies.
There is a problem with making society the
central theoretical concern in sociology. It is a problem that
results from a convention of Germanic origins polarizing
"social" reality into two fundamental forms: “community” and
"society." In this way "society" is a category meaning an
impersonal and formal organization pursuing its assigned
purposes with a marked concern for efficient operation, and
"community" is a category describing a relatively small group
with informal ties among its members. This
conception of "community" coincides with the conception of a
reality I refer to as a society and the conception of “society”
as an impersonal and formal organization coincides with the
conception of social reality as a polity. A polity should not
be viewed as a type of social reality at all because it is
structured and functions on the basis of a different principle
from that of a community or society.
I have chosen to refer to this form of
organization as a polity because it is the type of organization
used in governmental activities; it is a usage that coincides
with the Latin term politia and the Greek term
politeia. A polity is organized hierarchically on the
principle of authority, i.e., the lowest level of the hierarchy
lacking all authority and the highest level being the source of
all authority. It is an organization designed for a specific
purpose, controlled by its progenitors who authorized its
generation, and concerned only with attaining the purpose or
purposes for which it was designed.
The origins of such an organization are
political, not social. Therefore, the generic term should be
polity, not society. Polity is the central theoretical object
for a political science, not sociology. In this way both
society and polity have a theoretical content that is only
isomorphic, not identical, with the empirically observed
phenomena captured in the conventional categories "community"
and "society." For the reasons given here and for those that
are developed in the body of this paper, I believe the
distinction between community and society conventionally used by
sociologists is inadequate, confusing, and theoretically
unfounded. It will not be used in this paper.
Therefore, community will have the technical
meaning of the term developed herein and above. When the term is
used in some other way or when its meaning is ambiguous, it will
be enclosed in quotation marks, viz., "community." A community
can be viewed as a special kind of society and we can define it
as a specific form of that generic reality society. I define
society as an autonomous group with solidarity, cohesion, or
togetherness. The technical definition for the term, community,
is an autonomous face-to-face group with solidarity, cohesion,
or togetherness. If we view community in this way, it is clear
that the primary mechanism of society must also apply to
community. In this way, the term community would be limited to
a very specific form of society. That specific form of society
turns out to be society’s most primitive form; all other forms
of society derive from it.
A Theory of
Community
The theory of
community used in this study is derived from Durkheim’s theory
of community developed in his study of The Division of Labor in
Society (Durkheim, 1997). For Durkheim community is identical
with society at an early point in its development. In his view,
society is a moral reality: it is morally superior to the
individual and provides the individual with direction and
focus. Because society initially is a single moral community,
Durkheim’s theory of mechanical solidarity is his theory of
community.
A Durkheimian
theory of community can be summarized in the following six
ideas:
(1)
The members of a community
are involved in regular and frequent face-to-face interaction
with one another. In the course of the interactions a
collective understanding of what is in the world and what should
be done with those things is built up (developed). This
collective understanding is referred to as a collective
conscience. The development of this collective understanding or
collective conscience is critical to the development and
maintenance of community. In a way, the community is able to
speak to its members. To do this, the community generates rules
for behavior that align the behavior of the individual with the
expected behavior of the group. Therefore, the actions
performed by the members of a community must reflect the
imperatives of the collective conscience of that community. A
community is able to exist because its members are able to act
and interact together as members of a community. The collective
conscience binds the individuals into a collective whole, i.e.,
a community. As such, the community is a moral reality and the
collective conscience is expressed through the continuous
actions and statements of its members.
(2)
As a moral reality, a
community binds its members into a group that acts through the
medium of a collective conscience. The conscience constrains the
behavior of its members to comply with the imperatives of the
group of which they are parts. Experiences are preserved in
things that represent the experiences, feelings, and sentiments
of the members of the community acting together. The
experiences are preserved in the things and representations of
things reflecting the experiences of the group. The experiences
of the individual members are integrated into the collective
experiences of the group through the interaction of group
members. In that way the things that are used to manipulate the
world, the feelings, and the sentiments for these things are
direct indicators of the contents of the collective
representations of the group’s experiences. The collective
conscience is composed of these collective experiences and is
therefore the sum total of the collective representations (the
“things” representing collective experience and feelings).
(3)
A community is possible
only because of the existence of these representations of
collective experiences and the collective feelings. Conscience
means the direct perception of the objects of the external world
from the alignment of individual perception with the perception
of the group, i.e., the group constrains the perception of the
individuals. Such perception is seen as possible only in group
life. The existence of a conscience demonstrates the commitment
of individuals to a common set of moral imperatives and a set of
understandings about what exists in the external world. That is
why Durkheim refers to community as a society with mechanical
solidarity.
(4)
A collective conscience is
composed of collective representations. Collective
representations are the vehicles through which a collective
perceives itself and the medium of social relations. Social
relations are only possible through collective representations.
And collective representations are only possible because of
shared experiences individuals have as members of a group.
Social relations among individuals are perceived through
collective representations. Relations among individuals that
are not mediated through collective representations are by
definition not social. Without collective representations,
there can be no communication between individuals with respect
to objects of experience, since the objects of experience are
perceptible only through media of collective sentiments.
(5)
Collective representations
are based on a set of common experiences that Durkheim refers to
as sentiments. These experiences and the representations of the
experiences are possible only through the existence of a
language. A language is the physical organization of collective
representations and perceptions of collective experience.
(6)
The collective conscience
is not perceived as the creator of social relations, but rather
the medium through which social relations are possible. The
collective conscience reflects the relations among individuals.
Therefore, social relations are created through the development
of a collective conscience; the collective conscience is then
the instrument of social relationships. Collective
representations are created and maintained through regular
face-to-face interaction; such interaction is essential for the
development of community. A failure to maintain regular
intimate interaction, i.e., a failure to share experiences and
feelings, will cause the extinction of collective
representations. When the collective representations disappear,
the collective conscience declines and the community is subject
to demise. Thus, if face-to-face interaction is not possible,
the community dissolves because it cannot act. Schutz describes
this well. He observes that
By cutting off the community of
space and time . . . the field within which the other’s
expressions manifest themselves and are open to interpretation
has been narrowed. The other’s personality is no longer
accessible as a unit; it has been broken down into pieces.
There is no longer the total experience of the beloved person,
his gestures, his way of walking and of speaking, of listening
and of doing things . . . . (Schutz, 1970:300-301) .
Using Durkheim’s
theory of community we can see that if something intervenes in
the maintenance of face-to-face interaction, it will cause a
decline in community. It is the assumption of this researcher
that various forms of technology interrupt the face-to-face
interaction of certain communities and destroy them. That which
was a community is transformed into a structure that has the
primary function of storing and restoring the energy for the
larger system. The automobile, air conditioning, and television
are particularly devastating to face-to-face interaction in
communities. Therefore, it is hypothesized that with the
increased use of such technologies, communities have to find
other ways of maintaining what Durkheim calls moral solidarity.
These new ways of maintaining solidarity may not maintain
community organization.
Engaged and Focused Interaction
The result of the invasion of the automobile in
residential communities is to make individual members
autonomous, i.e., free them from others in the communities.
Families are still able to exert some control, but the
communities no longer have a voice in the behavior of their
members; “community” members no longer share a common knowledge
of the world. The interaction among individuals and in relation
to community affairs is now much less frequent and intense than
before the automobile. The automobile severs the arena of
interaction. Face-to-face interactions within residential
communities become less frequent and more focused or
restricted. In fact, interactions both within and without
residential communities become more formal and more restricted.
It becomes physically more difficult to take part in
face-to-face interactions. This contrasts tremendously with
what might be called engaged interaction, i.e., open
interaction involving whole persons in ongoing face-to-face
relationships. In engaged interaction, the face-to-face
relations are frequent, intense, and global. Relations within
the communities involve engaged interactions and therefore are
face-to-face. In general, where social solidarity is strong the
interactions are engaged; the interactions are frequent and
intense (i.e., they persist over a long period of time).
Focused or restricted interaction is very specialized; it is
flaccid and usually requires only specific information and
behavior. Focused interactions are usually brief encounters
constrained by formal parameters. In fact, interactions both
within and without the residential communities become more
focused and more restricted. Physically it becomes more
difficult to be involved with face-to-face interactions.
The Automobile
Old communities involved a lot of
walking. Children walked to school, and elders walked downtown
for the mail and a cup of coffee. Most people weren’t
automobile dependent, and that made talking to neighbors easy.
There was usable civic space everywhere. Sidewalks and front
porches connected families. Public squares, parks with benches,
libraries, dance halls, churches, and community centers gave
people places to meet. Old communities organized around
reunions of all kinds—class reunions, ban reunions, club and
family reunions (Pipher: 1999:87).
In early communities, people had to walk almost
everywhere. In fact, if we go far enough back, we will find
that people walked everywhere. But walking has an important
consequence. When one comes upon another, one comes face to
face with the other. So, with walking there are a lot more
possibilities of face-to-face interaction. And in addition,
people talk, they touch, they laugh, they smile, they shout,
they tap and punch, etc. In short, people get to know one
another. People wave and usually see and know who is coming
toward their homes from a great distance. Everyone knows
everyone else and this knowledge is continuously being added to and
updated. This knowledge of one another extends over the
generations in these walking communities and people know
intimate details of the lives of all in their families and
communities.
There is another important consequence of
walking; one tends to walk out of necessity. So when one can
get along without walking, one stays at home. One sits outside
and interacts with the community in which one grows up.
The automobile changed a lot of that. And what
the automobile did not change, air conditioning and television
changed. With the automobile we can go wherever we wish without
interacting face to face with anyone. We can go for miles
without really having to acknowledge the personhood of anyone.
Instead of walking down the street or road and greeting all
persons encountered, one now drives past them. It may not be
necessary to interact with anyone until you have traveled for 10
or 20 miles.
This means that most of the people one
encounters now are either not known or hardly known. It also
means that the "community" that one lives in today is now filled
with strangers and acquaintances. Instead of knowing all of our
neighbors as persons, we now know only one or two of them. It
also means that the family is essentially cut off from other
members of an extended family. Extended families are the
hardest hit by this new trend of residential living. Extended
families are dispersed throughout a large area, making extended
family ties less likely.
Without close-knit extended families and
communities, the function of caring for children has become much
more difficult. Instead of having a whole community to raise a
child you now have a single set of parents taking care of a
child, and when the parents need someone else to care for the
child, they turn to strangers. Even if they turn to relatives,
when they need help, they usually seek help far away from the
place they live. Usually it is near where the parents of the
child work.
Over time residential communities have evolved
that are dependent on automobiles almost completely. The
businesses (banks, grocery stores, drug stores, bakeries, dress
shops, hat shops, etc.) that were once located within walking
distance and run by people we knew are now located far away from
where we live. Usually located a few miles away and usually run
by strangers.
The devastation has been much greater within
ethnic and African American residential areas. In these areas a
combination of automobiles and trucks have zapped the life of
many of these communities that were located near the commercial
and industrial centers. Trucks and automobiles made it
possible, and in many cases, necessary to locate commercial and
industrial activities in areas far away from the residential
areas of the old commercial and industrial centers. Of course
the old centers could not easily accommodate the number of
automobiles necessary for profitable business. This meant that
work moved from these communities and the work force either had
to become mobile or die. Mobility meant shopping and playing in
areas far away from the established residential areas. It also
made it possible, for many who could afford it, to move to the
outlying areas. They still commuted for some things such as
hair processing and church, but for the most part they took part
in the flight to the suburban areas away from their ethnic and
racial neighborhoods.
All of this has occurred as a response to the
introduction of the automobile. Now, I am not railing against
the automobile, but I just want to point out how the automobile
has affected the way we live. It has made living in residential
communities a thing of the past and it has made our
families much more isolated than they have ever been. It has
also had a number of other devastating effects. Generally after
rent or mortgage payments, the highest bill that people must pay
is the automobile. This has often made it necessary, not just
desirable, for both parents to work to help pay for the
automobile and other necessities created by the automobile, such
as child care, higher grocery and food costs, higher clothing
costs (more frequent changes in clothing and more cleaning of
clothing outside of the home), etc. This means that for large
portions of time, children are left alone unsupervised.
Essentially they must raise themselves. They often form their
own "communities" (gangs or cliques) to help them take care of
themselves. But most important of all, they are left to their
own resources to get necessary things done such as eating and
relating to others. They may stay in their own houses and not
interact with others, which means that many important lessons in
civility and social responsibility are lost. The many occasions
when such lessons (community rituals and ceremonies) are taught
are also lost. This whole process is reinforced by two other
recent technologies: air conditioning and television.
Air Conditioning
The next piece of technology that has been
devastating to the social life of communities is air
conditioning. It used to be that people could not live in their
houses when it was hot and they could not live out of doors when
it was cold. When it was hot, people lived on their porches or
in their yards under shade trees and when it was cold they
gathered around the stove and lived the highly interactive life
that they lived on porches and under the shade of trees when it
was hot.
When people sat on porches or in their yards
under the shade of trees they would engage in story telling,
news swapping, and gossip. They would tell stories about their
families and about people in the community. People who no
longer were among the living, lived in the collective memory of
the people. They would also pass on the history of their
groups. As they talked, people would walk nearby. Often they
would walk right up to the house to pass the time of day. Or if
you were working, they might hail you. Frequently they would
help with the work. Often times you could see people walking
from a long distance away and most people in the community could
be recognized by their walks from a great distance. It was of
considerable banter and discussion when no one could recognize
the walk of a passer-by.
The social interaction of the porch, the yard,
and those gathered around the stove allowed the younger
generation to get to know the older. It also permitted the
older generation to teach the younger. It often provided the
basis of respect and hero worship. The values and beliefs of
the older generation were transmitted undiluted to the younger
generation. And there was a bonding through the collective
conscience that was generated. Proper manners, demeanor, and
decorum were continuously monitored. Indeed, each generation
learned to appreciate the values, beliefs, and norms of the
preceding generations.
Often many chores were shared while the family
and friends sat around and grew together through talk. They
would shell beans and peas and prepare other foodstuffs. They
would sew, knit, or spin yarn. Sometimes they would prepare
meals and share food under the shade of trees. And if someone
(friend, relative, or stranger) came by, they were welcome to
share whatever meal was available; they also often shared in the
work that was being done. Each community and each family shared
a common experience.
Often times people walking by would stop and
talk or children would stop by and play. All of this impromptu
interaction provides opportunities for members of a residential
community to know one another and to bond into a community with
SHARED values and experiences. And within this community,
everyone had status and purpose. From the grocer, the butcher,
the mailman, the preacher, and the town idiot to the farmer, the
worker, the housekeeper, and child, everyone one had worth and
value. Everyone knew everyone else, everyone appreciated what
everyone else did, and the community was renewed on a daily
basis. As people went about their work, they could usually stop
and visit and then go on with their work. For many jobs, the
visiting was a part of the work. Air conditioning has changed
all that.
The automobile destroyed much of this community
life, but air conditioning has contributed its fair share to its
demise. While automobiles withdrew the interaction of
individuals with one another and made neighborhoods and
community businesses things of the past, air conditioning
withdrew families from open community interaction into closed
families in households.
"Domestic air conditioning meant that
traditional architectural features --wide eaves, deep porches,
thick walls, high ceilings, attics, and cross ventilation--were
no longer needed to promote natural cooling. Also irrelevant was
siting or landscaping a house that maximized summer shade and
breezes, since mechanical equipment was able to maintain perfect
indoor conditions independent of design" (How Air Conditioning
Changed America).
This meant that many activities that were
previously done out of doors and together were now done inside
of the house and alone. Families were now cut off from
community life, and coupled with the effects of the automobile;
the community was doomed to disappear. The effect of each of
these inventions accentuates the effects of the others.
In his history of air conditioning, Mike Pauken
(1999) observes how air conditioning was responsible for major
demographic shifts after World War II, and how air conditioning
made the South and the West desirable places to live. What he
failed to observe is how air conditioning changed a whole way of
life throughout the world. He also observes how suburban
development after World War II utilized the availability of air
conditioning.
"As a result of air conditioning, the growth of
the suburbs after World War II was dominated by single-story
houses with low-pitched roof lines, large plate glass windows
that were sealed shut, ceilings that were 8 ft (2.4 m) high, and
porches that were more ornamental than functional" (Pauken,
1999:40).
In the south prior to World War II and for a
good period afterward, the boom in air conditioning did not have
much of an effect on the design of houses. Perhaps communities
could have been sustained if air conditioning was developed
without the concomitant development of the automobile, but
together they pose a formidable obstacle to community life.
Even alone air conditioning would weaken community life. Again,
as in the case with the automobile, we see that a piece of
technology that has provided so many good things has also been
detrimental to community life. Air conditioning has not been as
disastrous as the automobile, but combined with the automobile,
it has been devastating. Nevertheless, we can now see why
rocking chairs sit empty on porches as empty, silent witnesses
of a once vibrant community life and spirit.
Television
What must people do because they watch
television? Television not only furthers the process of
community deterioration, but also accelerates and deepens it.
Television works on the family and forces it to be atomized. It
invades the family with a number of issues that make it
difficult for families to maintain rituals and contribute to
community life. It is, of course, necessary to watch television
inside rather than outside. Therefore, there is less chance for
interaction with others in the community.
Many families own two or more televisions,
which means that members of families will be watching television
separately. This aspect of television breaks up family rituals
and isolates individuals. Opportunities to work with children
disappear as children disappear into their rooms. But even when
sitting together to watch television the etiquette of television
watching enforces separation rather than togetherness. One must
watch television quietly without disturbing others.
There are other bad effects of television.
Instead of the family meal together, an occasion of bonding and
values affirmation, families take meals separately; which makes
meals a ritual of withdrawal and functionally just a nutritional
requirement. The bonding that may come from sharing prayers and
the reading of scripture is gone. Through prayer the family is
bound to a larger community of believers at each mealtime. It
is a ritual that is traditionally shared by families throughout
the community. However, as television eats into the vitals of
family life, this bonding with family and community disappears.
The family meal can also be an opportunity for family members to
experience the tremendous power of the parents as the parents
lead the family in prayer and discussion. Many problems of the
day can be dealt with, and while all of them cannot be resolved
at the table, they are shared and everyone participates in the
lives of one another.
Instead of reading and telling stories, the
family watches television. Much of the interactive activities
that were done together in families and communities are now
replaced by television. Family history used to be shared while
families sat together and relaxed together. Now families
separate themselves into their on separate rooms and watch
television pretty much in isolation and freedom from other
members of the family.
Television has also had the effect of making
many collective activities unnecessary. Children play with
their neighborhood friends less frequently because they have to
watch “important” television shows. It is no longer necessary
to attend ceremonies. Many watch television rather than going
to church or attend church or community activities.
One of the more devastating aspects of
television watching is the fact that parents use it to baby-sit
and take care of their children. The result, as Marie Winn
observes, is that parents and children can coexist “without
establishing those rules and limitations that parents once had
to impose on children simply for survival’s sake” (Winn,
1984:45).
It is possible that the effects of television
by itself could probably be overcome. However, as with air
conditioning, it is clear that television in combination with
the automobile and air conditioning has been devastating to
community and family life. As community rituals have
disappeared the ability to watch television and certain adult
content has become an important rite of passage; a rite of
passage that is not celebrated by a community, but is enjoyed by
a solitary individual. The experience with the automobile has
been similar. The child becomes an adult by getting his license
and being able to drive alone. Again, it is a rite of passage
that is not celebrated by community, but is enjoyed alone by a
solitary individual. Rites of passage like communion and
graduation are still present, but they have less significance.
You can watch graduation on television and the mysterious
experience of communion means little in relation to all the
fantastic events that occur there as well. The experience with
air conditioning is also similar. The family celebrates many
events itself without community involvement. Birthdays are
important. Holidays are also important, but these events are
not necessarily community events.
Conclusions about Technology and Communities
There are a number of important observations
that can be made about the malignant social effects of
technology on communities. There are also numerous observations
that can be made about the nature of communities. We have seen
that living communities require face-to-face interaction,
involvement, and participation of community members. This is
required for communities to be maintained. When the interaction
declines, communities become anemic and eventually die.
Technologies have a tremendous impact on community life. They
have probably always had that impact, but now their impact is so
noticeable and so detrimental that it is difficult to ignore.
The Impact of
Automobiles
We have seen that the impact of automobiles on
the life of communities has been most detrimental. The main
effects of the automobile on communities have been:
1.
The atomization and isolation of individuals. By forcing
individuals to walk less the individuals have interacted much
less with others in the community. This has been so much so
that individuals have been insulated from interaction with
others. The result is that we do not know others as persons,
but we know them only in a restricted and formal way. We no
longer know what they value nor do we care, and they don’t know
or care about what we value. We no longer share the values of
our community.
2.
The institutions are no longer attached to communities,
but reflect the interests of those outside the community.
Community businesses, churches and religious organizations,
social services, etc. are now often outside of the community.
The institutions that are there in the community represent
interests outside of the community. Businesses represent large
corporations, churches represent larger religious bodies, social
services are provided by huge bureaucracies, and work places are
provided by multinational corporations.
3.
The community has shifted from a social structure that is
basically egalitarian and self-directed to a social structure
that is directed by institutions outside of the community. This
makes it difficult for members of the “community” to interact
with others about their common interests, to be involved in
decisions about their common welfare, and to participate in the
process of assessing and deciding what is best to do. All these
decisions are made outside of the community and the families and
individuals are forced to withdraw more and more from community
life. This means that the community no longer has a voice in
the affairs of its members.
4.
Interactions among community members is restricted,
focused, and limited. Engaged interaction is less frequent and
much less intense than before the automobile. The result is
that there is no longer a common world among “community”
members.
5.
The “community” that is left is primarily a reservoir of
energy (labor) for institutions outside the “community.”
6.
New “communities” developed where families and
individuals were unknown to one another. People living right
next door were unknown or known only as the people next door.
They are not persons.
7.
Because interaction is infrequent and of short duration
(visitation among community members is limited), individuals and
families are even more isolated.
The Impact of Air Conditioning
Air conditioning by itself may not have been
very detrimental, but combined with the effects of the
automobile its effects have been devastating. The main effect
has been the isolation of families. Families were removed from
their communities and isolated in their houses. This movement
reinforced the isolation that had already developed with the
automobile. The isolation of families destroyed community
interaction, which in turn made it difficult for communities to
generate or pass on community values and experiences. This led
to an isolation and insulation of the older generation from the
younger generation. The experiences of the older generation
were not a part of the experiences of the younger generation and
the experiences of one family were not shared with other
families. The families were disconnected from one another and
interactions among them were less frequent and of brief
duration.
The Effects of Television
The main effects of television are in what it
does to interaction and not what is being shown. Family
interaction and rituals are interrupted. Meals are shared less
frequently and when meals are shared (that is, when they are
eaten together at a table, the television is frequently also a
part of the meal. The effect of the ritual of eating together
is greatly diminished. Mealtime is a major way families share
values, experiences, and events (Bellah, et al., 1985). It is a
major vehicle for maintenance of the collective conscience of
the family. Interruption of meals diminishes the ability of
families to transfer values and history. Television requires
that its watchers are passive rather than interactive and if
there is only one television in the house the interaction that
occurs may often be conflictual rather than cooperative. The
result is that household members are isolated within their own
homes. Television also reinforces the isolation of household
members from the outside world that automobiles and air
conditioning spawns; it is a major source of entertainment,
news, and information that is external to the family and
community. This further isolates family members from the values
and experiences of their own groups. Children play with their
friends less, however, they may watch television together. This
emphasizes the deleterious effect of television because as
indicated previously, watching television is a passive
experience. If more than one television is available within
a household, it is clear that it further reinforces isolation.
Conclusions about
the Nature of Communities
We have examined the effects of technology on
intact communities. What conclusions must we draw about
communities from this examination of the effects of technology
on them?
Communities require regular face-to-face
interaction. Without interaction on a regular basis community
life cannot be maintained. The experience with automobiles
illustrates how face-to-face interaction is especially
important. When automobiles are used, community face-to-face
engaged interaction declines. When they are used extensively,
engaged interaction declines precipitously; interaction is less
frequent and less intense. The character of the interaction
changes too; it is brief and more restricted and focused. In a
real sense, the interactions become superficial. Community life
depends on face-to-face, engaged interaction.
Communities are open to its members; it
involves sharing feelings, experiences, activities, and
resources. In that way the feelings, experiences, activities,
and resources become part of the collective memory of the
community. There are no secrets within communities. There are
no secret feelings, no secret behavior or activities, no secret
experiences, and no secret food or other resources. Experiences
and feelings are shown, exposed, and made accessible to others;
behavior and activities are open to scrutiny; and food and other
resources are shared. The lives of all members are transparent
to all. It is in this way that communities have a voice in the
lives of its members. When problems occur for individuals they
are immediately seen as problems for the community. Strictly
speaking, there are no individual (private problems). Mary
Pipher (1999) described Margaret Mead’s view of what an ideal
community would be like:
Margaret Mead defined an ideal
community as one that has a place for every human gift. An
ideal community would somehow keep the best of the old ways and
add the best of the new. We would have a mixture of races,
generations, and viewpoints. We could enjoy the intellectual
and cultural stimulation of cities and the safety of friendly
neighborhoods. We’d have privacy and potluck dinners, freedom
and civic responsibility. All the adults would take
responsibility to help all children. We would have connection
without clannishness, accountability without autocratic
control. The Ideal community would support individual growth
and development and foster loyalty and commitment to the common
good (Pipher, 1999:89).
I have demonstrated how automobiles undercut
community life by insulating the community member from regular
interaction with other community members. This has the effect
of providing feelings, experiences, and resources that are
withheld from the community; the “individual” life of the
community member is not shared with the other members of the
community. When automobile travel becomes extensive, the
insulation and isolation involves almost everyone and a
community life no longer exists. Air conditioning accentuates
this pattern. Families are isolated from one another and
interaction and sharing becomes less. Television compounds the
effect.
I am sure that there are many other
observations that can be made about the effects of the
automobile, air conditioning, and television. I am also certain
that other technological innovations have had a heavy impact on
community life, but I have outlined some of the more obvious
effects. I also have provided a rationale for being concerned
about the effects of technology on our communities. I am not
arguing that we should rid ourselves of these innovations. I
feel strongly that we must be more innovative in bringing about
more human-made mechanisms to supply what natural mechanisms
provided before these innovations came on the scene.
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