Communal housing visions shift from maximalist to minimalist across generations and wider societal change.
Evidence
Changing Visions Over Time. The cooperative community (1) who faced intergenerational clashes of subjectivities started off as a community with a maximalist vision and practice, gradually moving towards a more minimalist vision, reflecting wider cultural and political trends and members’ lack of time and desire to be immersed in the community. These processes were not unique to this case study or even to the UK (Cook, 2013; Jones, 2016; Huron, 2018). Commoners’ needs and desires change in response to societal changes in ideology, policy and culture (Springer, 2012). Younger members sought a community that was “less of a commune” while older members still held on to a maximalist vision of a much closer-knit community. One member said her neighbour “lives next door to two other members with three children, you know he’s very friendly with the parents, but the children are shy of him; and you know in the old days they would be running in and out of his house”. It is important to note that this minimalist shift did not completely erode members’ vision of their community as a safe space of caring and sharing, far beyond their experiences in other housing (Arbell, 2021a). — Yael Arbell, The Circle of Commoning, 68
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the ‘Grafting & Growth’ article theme of communities changing over time, though more directly echoes discussions of how shared intentional spaces degrade or evolve — a general parallel with any literature on utopian communities and their intergenerational decline. — connects to: Generational political subjectivities shape how members practice commoning in housing cooperatives. — Yael Arbell, The Circle of Commoning:…, 51; Surviving commons shift from economic to social and symbolic resources over time. — Emil Sandström and Ann-Kristin Ekman and Karl-Johan Lindholm, Commoning in the periphery – The role…, 13; Becoming a commoner, visions, and social practices shape each other cyclically — Yael Arbell, The Circle of Commoning:…, 38
- QUESTION: Worth chasing: what mechanisms let older maximalist members transmit their vision, and why did the younger cohort’s minimalist preference win out despite the caring-and-sharing ideal persisting?
- corroborated: 5 independent passages support this claim — Yael Arbell, The Circle of Commoning:…, 68
Related
- Generational political subjectivities shape how members practice commoning in housing cooperatives. (similarity 0.87)
- Macro political shifts reshape how commoners understand their needs and practices (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Surviving commons shift from economic to social and symbolic resources over time.
#expands(0.75) — Emil Sandström and Ann-Kristin Ekman and Karl-Johan Lindholm, Commoning in the periphery – The role…, 13 - Becoming a commoner, visions, and social practices shape each other cyclically
#expands(0.72) — Yael Arbell, The Circle of Commoning, 38