Geographical variations in the nature of community engagement

What is it about?

Previous studies reveal that while community engagement in affluent localities is orientated more towards formal community-based groups, the participatory culture of deprived areas revolves more around informal (one-to-one) community exchanges.

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Why is it important?

Reporting evidence from 861 face-to-face interviews in affluent and deprived urban and rural English communities, and reading participatory cultures through the lens of a ‘total social organisation of labour’ approach, this paper develops a more complex multi-layered understanding of the multifarious forms of community engagement and how participation varies spatially. The outcome is a call for a more geographically-nuanced approach that reflects the contrasting participatory cultures in different locality-types.

Perspectives