Watch Austin Williams' CI2010 presentation!

In this presentation addressing the idea of the ‘big society’, Austin Williams questions why the word ‘community’ is now on the national agenda, what communities are and aren’t, and what politicians are trying to capture, bottle and sell back to us.

200 years or so ago we had enlightenment politics, which framed the way we viewed the world for over 100 years. We spoke of battles for reason, science and autonomy.

Then, we had the idealogical battles between left & right wing societies.

As recently as the last 30 years or so politics went on to address human rights – fighting rasicm, poverty, equality freedom, and so on.

Now, we are in a situation where the previous administration was talking about litter.

In this though-provoking presentation, Williams explores further the contradictory term “constructing communities”, what the key elements to a genuine community are, and why putting local issues on the national agenda can be detrimental to the true intention of community spirit.