On Intentional Community

[danaeris]

This is just one of many posts I could write about community.

I got in an argument with someone the other day.

The difference of opinion boiled down to this:

I believe that it is possible to have an intentional community in a home owned by a single person who is renting the rooms out to the other people. He did not believe that was possible.

In my mind, the community is not the location. It is the people and the interpersonal interactions, and they have nothing to do with power, or power over. A kindly and ethical lord/landowner way back when could be part of the community which includes the peasants who rent his land to work. An office can have a sense of community that includes the boss(es). In any of these situations, the moment the people in power abuse their power, the community leaves them by a sort of unspoken consensus. Likewise, with a group of people living in a household, the community is that group of people. If the owner decides to start being a jerk, the community can leave. The house is, after all, just a house.

He seemed to feel that community == equality. I felt that he was trying to make intentional community into commune. They AREN'T the same thing, necessarily, even though they can be sometimes.

Compare to common room furniture, which usually technically belongs to someone living in the household. I've never seen anyone in a common household pull the, "It's my TV, so we're going to watch what I want to watch" or "It's my couch, so I get to sit on it when the living room is crowded" card. They could though, and in many ways they'd be within their rights (and not, in other ways). The point here is that people DON'T say that, and anyone who did is just not suited to community living (and possibly adulthood).

Comments

[aberrantvirtue.livejournal.com]

The point here is that people DON'T say that, and anyone who did is just not suited to community living (and possibly adulthood).

With one exception.

If the person's property is *never* used for their benefit (i.e. the only opportunities they have to watch TV are when everyone is home and they are always getting outvoted on what to watch). Then I would say they were within their rights to say, "We need to find a compromise, or I'm taking my property back."

[jadasc.livejournal.com]

I lean closer to his point of view than yours, I think. I don't think that it's not possible; I think that the inequality makes it a lot harder. As with the examples you gave of lord/villein/serf and employer/employee, the power dynamic that comes with landlord/tenant is going to intrude on community relations in a way that doesn't happen when all the members of the community are either owners or tenants.

The idea that the community can "walk away" from a person with power that abuses it doesn't ring true for me -- if they do, they end up jobless or homeless, even temporarily, and that's a hassle most people strive to avoid. The "common room furniture" argument has, at times, come up in my experience, and that's nothing compared to discussions of, say, rent increases.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I've been in a position where the boss was abusive, and you're right - it's much harder than simply walking away. However, the rest of the group pulled together and created a closer community to deal with it, and we eventually got rid of the abusive boss through concerted action. Walking away is not really the best metaphor here. It's more like swimming against the current to escape.

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, I had a roommate once who wanted to buy all new common room furniture rather than have us all using stuff that belonged to me. Guess he did feel there was a power imbalance there for some reason.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

In my school, the principal is well on her way to becoming part of the school community. She's nice, she makes reasonable decisions, and she values the input of others. Yet, as the boss, she is not equal and can't be.

So yes, I agree with you. Community doesn't necessarily involve only people exactly equal to each other.

regen

[cos]

catbird lived in a co-op called regen for several years when she was in California, where the property was owned by one person. There were some tensions and conflicts that involved the fact the he's the landlord, but I suspect there would have been other, different kinds of conflicts in their place if the property was co-owned. In any case, regen certainly does exist as an intentional community and has for a pretty long time, so it's obviously possible.

I should email her this link so she can comment on it.

[angel-thane.livejournal.com]

Is it possible to do so? Yes, I'll give you that.

Is it likely or common? No, I don't think so.

No, an intentional community does not have to be a commune. A peaceable country does not have to be a democracy. But in both cases, it helps.

Part of an intentional community is getting together to set the rules, and chart the path that the community is going to go. When one person has a big 'it's my house' stick, that becomes increasingly difficult. While it is true that if that person becomes a big jerk, everybody else can just move away, this isn't always practicable, with the nature of finding big empty houses, and also with the binding nature of leases.

One way that might make it work, is if the owner of the house signs an agreement that if they do, in the view of most of the rest of the house, become at odds with the views of the community, that THEY will move out, and become just a landlord, and not a member of the community. That at least mitigates some of the big stick power of landlord/community member.

[yiab.livejournal.com]

a few years ago, a friend of mine had his parents buy him a house in which to live while attending university. he rented out several of the rooms to his friends to help pay the mortgage. i never heard of any problems in their internal community despite the fact that he was their landlord.
is it possible? yes. right there is a specific case where it happened. is it common/easy/the norm? i really can't answer that myself as i don't know.