The Collective Pathway out of Lock down
Why live events will help us get back together
Imagine what it would have been like to have told your younger self at the beginning of 2020 that cities all over the world were going to go quiet, planes stop flying and people would stay in their homes.
We could hardly have imagined this happening. Our world has been turned upside down and we’re not sure if we’ll ever go back to normal.
What if social distancing restrictions are ongoing? Can you imagine continuing to not share birthdays and gatherings with your wider family group or friends or not meeting in the flesh with colleagues and clients?
With our ability to get together currently curtailed and possibly under threat, why do we get together? What drives us to need to connect with each other?
This question is at the heart of my job. I’m a community worker based in a community centre in the inner suburbs of Sydney. I work with people from many different backgrounds and help them connect and build a shared sense of the world. Currently many community members are struggling with feelings of loneliness and isolation. They are telling me that they are going stir crazy at home and just want to come into the centre and have a chat with their friends or take a class.
Lyda Judson Hanifan was an educator and school superintendent of rural schools in West Virginia at the beginning of the 20th century. He believed that one of the best ways to improve schools was to involve the community in school life. In 1916 he proposed the idea of ‘social capital’ to explain why. “..the tangible substances that count for the most in the daily lives of people: namely good will, fellowship, sympathy, and social intercourse…. between people will accumulate ‘social capital’ which benefits individuals, the school and the community.” (1)
In a simple way, LJ Hanifan described the benefit of gathering together. He called it social capital.
Theorists revisited the concept of social capital in the 1960s and 70s. One of the most well known was Robert Putnam who wrote Bowling Alone. The collapse and revival of American community (2). However many other writers explored the idea including Robert Alexander Nisbet, Jane Jacobs and William Whyte.
Whilst there are many definitions of social capital, the most widely accepted is that of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD): “the networks together with shared norms, values and understandings that facilitate co-operation within or among groups.” (3)
The underlying assumption of this definition is that a society doesn’t function as well without social capital. In 1893 Emile Durkheim, one of the founders of sociology, proposed that industrialisation would lead to a decrease in social solidarity and a breakdown of social values and norms.(4) Many writers since have suggested the idea that the problems with modern post industrial life are due to the collapse in civic, social, associational, and political life and the ensuing decline in social capital.
I was taught at university by an inspiring man, Professor Tony Vinson. Tony was a pragmatic social scientist who was sceptical about grand theories and interested in what worked in the real world. He, along with Dr Margot Rawsthorne, collated numerous studies from all over the world which demonstrate the positive impact of social capital on reducing rates of crime, unemployment, child maltreatment, low birth weight, domestic violence and psychiatric admissions.(5) They argued that, while social capital is not a panacea for society’s problems, it can make a significant contribution to building a well functioning community.
Prior to COVID-19, I created numerous live face-to-face events as a part of my role as a community worker. These included community lunches, celebrations, festivals, arts events, consultations, meetings and workshops. I found that they were the easiest and most enjoyable way of building a sense of belonging, safety and a shared purpose in a community. When I evaluated these community events I found they resulted in a significant increase in community trust, pride and connection.
While COVID-19 forced us to socially distance in order to survive as a species, a time will come when it is safe to come out and be together again. This process should be gradual and safe.
When the time arrives for coming together again, we need to be prepared. There are many people who think everything will go back to normal. While this is possible, it’s more likely the world will be a very different place. The economy will be in recession, there’ll be an increase in unrest and conflict between and within countries and many people will be much poorer for many years ahead.
The whole world now faces a common problem and live events can help us create a collective pathway out of lock down. They will help people reconnect and discover new ways forward, strengthening and rebuilding social capital. I know that live events will help the community I work with to re-establish shared bonds and start to build their capacity to work together on the challenges ahead.
Over the next few months I’ll be researching and writing in Medium about live event design. We all create live events throughout our lives and we are all community builders in one way or another. My aim is to help you host and design better live events and celebrate people who are creating excellent events.
One thing I’ve learnt from many years of practice is the value of working collaboratively. I need your help in this. There isn’t a lot written about live event design, so your input will help make this research more useful and applicable in the real world. I’ve created a short google survey about live events. It’s just 6 questions. Click here and fill out this short survey.
The goal of this survey is to understand what makes a good event and how to use that knowledge to improve event design. Your feedback will help.
Look forward to hearing from you. Click here
Thanks Thor
Thor Blomfield BSW is a community worker, social researcher and writer on Medium. He helps community workers, facilitators and event organisers build healthy and happy communities. In his spare time, he teaches at Sydney University and performs community magic.
- Hanifan, L. J. (1916) The Rural School Community Center. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 67: pp130–131.
- Putnam, R. (2000) Bowling Alone. The collapse and revival of American community, New York, Simon and Schuster.
- OECD (2001) The Well-Being of Nations: The Role of Human and Social Capital, OECD, Paris. P 41
- Durkheim, Emile (1893) The Division of Labour in Society. Trans. W. D. Halls, intro. Lewis A. Coser. New York: Free Press, 1997
- Vinson, T with Rawsthorne, M. (2013) Lifting Our Gaze: The Community Appraisal and Strengthening Framework. Illinois, Common Ground Publishing pp 18–19
