Even as accelerating technological changes, profound economic upheavals, and increasing political conflicts reshape American social structure and American lives, Americans continue to refer to the milieux in which they live and work as "communities." Indeed, the notion of "community," whether the term is used nostalgically or hopefully, has a powerful resonance in American public forums. Yet contemporary notions of "community" are rooted in an increasingly unknown and unacknowledged social history both of community life itself and of scholarship on particular communities. In this course, we will read several classic analyses of American communities from the 1920s to the present, such as the Lynds' famous Middletown (1929), to Vidich's and Bensman's Small Town in Mass Society (1957), to Jonathan Rieder's Carnarsie (1985), with special attention to the relationships between the larger society and individual communities. How and why do some communities consider themselves protected from larger social forces, while others see themselves engulfed by them? How and why do some communities locate their communal identities precisely in overt conflicts with the larger society? Students will do studies of particular communities as term projects to explore, among other themes, the ideologies behind communities' self-presentations to the world. Class format: seminar. Requirements: mid-term essay, field-study paper.

Hour: CHURCHILL