New energies for an old idea: reworking approaches to ‘community’ in contemporary rural studies

Having retreated somewhat from use in rural studies over the last two decades, the concept of ‘community’ has emerged once again as a signifier of both research scale and cultural meanings about social life and rurality. This paper reviews the heritage of recent ‘community’ studies but argues that the term holds further analytical potential. In order to build a conceptual framework for a more robust ‘community’ analysis, reference is made to four themes in wider social theory. These themes partially challenge, but cumulatively energize and enhance, a notion of ‘community’ that is presented in the remainder of the paper. A proposal is outlined which would encourage, first, a study of the contexts and people involved in shaping ‘communityʹ, and second, an analysis of the meanings, practices, and spaces and structures which are interconnected in characterising the material and cultural operation of such ‘communitiesʹ.