Critics of Cooperation & Community

Notions such as ‘cooperation’ and ‘community’ point to notable features of human relationship that merit attention.  Cooperation brings people together to achieve what they cannot manage on their own. Communities provide the basis for a sense of trust, mutual support and belonging to grow.  Impediment to the ethos of cooperation and any erosion of community life understandably raise concerns and prompt us to examine what should be done. 

Yet the fact that many thinkers devote time to discussing how to nurture cooperation and community has led some writers to pen dire warnings about them.  These ‘no nonsense’ critics pour cold water over the supposed romanticising of ‘cooperation’ and ‘community’ as though anyone would seriously forget that cooperative behaviour or community structure could be utilised by some to have undesirable effects on others. 

For example, one recent article in The Guardian, appeared with the title: ‘The big idea: is cooperation always a force for good?’ [Note 1]. Service providers, we are reminded, can cooperate with each other to set higher prices for consumers. Politicians and those approaching them with bribes can cooperate in carrying out corrupt practices which benefit them at the expense of the general public.  Members of a criminal gang can cooperate closely in causing serious harm to their targets. But do these examples tell us anything significant about cooperation?

 

Imagine someone writing an article or a book warning us that love is not always a good thing.  It highlights numerous examples of how some people do horrible things out of what they believe to be love, or fanatics causing death and destruction as a result of their love of some doctrine or tradition. Giving it the title, ‘Love can damage your life’, may grab a few headlines, but it would hardly be relevant to the work that goes into supporting the development of loving relationships between people.  

 

When it comes to theoretical and practical works to guide the development of communities, we have had an unmistaken flow of anti-communitarian reproaches – directed at the alleged assumption that ‘community’ denotes something perfect in every way.  Not only that nobody thinks that, but virtually every author who has written about communitarian relationships or the approaches to develop communities’ wellbeing, has stressed that prevailing forms of community life may not be satisfactory – and that is precisely why we need thoughtful, well researched ideas to guide community development and strengthen constructive community bonds.

Naysayers who just lambast anyone who writes about the importance of community – with their usual “some communities can be oppressive”, “some communities are dominated by outmoded traditions”, “there are communities people want to reject” – often end up achieving little other than putting people off from engaging with valuable writings about why and how communities should be supported in developing in a healthy direction.

Critics of cooperation and community want to present experts who focus on these social phenomena as naively blinkered, when in reality, we need to reflect more than ever on what these experts have to say, and explore ways to improve cooperation and communities.

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Note 1: ‘The big idea: is cooperation always a force for good?’, by Nichola Raihani, 24 October 2022, The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/oct/24/the-big-idea-is-cooperation-always-a-force-for-good