1 Quiet Utopias or Engaged Social ActionQuiet Utopias or Engaged Social Action? Exploring Communal Intentionality in the U.S Debra Schleef University of Mary Washington February 25, 2016

2 What is an Intentional Community?Zablocki 1980 five or more adults plus children the dyads are not cemented by blood or marriage live together, without compulsion ideological goal requiring a collective household Metcalf 1996 ten or more adults substantial amount of cooperative sharing

3 The Relevance of Intentional communitiesICs in 25 countries 1% of Dutch 282 kibbutzim (3% of Israel's population) 500 ICs in North America Growing

4 historic rationales for communal life:Kanter, 1972 Religious Politico-economic Psychosocial Escaping or abandoning society’s social problems Seeking a better life: “Is it Utopia yet?” Not proactively engaged in changing societal institutions such as the family

5 New Research Intentional community phenomenon as a social movementcommunication, research, education, techniques, organizations (Schehr 1997) Fellowship of Intentional Communities Federation of Egalitarian Communities Shift to more active focus on social change Engaging the community Consensual decision making (Sargisson 2004)

6 the sociology of intentional communitiesI. Intentional Communities as Social Movements Egalitarian, anti-patriarchal, non-violent Radical environmentalism: Living Energy Farm, “microcarting,” hay bale buildings Food Justice: organic farming, seed exchanges, WWOOF-ing, “dumpster diving” and “shrinking,” Food Not Bombs Alternative economies, money systems, “Grantcoin” Polyamory, communal child rearing

7 the sociology of intentional communitiesII. Intentionality of community along a continuum community gardens worker or consumer cooperatives or collectives neighborhood collectives “edge communities” ecovillages intentional communities, non-income sharing intentional communities, income-sharing intentional community that are egalitarian, income-sharing, secular, anarchist, feminist, consensus-based (FEC)

8 Grounded Theory questionsWhat vocabularies of motive do people offer for joining a commune ? Are commune members talking about abandoning society, or altering it? How do motives relate to solving social problems (e.g., alternatives to the nuclear family)? Geographic locations: Louisa County, VA; Roanoke; New York City, DC, Portland; Asheville, NC; Missouri and Ozarks; Germany

9 Two examples “Cerise” “Beryl”

10 The takeaways Some similarities between the womenRationales, motivations are both related to family writ large Mediated commitment to social change IC as a corrective to social problems, yet…

11 To come… www.intentionalsociology.org/community Action ResearchStudent Internship and Living Opportunities Data base of information used by ICs (gaps in knowledge) Teaching Modules