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 decad es; the concept of 'community' has emerged once again as a signifier of bot h research scale and cultural meanings about social life and rurality. This paper reviews the heritage of recent 'community' studies bur argues that t he 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 cumul atively energize and enhance, a notion of 'community' that is presented in the remainder of the paper. A proposal is outlined which would encourage, f irst, a study of the contexts and people involved in shaping 'community', a nd second, an analysis of the meanings, practices, and spaces and structure s which are interconnected in characterising the material and cultural oper ation of such 'communities'. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights rese rved.