COMMUNITY,SOCIETY, AND THE INDIVIDUAL

ABSTRACT. “Community” is a good warm word frequently invoked by citizens, social workers, and politicians. “Society,” by contrast, is more ambivalent, invoking something elitist and exclusive, as in the expression “high society.” The word “individual,” or “individualism,” often connoting selfishness and bracketed with society, is even more suspect in our time. I plead for a restoration of balance and esteem among the three terms as a necessary step toward acquiring a fuller understanding of the human condition and potential.