Examples of rules dissolving after communities become less cohesive?

October 17, 2015 9:57 AM

Dearest Hivemind - Does anyone know of examples where the rules of a community or society fall apart after the community becomes less cohesive (i.e., the members of the community come to depend less on each other and interact more infrequently)? I imagine, for example, an instance where you have norms for helping others out in times of need (like sharing food), but then people become less dependent on each other and those norms dissolve. Examples from the academic literature are especially appreciated and they could occur on any scale (e.g., a children's clubhouse, a hunter-gatherer band, an American mid-century town, an organization, contemporary Japan). THANKS!!
posted by mrmanvir to Society & Culture (11 answers total)

I'm going to suggest Peter Turchin's War and Peace and War: The Rise and Fall of Empires, which I happen to be reading right now. It's precisely on the topic of communal cohesiveness, or what he terms "asabiyyah," which is a coinage of the 14th century philosopher Ibn Khaldun. It's also a pretty good read.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 10:24 AM on October 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but the Oneida Community and its (complex & bizarre) rules started to fall apart as its founder aged and the younger members got college educations. This pattern is pretty common among utopian communities.
posted by oozy rat in a sanitary zoo at 10:31 AM on October 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

The Pruitt Igoe Myth is a documentary about a revolutionary housing project in downtown St Louis that went down for a number of unique and interesting reasons.
posted by rubster at 10:49 AM on October 17, 2015

Attitudes toward filial piety in South Korea have undergone a huge shift.
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 11:04 AM on October 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

kuro5hin.org is dealing with something like this now.
posted by infinitewindow at 11:06 AM on October 17, 2015

Eternal September might be of interest to you as well.
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 1:01 PM on October 17, 2015

For a theoretical/academic perspective (albeit an older one) you might read about Emile Durkheim's concept of anomie.
posted by a.steele at 1:10 PM on October 17, 2015

I did a research project on moral economies and trust in digital communities that touched on cohesiveness. You might start with research on gift economies and Henry Jenkins and Joshua Green on the The Moral Economy of Web 2.0 (link to part one). Message me for other references if you like!
posted by wrabbit at 2:09 PM on October 17, 2015

Lord of the Flies?
posted by donaken at 4:31 PM on October 17, 2015

In his introduction to the Crucible, this is more or less what Miller claims happened to society in Salem Village, and that it laid the ground for the witch trials.
posted by Salamandrous at 4:34 PM on October 17, 2015

My example is pretty pale compared to the others, but here goes...

I live in a development of about 40 houses built in 1960. The original owners formed a Homeowner's Association, and adopted a covenant which prescribed and proscribed various things. For example, no fences, no cars parked on the street, no commercial vehicles parked in view, no trailers, etc. The original covenant had a 30 year sunset, and it was renewed once. By now, almost all the original owners are long gone, and the ones that are left are old and weary enough to be apathetic. Most of the houses are on the second thru tenth owner, and the new owners may not know there ever was a covenant.

Prices and demographics having changed, many of the houses that have changed hands recently have been immediately expanded from 3-bedroom split levels into McMansions. Different times, different ideas.
posted by SemiSalt at 11:12 AM on October 18, 2015