Preface to the Third edition

Summary

’Tis true, there's magic in the web of it.

(Shakespeare, Othello, Act 3, scene 4)

This book is about the value of connections and the work that is done to establish and maintain them. In the 15 years since the first edition, networking is significantly more commonplace, deliberate and computer mediated. It is now firmly acknowledged as essential to effective community development work. But the organisational and demographic environment in which community workers and activists operate is becoming increasingly dynamic, complex and diverse. Practitioners need to be ever more agile in working across boundaries. In a constantly changing and interacting world, uncertainty requires individuals and society to be more ‘elastic’ by ‘letting go of comfortable ideas and become more accustomed to ambiguity and contradiction’ (Mlodinow, 2018). Networking can help us to find this capacity in ourselves and with others.

Being ‘well connected’ is recognised as a source of strength. However, we have more to learn about the emotional ramifications and attitudes that can nourish or corrode connections. It takes both time and trust to build loving and respectful relationships. This applies equally to the development of community links and the informal arrangements that underpin cooperation across the public, private, voluntary and community sectors. The past ten years since 2009 have given us a deeper and more sophisticated understanding of networks: their impact in people's lives and their contribution to society. The ‘praxis’ of networking is also more fully acknowledged, with an explicit emphasis on the need for reciprocity (Offer, 2012) and the value of courteous hospitality. As the latest research on empowering communities asserts, ‘We are social beings and the connections we make with each other help us to realise our potential and power’ (Baker and Taylor, 2018, p 35). The value of networking for developing strong and active communities is recognised now more than ever.

The theories and evidence offered in this book are rooted in research but draw heavily on phronetic knowledge: knowledge that is derived from practice and experience. The ideas have been distilled from personal reflections, action research, workshops, informal conversations, government reports and the academic literature.