Associations

I enjoyed Dewey's writing on the difference between associations and communities and the way an individual works in the context of these groupings. Somehow it reminded me of Gestalt psychology, where the whole is more than the sum of its parts. A few of our earlier readings used organic metaphors to explain flows of capital as well as social structures. Dewey similarly contends, "Human beings combine in behavior as directly and unconsciously as do atoms, stellar masses and cells" and then goes on to say that these mere groupings or associations do not necessarily constitute a community (151). Communities depend on communication, thus presenting "an order of energies transmuted into one of meanings which are appreciated and mutually referred by each to every other on the part of those engaged in combined action" (153). In other words, communities use symbols based on mutual interest to regulate action. Even more simply, people have to learn to communicate and become a community.