Review

Between the estate and the state

Analysing Community Work: Its Theory and Practice
Keith Popple
Open University Press, 1995, £12.99

Analysing Community Work examines community work activities within the context of their social, political and economic climate. The writings of Antonio Gramsci and the theories and practice of Paulo Freire are given particular emphasis in Popple’s analysis, which also incorporates a token discussion of feminist theories and black and anti-racist critiques.

The author offers a realistic account of community work, reminding the reader of its vulnerability to political and ideological change and its contradictory position when funded by and operating within the state apparatus. The wider influences on communities and community work are central to Popple’s analysis.

By classifying a broad range of community work activities into a number of models (which relate to underlying theories of community work and society), Popple’s typology provides the reader with a useful overview of community work activities. However, his ‘continuum’ of community work models, ranging from community ‘care’ to community ‘action’, is a familiar and well-used concept in community development literature.

His analysis of the practice of community work takes the form of an overview of ‘practice themes’ such as recruitment, training, funding and management rather than a ‘how to’ guide for community workers.

By returning our attention to Gramsci and Freire, Popple offers a critical way forward for community work within capitalist societies and attempts to seal the bond between theory and practice. Nevertheless, further investigation and understanding of the theoretical positions and practical possibilities of community work are, as Popple himself argues, much needed.

Arguably, one of the major omissions from this text is the issue of community work evaluation. However, Analysing Community Work, with its emphasis on the social, political and economic context of community work and the inextricable link between its theory and practice, is of as much relevance to evaluators as it is to practitioners and policy makers.

Overall, this book offers food for thought for the theory and practice of community work. By revisiting earlier writings on community work and demonstrating their relevance to the current political, social and economic climate, Popple provides a framework for further debate on how community work might evolve beyond the 1990s.