RE: Diversity and values | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Rob Sandelin (robsanmicrosoft.com) | |
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 95 16:31 CDT |
Karen Frayne wrote several insightful comments about diversity. IMHO diversity of values is what causes problems in groups. Diversity is one of those buzzwords that has any number of meanings. My personal observation is that once a group is established and living together, they can weather a lot of storms which would destroy a group which is just forming and trying to accomplish all the development work. I would think it would be best for groups forming to find "birds of a feather" and actively recruit others like the core group. Values conflicts at the beginning stages of a group have broken apart three groups in my area. I would recommend as a group forms, to create a vision statement which lays out your goals and any important values and make everyone who joins read and accept those, or get the whole group to modify it together. One issue that crops up a lot deals with environmentalism. Some groups and individuals feel very strongly about these sorts of issues. If others join who do not, then the resulting values conflict will show up when you are making decisions about building materials, land clearing, site use, and may fragment the group into major conflicts. There is a group of Mennonites who are working to create a cohousing group. They have intense religious beliefs and values and their community will reflect that. If you are not part of their church, you can't join the group. They have never had an open public meeting, and never will. Is this bad? I don't think so, as long as they are upfront about who and what they are. The Winter issue of Cohousing Journal had a article about a group forming around the Vegan diet. Should these people be expected to welcome carnivores into their midst? Again, I don't think so, as long as they are clear about what their values are and let people know that. Typical value conflicts are : , environmental, low income, sexual issues, personal independence vs. group authority, Pets, Children and kid raising, affordable housing, religious expression, equality of power, racial issues, money issues, food issues, personal lifestyle issues. Many of these values manifest themselves in peoples personalities and approaches. For example, a person who values personal independence highly and is suspicious of group authority, is going to be hard to get to agree on letting the group do certain things. An individual may not ever have internalized why it is they are so suspicious and reluctant to give away personal authority to a group but that value effects how they feel in relation to the issues of the moment. If that value is held strongly, they will leave the group, before they violate the value. This is where groups who are forming can loose members. When a community is built out and individuals have huge investments of time and money, the choice of leaving over a values conflict becomes much more difficult and unlikely, and so the stakes are much higher, and this is often reflected in the intensity of the arguments. I keep returning to the theme of values clarification in the formation of groups partly because it is the Achilles heal of my own group. We have never formally agreed what our group values are and we are constantly stumbling over it. Unfortunately for us, it is much too late to do so, since people already have made large investments of time and money. Many many of the issues which come up, would not be issues at all, if we all shared the same environmental values for example. Rob Sandelin Sharingwood
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RE: Diversity and values Rob Sandelin, April 12 1995
- Re: RE: Diversity and values Mmariner, April 13 1995
- Re: RE: Diversity and values Rob Sandelin, April 14 1995
- Diversity and values Adele94121, April 17 1995
- RE: Diversity and Values Buzz Burrell, April 17 1995
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