Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Is living cooperatively an ideology of itself?

[Elizabeth Stevenson (tamgoddess]

Well, there are examples of cooperative living in conservative groups,
especially religious groups.

However, I think that for the most part, he's right.

I read somewhere that political conservatives have more nightmares and tend
to be more negative in their estimation of people's motives. It seems that
it's more of a personality type than a true choice whether you're
progressive or conservative. Seen in a more holistic way, it's all a part of
the same thing, your personality, your ideology, and your willingness to
live cooperatively.

Liz Stevenson

> From: "Rob Sandelin" <floriferous [at] msn.com>
> Reply-To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
> Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 13:40:39 -0800
> To: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> Subject: [C-L]_Is living cooperatively an ideology of itself?
> 
> 
> I have a random email conversation with a person who describes himself as an
> arch conservative. He posts a web log on a lot of topics and we met when he
> posted a letter to the editor I wrote, then critiqued it from his political
> standpoint. Anyway, in describing cohousing he calls it a liberal ideology
> to want to live together cooperatively. Given the kind of people I
> continually meet from cooperative living, It got me thinking that he is
> right.
> 
> To live together cooperatively requires lots of time talking with, learning
> about, and learning how to trust the people you live with. It often means
> accepting peoples differences, learning how to compromise and adjust your
> personal desires to meld with the desires of others. This are actions that
> liberals do well.
> 
> Are these ideological actions? If an ideology is a system of beliefs, then
> isn't cooperative living full of social beliefs which initiate actions?
> 
> And if so, how could cohousing ever be non-ideological?
> 
> In a SWAG (silly wild ass guess) I would say 85% of the people I have met
> involved in  cooperative living, with whom I have some idea of their
> politics, are political liberals.
> 
> Rob Sandelin
> Sky Valley Environments  <http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm>
> Field skills training for student naturalists
> Floriferous [at] msn.com
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cohousing-l-admin [at] cohousing.org
> [mailto:cohousing-l-admin [at] cohousing.org]On Behalf Of Sharon Villines
> Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 7:48 AM
> To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_Re: Cohousing Mainstream
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Monday, February 3, 2003, at 06:07  PM, Mac & Sandy Thomson wrote:
> 
>> I don't know whether cohousing will ever become mainstream (whatever
>> that
>> is), but I'd sure like to see it become MUCH more available.  [snip]
>> I like that cohousing has no ideology other than an intension to live
>> in
>> greater harmony with our neighbors.  IMHO, discouraging non-liberals
>> who
>> seek community from joining cohousing unnecessarily stifles the growth
>> of
>> cohousing and the richness of diversity found therein.
> 
> The ideas and organizing methods will become more mainstream without
> being "labeled" cohousing. Neighbors are already asking us "how do you
> do that." We have several very organized neighborhood associations who
> are interested in concepts of conflict resolution and shared resources.
> These are the skills that will feed community development.
> 
> The image of a group of people building new homes centered around a
> commonhouse is not likely to
> "become the norm" but that isn't what brings most of us to cohousing.
> That format only enables it in our current housing situation. Infill or
> building communities in existing housing would be just as satisfying as
> a living situation. For now, the new communities are just easier since
> it allows people who are already thinking along similar lines to find
> each other without displacing or rearranging whole neighborhoods of
> people.
> 
> Sharon
> -----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
> 
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