Repository | Book | Chapter

Academic discourse on dialogism is hardly new, but it is attracting increased attention of late. Dialogical theory incorporates fundamental aspects of self–other relations and meaning-making processes. One of the key aspects of this perspective concerns the idea that "something" novel arises in and through dialogic interaction. This chapter considers the involvement of dialogic relations in the co-constitution of community. Based on the dialogical perspective, it can be argued that community emerges within the "between" spaces of intersubjective relations. In essence, the ongoing events of lived experience generate novel ways of relating to one another, including the prospective emergence of more comprehensive forms of organized community life. Dialogical thinking is making inroads into the theoretical interpretation of community processes, structures, and agency.

DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-56042-1_5

Full citation: