What is micro-sociality? How will this be a saviour as we head into challenging years of austerity and social difficulties?

With all countries Governments forced to make cutbacks and all services are reduced in this period of austerity the public will be expected to contribute to their locality. In many respects communities will pick up where we were a century ago where the locals would clean the streets of leaves in autumn or clear the snow during winter. There were few public services then to look after the elderly as many families functioned in a generational capacity often with three generations being under one roof.

So what is micro-sociality?

It defines micro sociality as all or any interactionbetween people; something as small as smiling at people you recognise from frequent sightings but do not know, to groups working for common goals like acommunity centre, to the various behaviours of the state through formal and informal interaction (Studdert and Walkerdine) The School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University hosted a conference on ‘micro-sociality’ on Monday 14^th April.

Several large organisations have funded research into micro-sociality as the onus dawns on a deeper emphasis on localism and empowering communities to be able to deal with their daily challenges as they see fit from a bottom-up approach and not following a top-down authoritative approach.

As so many small problems are being tackled now by locals who have given up waiting on the councils, third sector or other entities – many voluntary groups, or neighbourhoods have begun taking action into their own hands to rise to the challenges of constant problems.

One example is individuals who have begun cleaning up entire streets on their own, or the creation of community gardens or river, beaches and park clean-up efforts. With the emergence of social enterprises people are trying to create services to deal with individual problems that exists in one area – which requires a solution that can only be created in that specific locale. Other areas on the other side of town or the country will require their own individual bespoke practice to meet these challenges.

These are very difficult times we live in …. Yet it could be our saving grace as towns, villages and cities begin to function more efficiently, in a more responsible manner with ties being stronger than ever which creates the true definition of a functional community.

Micro-sociality may be a new academic buzz word … yet it may become more common place and acceptable term in the 2020’s and 2030’s. Communities can be a thriving more functional place. Yet first we have to listen to the bottom upwards. Each town has a unique dynamic which requires unique solutions.

There is a lot of work ahead of all of us ….