Subjects and concepts

The aim is to consider the community in terms of its unity and the diversity of its members, and to take into account the plurality and challenges that this may have given rise to. Rejecting a purely conceptual approach, the research in this area is based on the dialectical relationship between theory, practice and space, whether it concerns humanity’s engagement with its environment or the influence of territories on forms of social regulation. The main focus is on European spaces from Greco-Roman antiquity to contemporary societies, but also on the places where this Europe is projected.

Authority plays a crucial role in maintaining social cohesion and internal balance by imposing a common standard and system of governance, but also by sharing decision-making and the exercise of power, granting privileges to certain groups, and so on. The issue of tensions and crises – both within and between communities – arising from sometimes conflicting interests can be examined through the lens of the various forms and uses of violence (uprisings, conflicts, wars, etc.) and on varying scales. However, a society or community cannot survive without a minimum of shared values, which underpin the formation of bonds – be they social, political or religious – and the construction of identities that may themselves be plural. Conversely, the extreme fragmentation of bonds within a community can mask its weakness, to the point of threatening its cohesion. In this regard, the concepts of ‘tolerance’, ‘secularism’ or, more recently, ‘plurality’ and ‘diversity’ have been invoked to ensure the cohesion of a society despite the differences that run through it.

From a diachronic perspective, the fundamental issue is indeed the transition from societies conceived in ‘organic’ terms and characterised by a predominantly monocultural nature, to societies that are fundamentally multicultural and conceived according to a ‘mechanical’ approach.