Local Social Dynamics

The Basic Issue

The impacts of larger economic and social events tend to trickle down to small towns and affect the stability of that environment. Rural areas vary in the degree of their stability and in their capacity to cope with sudden impacts.

When I lived in the north, there were several plane crashes which had about as much impact on their communities as the New York world trade Center crashes on Sept. 11th did on the world community. Sudden events can shut a community of any size down for a period of time.

Slower moving impacts tend to have a "tipping point" when they emerge into awareness. For example, a polluted water supply or the invasion of a noxious weed or crop disease can take years to develop and then springs to people's awareness at some critical point. The Walkerton water pollution is a good example of this. The resulting social dynamics in the community and across the country can become the central focus of the community obscuring many otherwise significant events or projects.

One of the more slowly developing dynamics in the rural areas has been the gradual depopulation of both rural municipalities and towns as people migrated to the cities. The process has been occurring since the depression of the 1930's and has varied in its rate across the continent. Driven by the major shifts in the agriculture sector, this dynamic has resulted in the remaining rural people in the Westman area having to "restructure" all to their institutions, as detailed elsewhere on this site.

Another aspect of social dynamics is when people join, leave, or re-joining a community. These events in themselves often change social dynamics profoundly. In fact, they may be having a major impact on our particular project either positively or negatively. There is a random factor in community life which seems to play a major role in social dynamics.

One way of reminding ourselves of the potential impact of these other dynamics in the community is to think of going for popcorn during a movie. While you are out you might witness a robbery of the ticket booth which the audience in the theatre have no idea is going on. Then, when you return to the auditorium, you find that the audience, which was sad when you left, is now all laughing, and you have no idea what the joke is. In both situations the "movie is running while you were out". It usually takes time for both parties to catch up on the changing social dynamics of the other.

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