Brent, J. (2009). Searching for community: representation, power and action on an urban estate. Bristol, Policy Press.
This monograph investigates Southmead, a deprived estate in Bristol, and is based on a doctoral thesis by Jeremy Brent (published posthumously), with an introduction by Richard Johnson. Brent draws on 30 years of experience as a youth worker in Southmead combining these insights with media analysis, interviews, and wider academic arguments about community, deprivation and youth work. He critically examines the concept of community as a collective identity, exploring tensions between insider and outsider accounts. Brent is critical of standpoint theory, arguing that subordinate groups and their points of view do not always produce better actions or truer insights, but also criticizes external stigmatized representations of the state. He contrasts negative official and media representations of deprived communities from 'outsider' perspectives with insider perspectives of community plays and radio, and he reflects on own his role as an 'outsider within' through his work as a public servant in the area. The research is critical of short-term solutions to youth 'problems' which are the product of long-term social problems such as inadequate housing and a lack of amenities.