Community

Articles, Films and practical Guides on community, part of Psyche’s coverage of relationships, work and leisure.
Photo of two women sitting in blue chairs talking in a bright room with plants, a patterned table between them.
LOVE

More than laissez-faire love – demystifying modern polyamory

Video by Esther Perel

Rikers Island sign on a building with a speedboat on the river in the foreground.
FOOD AND DRINK

Loafing around at Rikers

What making – and breaking – bread in jail taught me about work and friendship

by Jamie Valentino

A tree-lined path in autumn with people walking and sitting on benches, covered by colourful foliage.
COMMUNITY

The existential struggle between being a ‘we’ and an ‘us’

Sartre’s phenomenology reveals how a shift from subject to object (and back) is not merely a matter of grammar

by Tris Hedges

Drawing of six people in a living room having tea and cake around a table, with a window and plant in the background.
NEURODIVERSITY

Hand-drawn animation brings a meeting of ‘voice-hearers’ to life

Directed by Tristan Thil

Two people smiling in front of colourful fish graffiti, the man is sitting in a wheelchair the woman is standing beside him.
CAREGIVING

The circle held

A bike crash left my husband paralysed. What happened next taught me something profound about community

by Sadie Witkowski

A person standing on a freight train car during sunset with a dog sitting nearby and graffiti on the train.
HOME

Freedom, joy and struggle – stories of Los Angeles street life

Directed by Chung Nguyen

Digital artwork of a grey hand squeezing a yellow stress ball with a smiley face on a black background.
VALUES AND BELIEFS

Cults needn’t fit stereotypes to be dangerous. Here’s how to identify a controlling social group

Video by BBC Ideas

Medieval manuscript illustration of three figures talking: a man, a knight with a shield and a shovel-bearer, set in an ornate border.
FRIENDSHIP

How the nature of friendship has changed through the centuries

The metamorphosis of this special bond from feudal to modern times reveals much about the aspirations of different societies

by Bénedicte Sère

Photo of a waiting room with focus on a black hat. A woman reads papers and another looks at her phone in the background.
COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE

How to chat with almost anyone

It can be awkward at first, but people are more open to conversation than you think – and it could lead to deeper connection

by Michael Yeomans

A yellow taxi on a busy street, people walking, child holding flowers, historic building in the background under a blue sky.
VALUES AND BELIEFS

Confessions of a teenage fundamentalist

My world was dark and scary. But beautiful things crept in, and threats of hell just couldn’t compete

by Liz Boltz Ranfeld

A cityscape at night with two silhouetted figures in the foreground and a full moon above a mountain in the background.
MEANING AND THE GOOD LIFE

We can live well, even though we don’t have a higher purpose

The novelist and poet Ursula K Le Guin shows we can reject nihilism and naive optimism by practising our collective freedom

by Alexis Shotwell

Photo of a man holding a microphone and equipment standing on a walkway with blurred people passing by in the foreground.
LONELINESS
1

Lonely in London, a filmmaker sets out to make a new friend

A film by Hugh Clegg

Photo of seven people sitting on a bench in a train station waiting area, with a clock on the wall behind them.
CIVIC LIFE
3

Bureaucracy and other civic bullshit can be good for us

No one enjoys waiting in stuffy buildings or on congested roadways, but there’s an upside to our fellowship of frustration

by Joel Cox

Photo of a crowded street dinner with blue flags, people sitting at long tables amid warm lights in a historic setting.
COMMUNITY

Take a seat: the long table is an antidote to loneliness

While some consider the long, shared dining table outdated or inconvenient, it is actually a powerful social tool

by Antone Martinho-Truswell

Photo of a diverse crowd holding American flags and banners during a street protest, with buildings in the background.
COMMUNITY

Does embracing local customs help immigrants feel at home?

Moving from Belgrade to Toronto, learning the social ‘rules’ fostered my sense of belonging. But there’s an important caveat

by Ljiljana Radenović

Black and white photo of three children standing outdoors under a cloudy sky. The boy on the left wears a flat cap and checked shirt with trousers, while the two girls on the right wear patterned headscarves and dresses, smiling and looking into the distance.
VALUES AND BELIEFS

For Hutterites, ‘love thy neighbour’ is both gospel and practical necessity

Directed by Colin Low