288. "Communitarianism." The Oxford Companion to Politics of the
World, (Oxford University Press: UK, 2001), 158.
COMMUNITARIANISM is a social philosophy that maintains that
societal formulations of the good are both needed and
legitimate. Communitarianism is often contrasted with classical
*liberalism, a philosophical position that holds each individual
should formulate the good . Communitarians examines the ways
shared conceptions of the good (values) are formed, transmitted,
enforced and justified. Hence their interest in communities (and
moral dialogues within them), historically transmitted values
and mores, and the societal units that transmit and enforce
values such the family, schools, and voluntary associations from
social clubs to independent churches. While laissez faire
conservatives and welfare liberals differ mainly with regard to
the respective roles of the private sector and that of the
state, communitarians are especially concerned with the third
sector, that of *civil society. They pay speci