#Bigsociety is not a PR message, it demands that communities do the government's job

This article by Jane Wilson, a public relations wonk, gets supportive comments on the Chartered Institute of Public Relations website, but I think misses the point, because public relations people so often talk about image rather than reality.


The big society should not be about getting across a message that community involvement is a good thing. I believe, from long experience, definitely a good thing and most people I know believe it too. But any community development professional knows that it's hard to engage people in doing something positive in their community when the government wants community involvement to substitute for things it doesn't want to spend money on any longer.

So as a government, you can't send out a message on the one hand that we're going to cut back and on the other that we want you to do it instead of us. Government responsibilities are not individual responsibilities, getting them carried out are what we elect governments for, to act collectively on our behalf. Community activism is not about doing what the government wants done but won't pay for, it's about doing what the community wants, which I think the government is going to find will not be what the government would like at all.

Amplify’d from www.cipr.co.uk

'The Big Society' is the philosophy behind the coalition government's social policy centre piece. It promotes devolution of power to communities and local government and is the counter weight to the hard fiscal management programme they have also embarked upon.

Whilst it may be far sighted to begin a debate about the role of the state within society, the big society is about all things local - and central government may not be the best place from which to communicate the substance of the idea. Among the public and among some opinion formers, there is a degree of cynicism that the idea is being put forward to soften the image of a government engaged in a fierce economic struggle to reduce public sector debt.

It takes skill and expertise to communicate a complicated message to an uncertain public looking for reassurance about the provision of the public services that support their standard of living. Read more at www.cipr.co.uk

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/ao8fl