# The Great Society vs. The Great Community in The Public and Its Problems

> Theme guide for The Public and Its Problems by John Dewey.

Dewey contrasts the fragmented, technologically interconnected 'Great Society' with the ideal of a genuinely democratic and participatory 'Great Community.'

## Where it surfaces

- [The Public and Its Problems](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_public_and_its_problems_se/chapters/the-public-and-its-problems): The central tension between the large-scale, impersonal 'Great Society' and the need for a participatory, communicative 'Great Community.'
- [I: Search for the Public](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_public_and_its_problems_se/chapters/i-search-for-the-public): The distinction between the public and the state, and the need for the public to organize itself, prefigures the later argument for transforming the Great Society into a Great Community.
- [Discovery of the State](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_public_and_its_problems_se/chapters/ii-discovery-of-the-state): The chapter's focus on the need for the public to organize into a state through representative officials, and the critique of metaphysical state theories, sets the stage for the later distinction between a mere 'Great Society' and a genuine 'Great Community'.
- [III: The Democratic State](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_public_and_its_problems_se/chapters/iii-the-democratic-state): Dewey notes that the Great Society created by technology is a society but not a community, and that the invasion of local communities by impersonal forces is the outstanding fact of modern life.
- [IV: The Eclipse of the Public](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_public_and_its_problems_se/chapters/iv-the-eclipse-of-the-public): The local face-to-face community has been invaded by vast, remote forces, creating an unintegrated 'great society' that has not yet become a great community.
- [V: Search for the Great Community](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_public_and_its_problems_se/chapters/v-search-for-the-great-community): Central theme: the need to transform the Great Society, characterized by complex indirect consequences, into a Great Community where these consequences are known and an organized public emerges.
- [VI: The Problem of Method](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_public_and_its_problems_se/chapters/vi-the-problem-of-method): Dewey emphasizes that the Great Community must be rooted in face-to-face local associations, which are the source of genuine attachment and democratic life.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_public_and_its_problems_se/themes/the_great_society_vs_great_community
- Themes index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_public_and_its_problems_se/themes