Wednesday 6 June 2007

Gated Communities

Having read a few articles about gated residential communities in South Africa (mainly inhabited by affluent minority whites), complete with 24 hour armed patrols, in-built panic alarms in each house and steel bars on external windows etc, I wondering how much would each of us ever consider living in a fortress style gated community ?

What does the existence of a gated community say about the society you live in and about you ? Is it symbolic of a dysfunctional society whose social-moral framework has broken down between the haves and the have-nots ? Does having a gated community give legitimacy to the existence of structural social and economic inequalities ? Or is having a siege like mentality the only viable sane response to a situation where law and order has broken down and violent crime is endemic ?

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