Subculture and Community: Intergenerativity, Social Capital, and Community Resilience in the Society for Creative Anachronism

In an increasingly complex world, intergenerational collaboration is essential to address the problems the world faces with climate change, social inequity, economic change, and rapid technological development (Hibbs 2020). Research has shown that intergenerativity, or the process of adult/youth power, knowledge, and resource sharing for community development can be highly effective for building and maintaining community resilience (Ronan and Johnston 2005). This study offers a case study of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) in the United States and Australia and how this organization has utilized the skills and leadership of people of all ages to build, grow, and maintain the organization’s community resilience. While the organization has experienced many disruptions due to external problems (such as COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters) and internal conflicts (such as bullying, bigotry, and adults seeking power and control over young people), the organization has both maintained and grown its organization membership from 30 people in 1969 to over 60,000 organizational members in 2023 at a national and international level. Some of the community resilience building strategies the SCA utilizes have been shown to be effective with some limitations. These strategies can include developing organizational policy and leadership, offering leadership and decision-making opportunities for diverse people to share their perspectives, removing harmful community members, supporting youth leadership, and increasing SCAdian capital both inside and outside the SCA. The SCA increases its members’ capital through skills training (human capital), social networks (social capital), and opportunities for employment and business development (economic capital). Moreover, the organization’s subcultural values increase the potential for all forms of capital while building a strong resource sharing and emotional support network for its members. This dissertation shows that intergenerativity and social capital are highly useful strategies for building and maintaining community resilience and offers practical strategies for other organizations and governments looking to increased their resilience through intergenerativity.