# Institute for Community Studies

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British non-profit social policy organisation

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Institute for Community Studies Formation 1953; 73 years ago (1953) Headquarters East London, UK Parent organization The Young Foundation Website www.youngfoundation.org/institute-for-community-studies

The **Institute for Community Studies** at **The Young Foundation** is a [British](/source/United_Kingdom) [non-profit](/source/Non-profit) [research institute](/source/Research_institute) that works with communities, organisations, and policymakers to effect social change.[1] It was founded in 1953[1] and is based in Toynbee Hall, [East London](/source/East_London).[2] In 2005, it merged with the [Mutual Aid Centre](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mutual_Aid_Centre&action=edit&redlink=1) and was renamed [The Young Foundation](/source/The_Young_Foundation), in honour of its founder, the sociologist, social activist and politician [Michael Young](/source/Michael_Young%2C_Baron_Young_of_Dartington). In 2019, The Young Foundation relaunched the Institute under the auspices of chief executive officer Helen Goulden.[3]

The Institute makes use of [community-based participatory researchers](/source/Community-based_participatory_research) to collect evidence.

## Organisational history

### Origins in the work of Michael Young

The original Institute was founded in 1953[1] by British [Labour](/source/Labour_Party_(UK)) [economist](/source/Economist) and [sociologist](/source/Sociology) [Michael Young](/source/Michael_Young%2C_Baron_Young_of_Dartington) as the Institute of Community Studies in response to the [bureaucratic](/source/Bureaucracy) obstacles faced by [working-class](/source/Working_class) residents of new [social housing](/source/Public_housing_in_the_United_Kingdom) [estates](/source/Housing_estate) in [East London](/source/East_London).*[4]*

As an economist for the Labour Party, Young wrote the [Labour Party manifesto](/source/Labour_Party_manifesto) "[Let Us Face the Future](https://web.archive.org/web/20130315015558/http://www.labour-party.org.uk/manifestos/1945/1945-labour-manifesto.shtml)" for the [July 1945 general election](/source/1945_United_Kingdom_general_election) that [swept Labour into power](/source/Attlee_ministry). The manifesto was key to the electoral victory and to the subsequent establishment of the [welfare state of post-war Britain](/source/Post-war_Britain_(1945%E2%80%931979)#Welfare_state).[4]

Young left government in 1950 to pursue a PhD in [Sociology](/source/Sociology) at the [London School of Economics](/source/London_School_of_Economics). Under the supervision of [Richard Titmuss](/source/Richard_Titmuss), he completed a thesis in 1955, titled "A study of the extended family in [East London](/source/East_London)." While conducting his [research](/source/Research) on housing conditions in 1952, he lamented that "the [local councillors](/source/Parish_council_(England)) heard the complaints, but did nothing about them because they were [captured by the officials](/source/State_capture)."[4]

Young cited bureaucratic obstacles and political inaction as motivations for founding the Institute of Community Studies in 1953.[4] The Institute was to be a [think tank](/source/Think_tank) from which many [innovative public-interest projects](/source/Social_entrepreneurship) were [launched](/source/Business_incubator).

The early Institute's stated purpose was "to examine the interaction of the family, the community and the [social services](/source/Social_services)," and "to study the way in which ordinary people interacted with the [newly expanded social service sector](/source/Beveridge_Report#Implementation)" which followed on the heels of the [Labour reforms of 1945-1950](/source/History_of_the_welfare_state_in_the_United_Kingdom#Labour_reforms_1945–1950).[2] Furthermore, it "asked whether the [organs](/source/Separation_of_powers) of" the [welfare state in the United Kingdom](/source/Welfare_state_in_the_United_Kingdom) "were in cooperation or conflict with established patterns of family support and [mutual aid](/source/Mutual_aid)" in the UK.[2]

The Institute gained attention during its early years for its unconventional structure and its focus on community-level sociological research.[4] of the sort that prompted Young to create it—although this meant that Young and the Institute were constantly [seeking funding](/source/Fundraising) from [donors](/source/Philanthropy), [foundations](/source/Foundation_(nonprofit)), and the [public sector](/source/Public_sector). One of its first publications was [*Family And Kinship In East London*](/source/Family_and_Kinship_in_East_London) (1957), co-authored by Young and [Peter Willmott.](/source/Peter_Willmott_(sociologist)) The study was based on [fieldwork](/source/Field_research) with residents relocated from inner London communities to [suburban](/source/Suburb) [housing estate](/source/Housing_estate).[5] The study identified several social consequences of relocation, as highlighted in the Institute's publication.[6][5] The Institute's findings contributed to ongoing debates on urban redevelopment and its impact on community structures that characterized [post-war](/source/Aftermath_of_World_War_II) rebuilding in the UK[7] and abroad.[4] The Institute of Community Studies was an [incubator](/source/Business_incubator) for building nonprofit organisations to meet social needs, including [NHS Direct](/source/NHS_Direct), the [Open University](/source/Open_University), [The School for Social Entrepreneurs](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_School_for_Social_Entrepreneurs&action=edit&redlink=1), and [Which?](/source/Which%3F) (officially named the [Consumer's Association](/source/Which%3F).)[8]

The Institute created a series of [educational television](/source/Educational_television) programs called "Dawn University" that aired on [Anglia Television](/source/ITV_Anglia). This program would become the [prototype](/source/Prototype) for the highly innovative [Open University](/source/Open_University), launched in 1964.[4] The Institute also fostered the [distance-learning](/source/Distance_education) [National Extension College](/source/National_Extension_College) in 1963, and, in 1972, the [International Extension College](/source/International_Extension_College) for students from the [developing world](/source/Developing_country).[4] In 1982, the Institute worked with historian [Peter Laslett](/source/Peter_Laslett) to launch the British version of the [University of the Third Age of Toulouse](/source/University_of_the_Third_Age#France),[4] a [French](/source/France) [lifelong learning](/source/Lifelong_learning) program begun in 1973 .

### Renaming and Relaunch

Young served as the Institute's director until his death in 2002. In 2005, the Institute of Community Studies merged with the Mutual Aid Centre (another Young-founded organisation) and was renamed The [Young Foundation](/source/Young_Foundation). The Young Foundation then launched a re-conceived Institute *for* Community Studies as one of its constituent parts in 2019, with financial support from [charitable trusts](/source/Charitable_trusts_in_English_law) and [private donors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Philanthropy_in_England). The new Institute's stated mission includes "engag[ing] with people across the UK, with a focus on gathering public views and informing policy research."[9]

The Institute for Community Studies at The Young Center inaugurated its relaunch with a study begun in 2019 and completed and published during the [COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom](/source/COVID-19_pandemic_in_the_United_Kingdom) entitled "Safety in Numbers?"[10]

## Notable publications by the Institute of Community Studies

- *The Family Life of Old People: An inquiry in East London* ([Peter Townsend](/source/Peter_Townsend_(sociologist)), 1957).

- *Widows and their Families* (Peter Marris, 1958).

- *Family and Class in a London Suburb* (Peter Willmott and [Michael Young](/source/Michael_Young%2C_Baron_Young_of_Dartington), 1960).

- *Family and Social Change in an African City: A study of rehousing in Lagos* (Peter Marris, 1961).

- *Education and the Working Class* ([Brian Jackson](/source/Brian_Jackson_(educator)), [Dennis Marsden](/source/Dennis_Marsden), 1962).

- *Living with Mental Illness: A study in East London* (Enid Mills, 1962).

- *The Evolution of a Community: A Study of Dagenham after forty years* ([Peter Willmott](/source/Peter_Willmott_(sociologist)), 1963).

- *Human Relations and Hospital Care* ([Ann Cartwright](/source/Ann_Cartwright), 1964).

- *Innovation and Research in Education* ([Michael Young](/source/Michael_Young%2C_Baron_Young_of_Dartington), 1965).

- *Adolescent Boys of East London* ([Peter Willmott](/source/Peter_Willmott_(sociologist)), 1966).

- *Working Class Community* ([Brian Jackson](/source/Brian_Jackson_(educator)), 1968).

- *The Symmetrical Family: A study of work and leisure in the London Region* ([Michael Young](/source/Michael_Young%2C_Baron_Young_of_Dartington) and [Peter Willmott](/source/Peter_Willmott_(sociologist)), 1973).

## Notes

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:3_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:3_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-:3_1-2) ["About us"](https://www.youngfoundation.org/about/). *The Young Foundation*. Retrieved 14 August 2024.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-:0_2-2) Lise Butler (2015). ["Michael Young, the Institute of Community Studies, and the Politics of Kinship"](https://academic.oup.com/tcbh/article/26/2/203/1675919). *Twentieth Century British History*. **26** (2): 203–224. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1093/tcbh/hwu063](https://doi.org/10.1093%2Ftcbh%2Fhwu063). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [26411065](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26411065).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Helen Goulden OBE"](https://www.youngfoundation.org/about-us/who-we-are/people/helen-goulden/). *The Young Foundation*. Retrieved 14 August 2024.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:1_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:1_4-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-:1_4-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-:1_4-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-:1_4-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-:1_4-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-:1_4-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-:1_4-7) [***i***](#cite_ref-:1_4-8) Dean, Malcolm (16 January 2002). ["Lord Young of Dartington"](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/jan/16/guardianobituaries.books). *The Guardian*. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0261-3077](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0261-3077). Retrieved 14 August 2024.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:2_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:2_5-1) Fox, Margalit (25 January 2002). ["Michael Young, 86, Scholar; Coined, Mocked 'Meritocracy'"](https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/25/world/michael-young-86-scholar-coined-mocked-meritocracy.html). *The New York Times*. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0362-4331](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331). Retrieved 16 August 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Breaking up communities - Social Policy and Social Work, The University of York"](https://web.archive.org/web/20130921060457/https://www.york.ac.uk/spsw/news-and-events/news/2012/breaking-up-communities/). 21 September 2013. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2024.{{[cite web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_web)}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_bot:_original_URL_status_unknown))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["BBC Inside Out - T. Dan Smith"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/northeast/series2/tdansmith_newcastlepolitics.shtml). *www.bbc.co.uk*. Retrieved 16 August 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Our history"](https://www.youngfoundation.org/about/history/). *The Young Foundation*. Retrieved 14 August 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["About us"](https://www.youngfoundation.org/institute-for-community-studies/about-us/). *Institute for Community Studies*. Retrieved 14 August 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["Safety in numbers?"](https://www.youngfoundation.org/our-work/publications/safety-in-numbers/). *The Young Foundation*. Retrieved 14 August 2024.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Institute for Community Studies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_for_Community_Studies) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_for_Community_Studies?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.