Why do communitarians believe that communities need a shared idea of the good?

Communitarians argue that a community cannot function as a normatively neutral realm; therefore, it must formulate a shared idea of the good to provide a necessary foundation for social life.1

Without a social formulation of the good, there is no normative basis available to resolve conflicts of value between different individuals and groups. By establishing an overriding good—such as national well-being—a community enables people with diverse moral outlooks or ideological backgrounds to find principled, rather than merely prudential, common ground.1

This perspective is rooted in the belief that individual identity is socially embedded rather than existing in abstraction from society. Because culture and social relations help constitute who individuals are, communitarians contend that justice and social interests cannot be formulated without reference to these shared social contexts.1