Who attends condominium meetings?

Text: Julianna Szabó PhD

When we ask ourselves or our acquaintances why they don’t attend residents’ meetings, most of the negative responses can be categorized into two main groups: One is that condominium decision-making is undemocratic, because it is decided by a vocal minority. The other is that it is ineffective because, after a lot of talk, no decision is made or the plan voted for is not implemented. We believe that sociocracy can be a remedy for both criticisms, which is why we applied to the Common Values programme to teach sociocracy to Hungarian condominiums, with the aim of developing a culture of community living. Sociocracy is a system of decision-making, decision-preparation, organizational principles, and applicable methods. Its creation is generally attributed to Gerard Endenburg, who developed the system in the 1970s and was the first to apply it in his own IT-specialist company. However, its roots reach back further, to the discussion methods of Native Americans and Quakers. Its five main principles are equality, transparency, participation, responsibility, and tolerance of mistakes. Today, sociocracy methods are used in companies, schools, civil organizations, and most of the new community housing projects. In the 20th century, community housing projects were often organized on a grassroots democratic basis in order to avoid the anti-democratic nature of condominium practices.