社區雖然在1990年代以後再度成為各種公共服務的主要政策方向，但向來宣稱社區工作是基本工作方法之一的社會工作專業，在當前社會工作實務中卻將社區工作日趨邊緣化。當前公共服務社區化深受新自由主義的影響，比較著重於服務供給，這似乎有達社區工作先驅Jane Addams的理念。本丈嘗試透過Jane Addams的傳記、著作、討論其生平事蹟的專書與文章，以及諸多討論睦鄰運動及赫爾館的文章，來重新書寫她的社區工作理念。本文認為Jane Addams理解社區以及社區居民的位置與觀點，其實是「回到社區」本身，透過「與社區居民／受苦者共同生活」來觀察、聆聽以及共同行動，藉此回應社區居民/受苦者的需求，這是一種以人為本的思維與實踐。此外，對Jane Addams而言，社區不只是一個提供福利服務的地方，同時也是居民相互了解促進社會融合的地方；社區的居民不只是福利服務的案主，更是參與問題解決的公民；同時，社區是一個公共領域，也是實踐社會改革與社會民主的地方。我們相信Jane Addams社區工作的理念，對臺灣當前的社會民主、鄰里認同、社會改革、以及大學與社區的關係具有相當的啟發。

Community has reemerged as a main policy framework in many areas of public services since 1990s. Community work was one of the most important practice methods in the social work profession. However, community work is becoming marginalized in social work practice now. Contemporary community-based public services are strongly influenced by the Neo-liberalism. Neoliberals focus more on the service provision in the community rather than community participation. The current Neoliberal community practice contradicted Jane Addams's ideas of community work. We reinterpret Jane Addams's theory of community from the autobiography and from biographies and publications on her or on settlement house movement. We explore Jane Addams's philosophy of pragmatism and how her philosophy was practiced at Hull-House. According to Jane Addams, community is not only a place for welfare provision, but also a field for social inclusion. The residents of community are not clients of welfare, but are citizens of participating in public affairs Community is a public sphere that promotes social reform and socializes democracy. We believe that Jane Addams's ideas of community work are heuristic for social democracy, neighborhood identity, social reform, and community-university partnership for Taiwan.