According to Webster's dictionary a community is defined as a body of people living in the same place under the same laws. With this definition, the concept of a community can virtually be applied to any group of people anywhere, and it is. Our society has numerous communities weather they are religious educational or geographic. There is one community that is present in almost every other community through at least one person. This is the rave culture. Some people might beg to differ that a rave fits the definition of a community. By looking at the history of how the rave community came to be, the people who embody it, and the "laws" or philosophy that they share, it is obvious that ravers have community all of their own existing perfectly in beat with all the other communities in today's society.
When a person examines a culture, a community or a society it is vital to study it's history and origin so that we can gain a better understanding of why they are as they are now. The rave culture and community can be traced back as far as one would like to research it. Many people see a correlation between the rave scene and the 1960's hippy movement with the be-ins the love-ins and the acid tests (hyperreal.org). Native American and African spiritual dances are very similar to the rave community's gatherings (Brown) and some times even resembles the anarchist revolution in France and Italy (Collin, 84). The history is so complex that it could easily make a paper on it's own, however the actual rave community that we know today has a more solid origin. .
Prior to 1987- 1988,the rave community was virtually non-existent. Around this time however small dance parties were springing up around Europe, mostly in England and Germany. As the popularity of these European all night parties grew so did its popularity around the world. With in years it had traveled to Australia, Japan and eventually America (Eisenburg, 103).