Output in

Community
Development

Submitted by: Submitted to:

Lyra Mae B. Losabia Jazmin Jayne Salazar
BSBA Microfinance II
 Seven Key Concerns in the Community Development Field
1. Concerns about relationships: social capital theory
 Community developers know inherently that the quality of social relationships is
essential for solidarity building and successful community initiatives. Friendships,
trust, and the willingness to share some resources are integral to collective
action. Community developers build intuitively on these relationships. Social
scientists view these relationships as a form of capital. Social capital is that set
of resources intrinsic to social relations and includes trust, norms, and networks.
It is often correlated with confidence in public institutions, civic engagement, self-
reliant economic development, and overall community well-being and happiness.

2. Concerns about structure: functionalism

 It is important to look at structure, which underlies organizational and group
capacity to bring about or stop change. In essence, structure is related to
Giddens’ concept of agency or capacity building. The theoretical concept
concerned with structure is known as structural functionalism. It is also called
systems theory, equilibrium theory, or simply functionalism. According to this
theoretical framework, societies contain certain interdependent structures, each
of which performs certain functions for societal maintenance. Structures refer to
organizations and institutions such as health care, educational entities, business
and nonprofits, or informal groups. Functions refer to their purposes, missions,
and what they do in society.
 Structural functionalism is a useful tool for practitioners. Looking at the case of an
inner city neighborhood that is struggling to create a micro-enterprise business
that will benefit local people, if one applied structural functionalism to community
development practice, one would help the community analyze which
organizations are committed to training, nurturing, and financing micro-enterprise
development and what their latent or hidden functions might be.

3. Concerns about power: conflict theory

 Power is the third key issue for community development. Power is control or
access to resources (land, labor, capital, and knowledge). Since community
development builds capacity, concerns about power are pivotal. Insights into
power tend to be found in political science or political sociology.
 Conflict theory suggests that conflict is an integral part of social life. There are
conflicts between economic classes, ethnic groups, young and old, male and
female, or among races. There are conflicts among developed “core” countries
and regions and those that are less developed. It is argued that these conflicts
result because power, wealth, and prestige are not available to everyone. Some
groups are excluded from dominant discourse. It is assumed that those who hold
or control desirable goods and services or who dominate culture will protect their
own interests at the expense of others.
 Community developers need conflict theory because it helps them gain insight
into why specific differences and competition have developed among groups and
organizations in a community. It can help them to understand why some people
are silent or have internalized the values of elites even to their own
disadvantage.
 Conflict theory can help communities understand the kind and extent of
competing interests among groups. It also can shed light on the distribution of
 power, whether concentrated in the hands of a few or more broadly distributed.
Communities can also explore the use of conflict to upset the status quo –
whether through protests, economic boycotts, peaceful resistance, or other
ranges of possibilities – especially if competing groups or institutions refuse to
change positions or negotiate.

4. Concerns about shared meaning: symbolic interactionism

 Shared meaning is the fourth key concern in community development. If the field
is committed to building or strengthening solidarity, then practitioners must be
concerned about the meaning people give to places, people and events. Herbert
Blumer (1969) named the theory “symbolic interactionism” because it
emphasizes the symbolic nature of human interaction rather than a mechanical
pattern of stimulus and interaction. For symbolic interactionists, the meaning of a
situation is not fixed but is constructed by participants as they anticipate the
responses of others. Mead (1992) explored the importance of symbols,
especially language, in shaping the meaning of the one who makes the gesture
as well as the one who receives it.
 Symbolic interactionism is essential for community development because it
provides insight into the ways people develop a sense of shared meaning, an
essential ingredient for solidarity. When a community developer helps a
community develop a shared vision of their future, she is helping them build a
sense of unity. A community-owned vision comes about through the interaction
of people and is related through pictorial, verbal, or musical symbols. A symbolic
interactionist would be keen on bringing people together to develop a shared
understanding.

5. Communication for change: communicative action theory

 It is safe to assume that community development occurs within the context of
democracy that is deliberative and participatory. Public talk is not simply talk;
it is essential for democratic participation. It is about thinking through public
policy choices. Deliberation occurs when the public examines the impacts of
potential choices and tries them on, just as one might try on clothing in a
department store before making a choice. In such settings, public talk
involves rich discussions among a variety of networks. From the community
development perspective, participation occurs in a setting where a diversity
of voices are heard in order to explore problems, test solutions, and make
changes to policies when the community finds flaws. Communities with
robust democratic networks may be viewed as communicatively integrated
(Friedland 2001). This type of integration involves the communicative
activities that link individuals, networks, and institutions into a community of
place or interest.
 Habermas’s theory of communicative action is that it builds a linkage
between the “rational” system and the lifeworld. His communicative action
theory and political objective are based on free, open, and unlimited
communication.

6. Motivation for decision making: rational choice theory

 The rational economic man model was proposed by Alfred Marshall (1895).
He believed that humans were interested in maximizing their utility,
happiness, or profits. The rational man would investigate each alternative
 and choose that which would best suit his individual needs. While Marshall
recognized that irrational decisions were made, he believed that the
overwhelming number of decision makers would operate in a maximizing
fashion and cancel out irrational actions. Marshall assumed all the relevant
information was available to the economic man and that he could
understand the consequences of his choices. The focus was on the
individual rather than the collective. Rational choice theory has several
embellishments and spinoffs from various social scientists. For example,
Mancur Olson (1965) explored whether rational calculation would lead a few
individuals to pursue collective action as a way to obtain public goods
because they could pursue these goods whether they were active or not. He
believed that collective behavior could be expected under two conditions: (1)
selective incentives – such as increased stature in the community, tax
breaks, or other benefits – could increase the rewards of those engaging in
collective action, and (2) the threat of sanctions against those who fail to
participate.
 When applied to community development, rational choice theory is
concerned with finding appropriate rewards and minimizing risks to
individuals who become involved in community initiatives.

7. Integration of disparate concerns and paradigms: Giddens’s structuration theory

 Giddens’s structuration theory stands as a middle ground between the
micro- and the macro-theories as well as the issue of agency and solidarity.
Giddens’s structuration theory suggests that the micro-theories associated
with symbolic interactionism can influence cultural and traditional norms and
patterns (modalities) and vice versa. While the symbolic interactionists tend
to ignore structure, Giddens’ mid-level theory about modalities is a crucial
link among symbolic interactionism, rational choice theory, social capital, the
micro–macro conflict, communicative action, and structural functionalist
theories (Giddens 1984).
 Structuration theory provides many theoretical insights (Ritzer 1996: 433) for
those engaged in community development because it links disparate macro-
theories about structure and conflict with micro-theories about individual and
group behaviour such as social capital, rational choice, and symbols or
symbolic interactionism. Giddens’s concept of modalities is essential for
community development practice.
 Application of Seven Theories
Barangay Week Celebration
In line to the application of the seven theories, I came up to the idea about this activity
that will strengthen, improve and develop our barangay. This activity is the Barangay Week
Celebration. Where there will be a yearly celebration in the barangay. In a week celebration,
there will be different events where everyone may fit in. Since our barangay is locked on
activities happening even on fiesta, the residents were always longing for an event or
entertainments that will benefit not just the participants but the whole community as well; these
are the common interest or the shared meaning of them. This barangay week celebration will
consist of events where it can strengthen the relationships of the residents and of course the
barangay officials. The events are livelihood program and tree planting activity. Where these
activities will not just helps the residents to improve their economic aspect, but also their
knowledge about having a business. It is more suitable to those housewives who wanted to be
more self-reliant and help their husbands to gain an additional income. While the tree planting
activity helps the environment and teach everyone to give importance to the nature. These
activities strengthen the relationship in a way that everyone is welcome to join on the said
activities and everyone is free to share their knowledge. They may help each other to improve
their skills and knowledge regardless of their position in barangay and status in life.

The next activity is having an open forum or a barangay session where residents with 18
years old and above are welcome to participate and speak their concerns regarding to their
barangay. It is an event that will give chance to the residents to say what they observe in their
barangay and the way the officials rule the community. Having an open communication will
make the community more reliable to each other since they can make up of the
misunderstandings they have and possibly to have a peaceful community especially for the
children. Though anytime, everyone can make decision anyway if they want to have a peaceful
community or not. In this activity as well will challenge the decision making of the individual,
his/her motivations in making decision.

Of course the celebration will not be complete if there is no mass that will happen. Giving
thanks to the Lord and asking for His guidance should always be present. Then the events that
will entertain the people will be present as well. These events are; fun run, pageants, sportsfest,
and the most popular event in every barangay at night, the so called “sayawan” or let’s call it a
solidarity night. It is open to everyone even to those who’s not a resident of the barangay.

Since, there are so many events that will going to happen, having a division of labor to
those organizers or officials will help to make these events possible. Every officials and
volunteers, if there is, should have their own tasks in order to avoid conflicts and make sure that
everyone is functioning so that the event would be a successful one. If there are no assigned
tasks for everyone, there might be a conflict with the other tasks they needed to do. Thus, the
one who have the power or authority should be the one governing his/her subordinate. Use their
power to influence everyone to do their job well. The one with the highest position should be the
role model and should be the one who gives more efforts to make the activities possible and
successful. But then, unity is still the key to a successful event.