COMMUNITY

– communion with others on the basis of an

experience of a common problem or situated
cognition (Community is a social construct)

1. Membership
2. Influence (Sense of belongingness)
3. Integration and fulfillment of needs (goals)
4. Shared emotional connection (

Community
– Social organization (people interact)

– Keep the community intact and integrated as a

whole
– Elements:

1. Social structure
- family (primary group) , culture, beliefs, and
values
- religion (beliefs can limit social interaction)
- education (where your beliefs and values are
built / is also how
people are discriminated)
2. Social Groups
- primary group (family/peers)
 - secondary group (orgs, clubs, political
parties, association,
neighborhood)
- informal group (based on their interests- no
specific goal)
- formal group (task, group work)
3. Status
- ascribed (sex, race/ethnicity)
- achieved (education, profession)
4. Role
- student, friend, daughter, seat mate, citizen
- where there are expectations

Structures
– Organized

– Foundation

– Framework-guide

*Ideally interaction should be the government

and the citizens communicating to each other

——
BUILDING COMMUNITY
- refers to CHANGES that occur in the
community

●
Typologies
– Gemeinschaft (homogenous, personal,
caring, intimate, informal and communal
society,, loose relationship)
– Gesellschaft (heterogeneous, rational, formal,
and individualistic)

●
Community Sectors
– Public (government and agencies)
– Private (business/ enterprises; providing
people’s needs)
– Voluntary (NGOs)
– For-benefit (Public x Private)

●
Types of Communities
– Urban (heterogenous, diverse, doesn’t have
much vegetation, packed with houses and
establishments, airport etc. Lack of personal
involvement)
– Rural (homogenous, low-density, agricultural,
and is feudal bc of the tenants and landlord.
Close ties in the community)
– Suburban (residential or mix-used near
–

workplace, dominated by nuclear family

homes)
– Rurban (urban x rural; urban communities
move to housing settlements in the outskirts of
rural areas)

Social Space- geographical or virtual

community where people gather due to
common interest; virtual is through electronic
forums or hubs,, through social media)

●
Community Dynamics
1. power structure (hierarchal- we recognize
who has the authority and can change //
proletariat- power is equal)
– Factors acting changes in power structure:

authority and influence (can be people who

are not elected because of status, age, wealth,
expertise, charisma; their educational
attainment) formal- election,, informal- ex.
Marytown -> it is important to know who are in
power so you know who to approach when
there are proposals or problems
2. community population composition
(common demographic- size, distributions,
2.

and characteristic of population)

3. population composition
– common demographic variables that describe

the size, distribution, and characteristics of

population
– fertility (are subject to internal and external

determinants such as social and legal

preconditions- birth control, social
preconditions, level of education, status)
– mortality (v death rates + ^ survival rate + ^life

expectancy = v fertility rate; means the

community is healthy) top three causes of
mortality in the PH: heart disease, stroke, and
respiratory infections.
– migration (moving from one place to another

for the reason being: personal, economic,

sociocultural, political, or environmental)

●
Power Structure
– Interacting individuals in community power
structures power actors
– Pluralist (individuals have equal influence ex.
democracy- ideal)
– Elitist (hierarchal- those who possess wealth,
prestige, and authority who rarely involve
–

themselves in elective positions. Is a tightly

knit group-Aristocracy) Two types: Class
based- whoever’s influential and have the
ability to lead // Growth Machine- strives for
community growth, teamwork)
– Factional (power in groups that hold equal
power so they struggle dominate -> focused
more on getting rid of each other than
resolving the problems of the community)
– Amorphous (absence of authority, the
community can’t achieve anything “sleeping
giant”)