GOOD

MORNING 
HUMAN
PICTURE
WHAT IS A
COMMUNITY?
The first definition of ‘community’ as we know it today
emerged in 1887, when German sociologist Ferdinand Tonnies
proposed the Gemeinschaft (translated to ‘community’) and
Gesselschaft (translated to “society”) dichotomy as a way to
view social ties. This dichotomy proposes that social ties can be
classified into: personal social interactions, and the values or
beliefs based on such interactions or Gemeinschaft. On the
other hand, these ties may also be indirect interactions,
impersonal roles, traditional values, and beliefs based on such
interactions, or Gessellescahft.

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In 1986, Mcmillan and Chavis identified four elements
of “sense of community”:
(1) membership: feeling of belonging or sharing of a
sense of personal relatedness
(2) influence: mattering, making a difference to group
mattering to its members.
(3) reinforcement: integration and fulfillment of needs.
(4) a shared emotional connection.

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Today, the term community encompasses
many different meanings and can be
viewed from a number of perspectives. At
the minimum, community refers to a
collection of people in a geographical
area.

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The elements below are commonly present when
referring to a ‘community’ in the colloquial sense:

1.Collection of people with a particular social structure;

2.A sense of belonging or community spirit

3.All the daily activities of a community, work or non-

work, that occur within the geographical area.

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BASIC
ELEMENTS OF
A COMMUNITY
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The basic unit of social
structures is people. Although
individuals may change
overtime, the structure
maintains its continuity.

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 BASIC ELEMENTS OF A COMMUNITY

People can have different roles in society

depending on a number of factors. These can
be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity,
gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic
standing, values, age, physical abilities,
religious beliefs, and other identities.
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 BASIC ELEMENTS OF A COMMUNITY

Macro-level factors (socio-political, cultural, and

economic) which also encourage diversity in our society
also influence community dynamics of power,
leadership, and relationships. Government policies,
economic progress ,access to education and cultural
activities are all factors that contribute to the formation
of an individual person’s role within their respective
communities.
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 BASIC ELEMENTS OF A COMMUNITY

Each community will have its own dynamics of

power, leadership, and relationships. A
community displays its power when
organizations, institutions, and other groups
within the community engage and collaborate
with each other to obtain the community’s
common objectives.
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DIFFERENT
PERSPECTIVE ON
COMMUNITY
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A. Sociological Perspective
As a sociological concept, community has been
used to refer to a range of social phenomena.
Generally, it is a set of interactions and human
behaviors that have meaning and expectations
between its members. Not just actions, but actions
based on shared expectations, values, beliefs and
meanings between individuals.
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Sociologist Joseph Gusfield (1978) identifies two
dimensions of community: territorial and relational.

• The relational dimensions of community relates to the

nature and quality of relationships in that community.
Some communities may have no discernible territorial
demarcation. An example of this is the case of community
of academics who work on particular research topic, but
may live and work in different locations.

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• Other communities can be defined according to
territory. Take the example of neighborhoods
or your local barangay. People live near one
another and may often see each other on
different occasions. However, it’s important to
note that even in these cases, proximity of
shared territory cannot by itself constitute a
community.
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B. Institutional Perspective
Just as citizens relate to the state and
family members relate to domestic life,
individuals connect to each other society
through a network of values and
institutions.
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Communities may arise from social
institutions that have established rules such
as gender, religion, and culture, ensuring
regular and predictable behavior.

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C. Civil Society Perspective
The term “civil society” is often thought as a
“mediator” between the individual and the
state: these are nonprofit associations,
NGO’s, social movements, and even minority
or marginalized sectors such as the
LGBTQIA community.
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D. Local and Grassroots Perspective
Grassroots movements and organizations use
collective action from the local level to effect
change at the local, regional, national, or
international level. Grassroots politics are
necessary to shape political agendas and
bring public attention to regional concerns.
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Grassroots organizations derive their power from
the people. Thus their strategies seek to engage
ordinary people in political discourse to the greatest
extent possible. Oftentimes, these groups seek and
engage with small towns and marginalized
communities to make sure that their goals are
achieved by focusing on minority sectors.

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TYPES OF
COMMUNITY
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Tonnies distinguished two types of communities. On the one
hand was the simplicity of village life (community or
Gemeinschaft), then there were complex social relationships
in urban environments (society or Gesellschaft). Tönnies
viewed the two as opposites, wherein the community had
close and frequent interactions, while (urban) 'society' had
distant and infrequent interactions. Considering the rapidly
changing landscape of today, this view still offers a useful
starting point to study rural and urban populations. However,
it cannot account for the varied types of communities that
exist in urban and rural areas.
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Worsley (1987) proposed 3 typology
types: according to locality. collective
identity, and community spirit.
Though still general, it expanded the
ideas first proposed by Tönnies.

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LOCALITY
⋄ Communities which share a
common place or locality.

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 COLLECTIVE IDENTITY
⋄ Communities based on a shared identifiable
characteristic such as ethnicity, or a
common experience of disadvantage, or to
those who belong to a particular profession .

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 Community Spirit
⋄ Members of such a community have a
sense of connection based on a network of
relationships and interactions which may or
may not be through physical interactions.

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On the other hand, Brint's (2001) typology is one of the few
available to classify distinctly different types of contemporary
communities, grouped according to the following variables:
1) basis of relationship, whether geographic or by choice; 2)
reason for interaction, whether through activity or belief, 3)
location of other members, whether concentrated or
dispersed, and 4) amount of interaction, whether frequent or
infrequent.

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THANK YOUU!<3

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 Activity
Think about a communities- group, institution, and association
you belong to. Create a simple social map to establish your
relationship to these different communities.
Draw a large circle of a blank sheet of paper to represent
yourself, connect this circle to smaller circles outside which
represent the different communities you belong to.

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 Answer the following:

1. Choose 1 community in your map and explain your

relationship to it is geographical, relation or both?
2. What are the communities where you are an active
member? Why?
3. Which communities do you feel you can build a strong
connection with? How will you do that?

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