Understanding Community
Chapter 6
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What “communities” do you belong to?
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What is a community?
Fall 20103
“A readily available, mutually supportive network of relationships on which one could depend.”
sense of community: key value to judge quality of life
What is a community?
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1. Locality-based Community:
2. Regional Community:
What is a community?
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Locality-based community Regional community
What is a community?
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Locality-based community
Regional community
Low High
LowHigh
Practice: University of Massachusetts Lowell
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How is it a locality-based community?
How is it a regionally-based community?
Psychological Sense of Community (SoC)
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strength of bonding among community members (Sarason, 1974)
McMillan & Chavis (1986) expanded on this definition:
Feeling that members belong Feeling that members matter to one another &
to group Shared faith that members’ needs will be met
through commitment to be together
4 Elements of SoC (p. 175)
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1. Group membership
2. Group influence
3. Group integration & fulfillment of needs
4. Shared emotional connection with group members
(1) Group Membership
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Personal investment in the community:
Boundaries Common symbol system Emotional safety Personal investment Sense of belonging & identification
(2) Group Influence
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2 types of power1. Power that members exercise over group2. Reciprocal power that group dynamics exert on
members
People most attracted to groups where they feel influential Those who try to dominate group often become
isolated
Groups typically strive for balance & cohesiveness through mutual influence
(3) Integration & Fulfillment of Needs
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Concerns horizontal relationships among members (whereas influence concerns vertical relationships)
2 aspects to Integration: Shared values: ideals pursued through community
involvement (i.e., improving education) Satisfying needs & exchange of resources
occurs among community members Purpose: to meet individual needs (physical, psychosocial,
etc.)
(4) Shared Emotional Connection
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“definitive element for true community” (McMillan & Chavis)
Involves spiritual bond (not necessarily religious)
Recognized through behavior, speech, or other cues
Deeper than behavior Strengthened through important group rituals
Research on Sense of Community (pp. 177-180)
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Textbook covers a number of issues regarding research on the concept of sense of community
College students (e.g., Loomis et al., 2004; Lounsbury et al., 2003)
- look for reference at back of book- search in PsychInfo
Source: http://community.livejournal.com/ljsecret15
Practice: Group Membership
Fall 201016
Community = UML Community
Boundaries:
Common symbol system:
Emotional safety:
Personal investment:
Sense of belonging & identification:
Opinion Question
Is sense of community an individual appraisal?
Or is sense of community a community level construct?
Fall 201017
Example Survey of college department found:
Students report faculty-student relationship is good.
Faculty report faculty-student relationship is good.
Students report faculty-faculty relationship is not good.
Faculty report faculty-faculty relationship is good
What can you tell about this department?
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Narratives
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Helps to build sense of community stories shared by group members
Dominant Social Narratives:
Community Narratives:
Personal Stories:
SoC Potential Downsides
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Negative psychological SoC (example on pp. 180-181)
Competition for individual’s time & commitment Consider your own communities
External relationships between communities may increase out-group conflict (example on pp. 183-184)
Sense of Community Downsides
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Conflicts can exist among macrobelonging & microbelonging to communities:
Macrobelonging:
Mircrobelonging:
Example: Women’s Movement
Practice Question What type of narrative is based on emotional
relationships between people within the same group?
a) Dominant Culturalb) Communityc) Personald) Other
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Social Capitol
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Sense of Community:
Social Capital: social networks norms of reciprocity & trust that arise from
social networks
Formal:
Informal:
Functions of Social Capitol
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Bonding:
Internal ties that underlie sense of community
Bridging:
to increase access to resources
Example: Facebook What social capitals exist within the
Facebook community?
How does Facebook promote bonding?
How does Facebook promote bridging?
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Skip Concepts related to Sense of Community
Skip Concepts related to Sense of Community
Read & Understand all 3 exammples of building communities (pp 191-199)
Spirituality Community Service Learning Online Communities
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Practice Questions What types of communities are the following:____ church____ public school____ zip code 01854____ UML____ facebook group: 30 Rock
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