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Understanding Community

Understanding Community. Chapter 6. What “communities” do you belong to?. What is a community?. “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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Understanding Community

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  1. Understanding Community Chapter 6

  2. What “communities” do you belong to?

  3. What is a community? • “A readily available, mutually supportive network of relationships on which one could depend.” • sense of community: key value to judge quality of life

  4. What is a community? • Locality-based Community: • Regional Community:

  5. What is a community? Locality-based community Regional community

  6. What is a community? Locality-based community Low High Regional community Low High

  7. Practice: University of Massachusetts Lowell • How is it a locality-based community? • How is it a regionally-based community?

  8. Psychological Sense of Community (SoC) • 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

  9. 4 Elements of SoC(p. 175) • Group membership • Group influence • Group integration & fulfillment of needs • Shared emotional connection with group members

  10. (1) Group Membership • Personal investment in the community: • Boundaries • Common symbol system • Emotional safety • Personal investment • Sense of belonging & identification

  11. (2) Group Influence • 2 types of power • Power that members exercise over group • 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

  12. (3) Integration & Fulfillment of Needs • 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.)

  13. (4) Shared Emotional Connection • “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

  14. Research on Sense of Community (pp. 177-180) • 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

  15. Practice: Group Membership • Community = UML Community • Boundaries: • Common symbol system: • Emotional safety: • Personal investment: • Sense of belonging & identification:

  16. Opinion Question • Is sense of community an individual appraisal? • Or is sense of community a community level construct?

  17. 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?

  18. Narratives • Helps to build sense of community • stories shared by group members • Dominant Social Narratives: • Community Narratives: • Personal Stories:

  19. SoC Potential Downsides • 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)

  20. Sense of Community Downsides • Conflicts can exist among macrobelonging & microbelonging to communities: • Macrobelonging: • Mircrobelonging: • Example: Women’s Movement

  21. Practice Question • What type of narrative is based on emotional relationships between people within the same group? • Dominant Cultural • Community • Personal • Other

  22. Social Capitol • Sense of Community: • Social Capital: • social networks • norms of reciprocity & trust that arise from social networks • Formal: • Informal:

  23. Functions of Social Capitol • Bonding: • Internal ties that underlie sense of community • Bridging: • to increase access to resources

  24. Example: Facebook • What social capitals exist within the Facebook community? • How does Facebook promote bonding? • How does Facebook promote bridging?

  25. 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

  26. Practice Questions • What types of communities are the following: ____ church ____ public school ____ zip code 01854 ____ UML ____ facebook group: 30 Rock

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