Understanding Community

Chapter 6

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What “communities” do you belong to?

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What is a community?

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“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

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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?

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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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