PREPARED BY:

PROF. ROGEL A. EDRADA RN, MAN

MIDTERM LECTURE

UNIT 1: CONCEPTS and PERSPECTIVES of COMMUNITY

At the end of the topic, the learners are expected to:

1. Explain the importance of studying community dynamics and community action

in relation to the applied social sciences and the learners’ future career options.

2. Compare and contrast the definitions of community using various perspectives,

e.g. social sciences, institutions, civil society, and local/grassroots level.

3. Develop and affirm sense of shared identity and willingness to contribute to the
attainment of the common good.

4. Recognize diversities in communities.

5. Analyze functions of communities in terms of structures, dynamics, and

processes.

6. Compare and contrast typologies of communities.

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 LESSON 1: IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITY DYNAMICS AND
COMMUNITY ACTION

People have lived in communities since the beginning of time. Sharing a common social

life, and striving for the common good. The community is generally regarded as the second

most important human group. It has been established that the community represents an

extension of the family, which is viewed as the group of first importance.

Like other organizations, the community has a social structure with an array of statuses

and roles interrelated with each other. Each role is suited to the performance of a specialized

function. The various roles are interrelated and interdependent. The members interact and

exchange ideas, share common services and common interests. They carry on their respective

roles in pursuit of their common goals which develop the feeling of solidarity or the community

spirit.

Community development is often linked with community work or community planning,

and may involve stakeholders, foundations, governments, or contracted entities including non-

government organizations (NGOs), universities or government agencies to progress the social

well- being of local, regional and, sometimes, national communities. More grassroots efforts,

called community building or community organizing, seek to empower individuals and groups

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of people by providing them with the skills they need to effect change in their own

communities. These skills often assist in building political power through the formation of large

social groups working for a common agenda. Community development practitioners must

understand both how to work with individuals and how to affect communities' positions within

the context of larger social institutions. Public administrators, in contrast, need to understand

community development in the context of rural and urban development, housing and economic

development, and community, organizational and business development.

Every community has a leadership structure of people and organized groups who exert

influence over different areas of the community taking a position of power. Community

development projects, by their nature, are efforts that support a shared vision of how the

community should change or processes of developing a shared vision. Therefore, community

development projects might be seen as a challenge by a community’s existing power structure.

The people who are behind new energy in the community to discuss and effect change need to

understand how others will view their efforts. Projects are more likely to be successful if the

organizers work with and draw on the resources of others in the community, often some of

these resources reside with people in positions of power.

For those of us who work in community development, it's important to understand

community -- what a community is, and the specific nature of the communities we work in.

Anything we do in a community requires us to be familiar with its people, its issues, and its

history. Carrying out an intervention or building a coalition are far more likely to be successful if

they are informed by the culture of the community and an understanding of the relationships

among individuals and groups within it.

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 Taking the time and effort to understand your community well before embarking on a

community effort will pay off in the long term. A good way to accomplish that is to create a

community description -- a record of your exploration and findings. It's a good way to gain a

comprehensive overview of the community -- what it is now, what it's been in the past, and

what it could be in the future. In this section, we'll discuss how you might approach examining

the community in some detail and setting down your findings in a community description.

What is a community?

While we traditionally think of a community as the people in a given geographical

location, the word can really refer to any group sharing something in common. This may refer

to smaller geographic areas -- a neighborhood, a housing project or development, a rural area --

or to a number of other possible communities within a larger, geographically-defined

community.

What do we mean by understanding and describing the community?

Understanding the community entails understanding it in a number of ways. Whether or

not the community is defined geographically, it still has a geographic context -- a setting that it

exists in. Getting a clear sense of this setting may be key to a full understanding of it. At the

same time, it's important to understand the specific community you're concerned with. You

have to get to know its people -- their culture, their concerns, and relationships -- and to

develop your own relationships with them as well.

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 Physical aspects. Every community has a physical presence of some sort, even if only

one building. Most have a geographic area or areas they are either defined by or

attached to. It's important to know the community's size and the look and feel of its

buildings, its topography (the lay of the land -- the hills, valleys, rivers, roads, and other

features you'd find on a map), and each of its neighborhoods. Also important are how

various areas of the community differ from one another, and whether your impression

is one of clean, well-maintained houses and streets, or one of shabbiness, dirt, and

neglect.

If the community is one defined by its population, then its physical properties are

also defined by the population: where they live, where they gather, the places that are

important to them. The characteristics of those places can tell you a great deal about

the people who make up the community. Their self-image, many of their attitudes, and

their aspirations are often reflected in the places where they choose -- or are forced by

circumstance or discrimination -- to live, work, gather, and play.

 Infrastructure. Roads, bridges, transportation (local public transportation, airports, train

lines), electricity, land line and mobile telephone service, broadband service, and similar

"basics" make up the infrastructure of the community, without which it couldn't

function.

 Patterns of settlement, commerce, and industry. Communities reveal their character by

where and how they create living and working spaces. Where there are true slums

-- substandard housing in areas with few or no services that are the only options for

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 low-income people -- the value the larger community places on those residents seems

clear. Are heavy industries located next to residential neighborhoods? If so, who lives in

those neighborhoods? Are some parts of the community dangerous, either because of

high crime and violence or because of unsafe conditions in the built or natural

environment?

 Demographics.  It's vital to understand who makes up the community.  Age, gender,

race and ethnicity, marital status, education, number of people in household, first

language -- these and other statistics make up the demographic profile of the

population. When you put them together (e.g., the education level of black women ages

18-24), it gives you a clear picture of who community residents are.

 History. The long-term history of the community can tell you about community

traditions, what the community is, or has been, proud of, and what residents would

prefer not to talk about. Recent history can afford valuable information about conflicts

and factions within the community, important issues, past and current relationships

among key people and groups -- many of the factors that can trip up any effort before it

starts if you don't know about and address them.

 Community leaders, formal and informal. Some community leaders are elected or

appointed -- mayors, city councilors, directors of public works. Others are considered

leaders because of their activities or their positions in the community -- community

activists, corporate CEO's, college presidents, doctors, clergy.  Still others are recognized

as leaders because, they are trusted for their proven integrity, courage, and/or care for

others and the good of the community.

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 Community culture, formal and informal. This covers the spoken and unspoken rules

and traditions by which the community lives. It can include everything from community

events and slogans -- the blessing of the fishing fleet, the "Artichoke Capital of the

World" -- to norms of behavior -- turning a blind eye to alcohol abuse or domestic

violence -- to patterns of discrimination and exercise of power. Understanding the

culture and how it developed can be crucial, especially if that's what you're attempting

to change.

 Existing groups.  Most communities have an array of groups and organizations of

different kinds -- service clubs (Lions, Rotary, etc.), faith groups, youth organizations,

sports teams and clubs, groups formed around shared interests, the boards of

community-wide organizations (the YMCA), as well as groups devoted to self-help,

advocacy, and activism.  Knowing of the existence and importance of each of these

groups can pave the way for alliances or for understanding opposition.

 Existing institutions. Every community has institutions that are important to it, and that

have more or less credibility with residents. Colleges and universities, libraries, religious

institutions, hospitals -- all of these and many others can occupy important places in the

community. It's important to know what they are, who represents them, and what

influence they wield.

 Economics.  Who are the major employers in the community?  What, if any, business or

industry is the community's base? Who, if anyone, exercises economic power? How is

wealth distributed? Would you characterize the community as poor, working, class,

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 middle class, or affluent?  What are the economic prospects of the population in general

and/or the population you're concerned with?

 Government/Politics. Understanding the structure of community government is

obviously important. Some communities may have strong mayors and weak city

councils, others the opposite.  Whatever the government structure, where does political

power lie? Understanding where the real power is can be the difference between a

successful effort and a vain one.

 Social structure. Many aspects of social structure are integrated into other areas --

relationships, politics, economics -- but there are also the questions of how people in

the community relate to one another on a daily basis, how problems are (or aren't)

resolved, who socializes or does business with whom, etc. This area also includes

perceptions and symbols of status and respect, and whether status carries entitlement

or responsibility (or both).

 Attitudes and values. Again, much of this area may be covered by investigation into

others, particularly culture. What does the community care about, and what does it

ignore? What are residents' assumptions about the proper way to behave, to dress, to

do business, to treat others? Is there widely accepted discrimination against one or

more groups by the majority or by those in power? What are the norms for interaction

among those who with different opinions or different backgrounds?

Why make the effort to understand and describe your community?

You may at this point be thinking, "Can't I work effectively within this community

without gathering all this information?" Perhaps, if it's a community you're already familiar

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with, and really know it well. If you're new to the community, or an outsider, however, it's a

different story. Not having the proper background information on your community may not

seem like a big deal until you unintentionally find yourself on one side of a bitter divide, or get

involved in an issue without knowing about its long and tangled history.

Some advantages to taking the time to understand the community dynamics and create a

community description include:

1. Gaining a general idea, even before an assessment, of the community's strengths and the

challenges it faces.

2. Capturing unspoken, influential rules and norms. For example, if people are divided and

angry about a particular issue, your information might show you an event in the community's

history that explains their strong emotions on that subject.

3. Getting a feel for the attitudes and opinions of the community when you're starting work on

an initiative.

4. Ensuring the security of your organization's staff and participants.  There may be

neighborhoods where staff members or participants should be accompanied by others in order

to be safe, at least at night. Knowing the character of various areas and the invisible borders

that exist among various groups and neighborhoods can be extremely important for the

physical safety of those working and living in the community.

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5. Having enough familiarity with the community to allow you to converse intelligently with

residents about community issues, personalities and geography. Knowing that you've taken the

time and effort to get to know them and their environment can help you to establish trust with

community members.  That can make both a community assessment and any actions and

activities that result from it easier to conduct.

6. Being able to talk convincingly with the media about the community.

7. Being able to share information with other organizations or coalitions that work in the

community so that you can collaborate or so that everyone's work can benefit.

8. Providing background and justification for grant proposals.

9. Knowing the context of the community so that you can tailor interventions and programs to

its norms and culture, and increase your chances of success.

When should you make an effort to understand and describe the community?

1. When you're about to launch a community assessment.  The first step is to get a clear sense

of the community, before more specifically assessing the area(s) you're interested in.

2. When you're new to a community and want to be well informed before beginning your work.

If you've just started working in a community -- even if it's work you've been doing for years --

you will probably find that taking the time to write a community description enriches your

work.

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3. When you've been working in a community for any length of time and want to take stock.

Communities are complex, constantly-changing entities. By periodically stopping to write a

detailed description of your community, you can assess what approaches have worked and

what haven't; new needs that have developed over time and old concerns that no longer

require your effort and energy; and other information to help you better do your work.

4. When you're feeling like you're stuck in a rut and need a fresh perspective. Organizations

have to remain dynamic in order to keep moving forward. Reexamining the community -- or

perhaps examining it carefully for the first time -- can infuse an organization with new ideas and

new purpose.

5. When you're considering introducing a new initiative or program and want to assess its

possible success. Aside from when you first come to a community, this is probably the most

vital time to do a community description.

6. When a funder asks you to, often as part of a funding proposal.

Whom should you contact to gather information?

Much of your best and most interesting information may come from community members
with no particular credentials except that they're part of the community. It's especially
important to get the perspective of those who often don't have a voice in community decisions
and politics -- low-income people, immigrants, and others who are often kept out of the
community discussion. In addition, however, there are some specific people that it might be
important to talk to. They're the individuals in key positions, or those who are trusted by a large
part of the community or by a particular population. In a typical community, they might
include:

 Elected officials
 Community planners and development officers
 Chiefs of police

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  School superintendents, principals, and teachers
 Directors or staff of health and human service organizations
 Health professionals
 Clergy
 Community activists
 Housing advocates
 Presidents or chairs of civic or service clubs -- Chamber of Commerce, veterans'
organizations, Lions, Rotary, etc.
 People without titles, but identified by others as "community leaders"
 Owners or CEO's of large businesses (these may be local or may be large corporations
with local branches)

How do you go about understanding and describing the community?

To begin, let's look at some basic principles to keep in mind.

1. Be prepared to learn from the community. Assume that you have a lot to learn, and

approach the process with an open mind. Listen to what people have to say. Observe carefully.

Take notes -- you can use them later to generate new questions or to help answer old ones.

2. Be aware that people's speech, thoughts, and actions are not always rational. Their

attitudes and behavior are often best understood in the context of their history, social relations,

and culture..

3. Don't assume that the information people give you is necessarily accurate. There are a

number of reasons why informants may tell you things that are inaccurate. People's

perceptions don't always reflect reality, but are colored instead by what they think or what they

think they know.  In addition, some may intentionally exaggerate or downplay particular

conditions or issues for their own purposes or for what they see as the greater good. Others

may simply be mistaken about what they tell you - the geographical boundaries of a particular

neighborhood, for example, or the year of an important event. Get information, particularly on

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issues, conditions, and relationships from many sources if you can. As time goes on, you'll learn

who the always-reliable sources are.

4. Beware of activities that may change people's behavior. It's well known that people (and

animals as well) can change their normal behavior as a result of knowing they're being studied. 

Neighborhood residents may clean up their yards if they're aware that someone is taking the

measure of the neighborhood. Community members may try to appear as they wish to be seen,

rather than as they really are, if they know you're watching. To the extent that you can, try not

to do anything that will change the way people go about their daily business or express

themselves. That usually means being as unobtrusive as possible -- not being obvious about

taking pictures or making notes, for instance. In some circumstances, it could mean trying to

gain trust and insight through participant observation.

Understanding the Community Dynamics:

1. The community's physical characteristics.

Get a map of the community and drive and/or walk around. (If the community isn't defined

by geography, note and observe the areas where its members live, work, and gather.) Observe

both the built and the natural environment. In the built environment, some things to pay

attention to are:

a. The age, architecture, and condition of housing and other buildings. Some shabby or poorly-

maintained housing may occupy good buildings that could be fixed up, for example -- that's

important to know. Is there substandard housing in the community? Look for new construction,

and new developments, and take note of where they are, and whether they're replacing

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existing housing or businesses or adding to it. Are buildings generally in good condition, or are

they dirty and run-down? Are there buildings that look like they might have historic

significance, and are they kept up? Are most buildings accessible to people with disabilities?

b. Commercial areas.  Are there stores and other businesses in walking distance of residential

areas or of public transportation for most members of the community? Do commercial

buildings present windows and displays or blank walls to pedestrians? Is there foot traffic and

activity in commercial areas, or do they seem deserted? Is there a good mix of local businesses,

or nothing but chain stores? Are there theaters, places to hear music, a variety of restaurants,

and other types of entertainment? Do many buildings include public spaces -- indoor or

outdoor plazas where people can sit, for example? In general, are commercial areas and

buildings attractive and well-maintained?

c. The types and location of industrial facilities. What kind of industry exists in the community?

Does it seem to have a lot of environmental impact -- noise, air or water pollution, smells,

heavy traffic? Is it located close to residential areas, and, if so, who lives there? Is there some

effort to make industrial facilities attractive -- landscaping, murals or imaginative color schemes

on the outside, etc?

d. Infrastructure.  What condition are streets in?  Do most streets, at least in residential and

commercial areas, have sidewalks? Bike lanes? Are pedestrians shielded from traffic by trees,

grass strips, and/or plantings? Are roads adequate for the traffic they bear? Are there foot

bridges across busy highways and railroad tracks, or do they separate areas of the community

and pose dangers for pedestrians? Is there adequate public transportation, with facilities for

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people with physical disabilities? Does it reach all areas of the community? Can most people

gain access to the Internet if they have the equipment (i.e., computers or properly equipped

cell phones)?

2. In the category of natural features, we can include both areas that have been largely left to

nature, and "natural" spaces created by human intervention.

a. Topography. An area's topography is the shape of its landscape. Is the community largely

hilly, largely flat, or does it incorporate areas of both? Is water -- rivers, creeks, lakes and ponds,

canals, seashore -- a noticeable or important part of the physical character of the community?

Who lives in what areas of the community?

b. Open space and greenery. Is there open space scattered throughout the community, or is it

limited to one or a few areas? How much open space is there? Is it mostly man-made (parks,

commons, campuses, sports fields), or is there wilderness or semi-wilderness? Does the

community give the impression  of being green and leafy, with lots of trees and grass, or is it

mostly concrete or dirt?

c. Air and water. Is the air reasonably clear and clean, or is there a blanket of smog? Does the

air generally smell fresh, or are there industrial or other unpleasant odors? Do rivers, lakes, or

other bodies of water appear clean? Do they seem to be used for recreation (boating,

swimming, fishing)?

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 Studying the physical layout of the community will serve you not only as information,

but as a guide for finding your way around, knowing what people are talking about when they

refer to various areas and neighborhoods, and gaining a sense of the living conditions of any

populations you're concerned with.

3. Community demographics:

Demographics are the facts about the population that you can find from census data and
other similar statistical information. Some things you might like to know, besides the number of
people in the community:

 Gender
 Racial and ethnic background
 Age.  Numbers and percentages of the population in various age groups
 Marital status
 Family size
 Education
 Income
 Employment - Both the numbers of people employed full and part-time, and the
numbers of people in various types of work
 Location - Knowing which groups live in which neighborhoods or areas can help to
recruit participants in a potential effort or to decide where to target activities

4. Community history:

This can be a complex topic. The "standard" history -- when the community was

founded and by whom, how long it has existed, how people lived there in the past, its major

sources of work, etc. -- can often be found in the local library or newspaper archives, or even in

books or articles written for a larger audience. The less comfortable parts of that history,

especially recent history -- discrimination, conflict, economic and/or political domination by a

small group -- are may not be included, and are more likely to be found by talking to activists,

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journalists, and others who are concerned with those issues. You might also gain information by

reading between the lines of old newspaper articles and tracking down people who were part

of past conflicts or events.

5. Community Government and Politics.

There are a number of ways to learn about the structure and operation of local government:

1. Go to open meetings of the city council, town boards, board of selectmen, or other bodies, as

well as to public forums on proposed actions, laws, and regulations.  Such meetings will be

announced in the local paper.

2. Community bylaws and regulations are often available at the public library.

3. Make an appointment to talk to one or more local government officials.  Many hold regular

office hours, and might actually take pleasure in explaining the workings of the local

government.

4. Talk to community activists for a view of how the government actually operates, as opposed

to how it's supposed to operate.

5. Read the local newspaper every day.

As we all know, government isn't only about the rules and structures that hold it together.

It's about people and their interactions...politics, in other words. The political climate, culture,

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and assumptions in a particular community often depend more on who elected and appointed

officials are than on the limits or duties of their offices.

The politics of many communities embody the ideal of government working for the public

good. In other communities, politics takes a back seat to economics, and politicians listen

largely to those with economic power -- the CEO's, owners, and directors of large businesses

and institutions.  In still others, the emphasis is on power itself, so that political decisions are

made specifically to keep a particular party, group, or individual in control.

6. Institutions.

Community institutions, unless they are dysfunctional, can generally be viewed as

assets. Finding them should be easy: as mentioned above, the Chamber of Commerce will

probably have a list of them, the library will probably have one as well, the local newspaper will

often list them, and they'll be in the phone book. 

They cover the spectrum of community life, including:

 Offices of local, state, and federal government agencies

 Public libraries.
 Religious institutions. Churches, synagogues, mosques.
 Cultural institutions.  Museums, theaters, concert halls, etc. and the companies they
support.  These may also encompass community theater and music companies run and
staffed by community volunteer boards and performers.
 Community centers.  Community centers may provide athletic, cultural, social, and other
(yoga, support groups) activities for a variety of ages.
 YMCA's and similar institutions.
 Senior centers.
 Hospitals and public health services.
 Colleges and universities.
 Public and private schools.

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  Public sports facilities. These might be both facilities for the direct use of the public --
community pools and athletic fields, for example -- or stadiums and arena where school,
college, or professional teams play as entertainment.

7. Groups and Organizations

The groups and organizations that exist in the community, and their relative prestige and

importance in community life, can convey valuable clues to the community's assumptions and

attitudes. To some extent, you can find them in the same ways that you can find institutions,

but the less formal ones you may be more likely to learn about through interviews and

conversations. 

These groups can fall into a number of categories:

1. Health and human service organizations.  Known on the world stage as NGO's (Non-

Governmental Organizations), these are the organizations that work largely with low-income

people and populations at risk. They encompass free or sliding-scale health clinics, family

planning programs, mental health centers, food pantries, homeless shelters, teen parent

programs, youth outreach organizations, violence prevention programs, etc.

2. Advocacy organizations. These may also provide services, but generally in the form of legal

help or advocacy with agencies to protect the rights of specific groups or to push for the

provision of specific services. By and large, they advocate for recognition and services for

populations with particular characteristics, or for more attention to be paid to particular issues.

3. Service clubs. Lions, Rotary, Kiwanis, etc.

4. Veterans' organizations.

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5. Chamber of Commerce and other business organizations. Some of these may be oriented

toward specific types of businesses, while others, like the Chamber, are more general.

6. Groups connected to institutions. Church youth or Bible study groups, school clubs, university

student groups (e.g. , community service groups).

7. Trade unions. These may be local, or branches of national or international unions.

8. Sports clubs or leagues. Enthusiasts of many sports organize local leagues that hold regular

competitions, and that may compete as well with teams from other communities.

9. Informal groups. Book clubs, garden clubs, parents' groups, etc.

8. Economics/Employment

Some of the information about economic issues can be found in public records, but

some will come from interviews or conversations with business people, government officials,

and activists, and some from observation. It's fairly easy to notice if one huge industrial plant

dominates a community, for example, or if every third building appears to be a construction

company. There are a number of questions you might ask yourself and others to help you

understand the community's economic base and situation: What is the anchor of the

community's tax base? Who are the major employers? Does the community have a particular

business or business/industry category that underlies most of the jobs? Are there lots of locally-

owned businesses and industries, or are most parts of larger corporations headquartered

elsewhere?  Are there corporate headquarters in the community? Is there a good deal of office

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space, and is it empty or occupied?  Is there new development, and is the community attracting

new business? What is the unemployment rate?

9. Social Structure.

This may be the most difficult aspect of the community to understand, since it

incorporates most of the others we've discussed, and is usually unspoken. People's answers to

questions about it may ignore important points, either because they seem obvious to those

who've lived with them for all or most of their lives, or because those things "just aren't talked

about." Distrust or actual discrimination aimed at particular groups -- based on race, class,

economics, or all three -- may be glossed over or never mentioned. The question of who wields

the real power in the community is another that may rarely be answered, or at least not

answered in the same way by a majority of community members. It's likely that it will take a

number of conversations, some careful observation and some intuition as well to gain a real

sense of the community's social structure.

Describing the Community

There are many ways you can create a description of the community. The most obvious

is simply to organize, record, and comment on your information by category:  physical

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description, government, institutions, etc. You can comment about what has changed in the

community over time, what has stayed the same, and where you think the community might be

going. You might also include an analysis of how the various categories interact, and how that

all comes together to form the community that exists. That will give you and anyone else

interested a reasonably clear and objective description of the community, as well as a sense of

how you see it.

For a fuller picture, you could add photographs of some of the locations, people,

conditions, or interactions you describe, as well as charts or graphs of demographic or statistical

information. For even more detail, you might compose a portrait in words of the community,

using quotes from interviews and stories of community history to bring the description to life.

Given the availability of technology, you don't have to limit yourself to any specific

format. Computers allow you to easily combine various media -- photos, graphics, animation,

text, and audio, for example. The description could add in or take the form of a video that

includes a tour of the community, statements from and/or interviews with various community

members (with their permission, of course), an audio voice-over, maps, etc.  A video or a more

text-based description -- or both -- could then be posted to a website where it would be

available to anyone interested.

Once you have a description put together, you might want to show it to some of the

community members you talked to in the course of exploring the community. They can suggest

other things you might include, correct errors of fact, and react to what they consider the

accuracy or inaccuracy of your portrait and analysis of their community. With this feedback, you

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can then create a final version to use and to show to anyone interested. The point is to get as

informative and accurate a picture of the community as possible that will serve as a basis for

community assessment and any effort that grows out of it.

GAINS FROM UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITY DYNAMICS:

Understanding a community is crucial to being able to work in it. Failing to understand it

will deny you credibility and make it difficult for you both to connect with community members

and to negotiate the twists and turns of starting and implementing a community initiative or

intervention. An extremely important part of any community assessment, therefore, is to start

by finding out as much about the community as you can -- its physical and geographical

characteristics, its culture, its government, and its assumptions. By combing through existing

data, observing, and learning from community members, you can gain an overview of the

community that will serve you well. Recording your findings and your analysis of them in a

community description that you can refer to and update as needed will keep your

understanding fresh and help others in your organization or with whom you collaborate. Other

gains you can derive from understanding community are the following:

1. Provides benchmarking data. It provides a valuable assessment of where your community

actually stands – benchmarking your management processes and providing you with

recommendations. It’s information that gives you the ability to set priorities, make decisions

and manage budgets with confidence.

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2. Provides preliminary project planning information. It provides an analysis that focuses us on

where we are relative to our long-term roadmap and goals, but from an external perspective.

The opportunities within the benchmark help guide us in refining our community strategy and

investments with greater confidence by focusing on the key specific initiatives.

3. Provides an idea of the community’s strengths and challenges.

4. Provides the opportunity to understand the community’s dominant rules and norms.

5. Provides an occasion to gauge attitude and behaviour of the community.

6. Provides a way for a more directed and well informed dialogue with the community.

7. Makes networking partnership building more favourable.

8. Gets project implementation less complicated.

Melegrito et.al

ACTIVITY 1

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1. Interview your barangay chairman on programs instituted to bring about reforms and social
change in the community. How are these programs initiated, planned, implemented, and
monitored? How do these programs affect the people?

LESSON 2: THE DEFINITIONS OF COMMUNITY

People have lived in communities since the beginning of time, sharing a common social

life, and striving for the common good. The community is generally regarded as the second

most important human group. It has been established that the community represents an

extension of the family which is viewed as the group of first importance.

Like other organizations, the community has a social structure with an array of statuses

and roles interrelated with each other. Each role is suited to the performance of a specialized

function. The various roles are interrelated and interdependent. The members interact and

exchange ideas, share common services and common interests. They carry on their respective

roles in pursuit of their common goals which develop the feeling of solidarity or the community

spirit.

There are different definitions and connotations of community. To the layman, a

community is a place where one resides, works, and carry on his daily routines of life.

Meaning of Community

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 In a layperson’s point of view, community is a place where one lives, works, and plays.

Community may refer loosely to some subgroups like an academic community, a community of

writers, priests, or scholars, etc. Thus, one hears about the quest for community, which is some

kind of obsession for community and its values as manifested in age groups or interest groups.

A community denotes a group of people occupying a definite territory, living together

with families, and their neighborhood.

Hillery ( Poplin, 1972) describes community as consisting of persons in social interaction

within a geographic area and having one or more additional common ties.

A community is a social group with some degree of “we feeling”, living in a given area.

To develop a real community, it is essential that the people in it participate in its activities and

acquire a sense of belonging. A community may be limited to a specific area, or it may embrace

all people who commune in the fellowship of similar attitudes and values.

Osborn and Neumeyer (1933) define community as a group of people living in a

contiguous geographic area, having a common centers of interest and activities, and

functioning together in the chief concern of life.

Kornblum, (2003) define community is a set of primary and secondary groups in which

the individual carries out important life functions.

Horton (1984) defines community as a local grouping within which people carry out a

full round of life activities.

Martindale (1984) A community may also be viewed as a process or a movement toward

unity in the system of social life an ongoing movement which is never completed or finished.

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 An aspect of community formation is institutionalization, which consists of the

development more or less of a set of institutions, and involves socialization, mastery of nature,

and social control unified into a distinct way of life. The members carry on activities in pursuit

of their common interest directed to foster a community spirit, the “we-feeling” or “in-group”

feeling.

Olsen (1968), a community is a social organization that is territorially socialized and

through which its members satisfy most of their daily needs and deal with most of their

common problems.

As used by both sociologist and geographers, refers to any set of social relationship

operating within certain boundaries, locations, or territories.

COMMUNITY: A Sociological Perspective

A mobilizer, animator or activist is a person who tries to move (activate, animate) a

community.

But what is a community? Like most things in the social sciences, community does not fit

into a nice neat package. First, let us note that a "community" is a construct, a model. We

cannot see a whole community, we cannot touch it, and we cannot directly experience it. Like

the words "hill" or "snowflake," a community may come in one of many shapes, sizes, colours

and locations, no two of which are alike.

More importantly, a community is not just the people who are in it. A community

usually was already existing when all of its current residents were not yet born, and it will likely

continue to exist when all of the people in it have left. It is something that is beyond its very

27
components, its residents or community members. A community may have members who have

temporarily moved to other locations. They may wish to eventually return, but not all do.

A "community" in some senses may not even have a physical location, but be

demarcated by being a group of people with a common interest. In the training material here,

however, the "community" which is the object of a mobilizer's attention, is usually one with a

physical geographic location.

Special nature of human community

Definitions of community as "organisms inhabiting a common environment and

interacting with one another while scientifically accurate, do not convey the richness, diversity

and complexity of human communities. Their classification, likewise is almost never precise.

Untidy as it may be, community is vital for humans. M. Scott Peck expresses this in the following

way: "There can be no vulnerability without risk; there can be no community without

vulnerability; there can be no peace, and ultimately no life, without community.

There are many ways to think about community. We will explore four of the most

relevant, each of which provides different insights into the process of community engagement.

COMMUNITY: Systems Perspective

From a systems perspective, a community is similar to a living creature, comprising

different parts that represent specialized functions, activities, or interests, each operating

within specific boundaries to meet community needs. For example, schools focus on education,

the transportation sector focuses on moving people and products, economic entities focus on

28
enterprise and employment, faith organizations focus on the spiritual and physical well-being of

people, and health care agencies focus on the prevention and treatment of diseases and

injuries (Henry, 2011). For the community to function well, each part has to effectively carry out

its role in relation to the whole organism. A healthy community has well-connected,

interdependent sectors that share responsibility for recognizing and resolving problems and

enhancing its well-being. Successfully addressing a community’s complex problems requires

integration, collaboration, and coordination of resources from all parts (Thompson et al., 1990).

From a systems perspective, then, collaboration is a logical approach to health improvement.

COMMUNITY: Social Perspective

A community can also be defined by describing the social and political networks that link

individuals, community organizations, and leaders. Understanding these networks is critical to

planning efforts in engagement. For example, tracing social ties among individuals may help

engagement leaders to identify a community’s leadership, understand its behavior patterns,

identify its high-risk groups, and strengthen its networks (Minkler et al., 1997).

COMMUNITY: Virtual Perspective

Some communities map onto geographically defined areas, but today, individuals rely

more and more on computer-mediated communications to access information, meet people,

and make decisions that affect their lives (Kozinets, 2002). Examples of computer-mediated

forms of communication include email, instant or text messaging, e-chat rooms, and social

networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter (Flavian et al., 2005). Social groups or

groups with a common interest that interact in an organized fashion on the Internet are

29
considered “virtual communities” (Rheingold, 2000; Ridings et al., 2002). Without question,

these virtual communities are potential partners for community-engaged health promotion and

research.

COMMUNITY: Individual Perspective

Individuals have their own sense of community membership that is beyond the

definitions of community applied by researchers and engagement leaders. Moreover, they may

have a sense of belonging to more than one community. In addition, their sense of membership

can change over time and may affect their participation in community activities (Minkler et al.,

2004).

The philosopher and psychologist William James shed light on this issue in his writings.

James thought it important to consider two perspectives on identity: the “I,” or how a person

thinks about himself or herself, and the “me,” or how others see and think about that person.

Sometimes these two views agree and result in a shared sense of an identity, but other times

they do not. People should not make assumptions about identity based on appearance,

language, or cultural origin; nor should they make assumptions about an individual’s

perspective based on his or her identity (James, 1890). Today, the multiple communities that

might be relevant for any individual — including families, workplace, and social, religious, and

political associations — suggest that individuals are thinking about themselves in more complex

ways than was the norm in years past.

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COMMUNITY: GRASSROOTS LEVEL

A grassroots movement is one which uses the people in a given district as the basis for a

political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations utilize collective

action from the local level to effect change at the local, regional, national, or international level.

Grassroots movements are associated with bottom-up, rather than top-down decision making,

and are sometimes considered more natural or spontaneous than more traditional power

structures. Grassroots movements, using self-organization, encourages community members to

contribute by taking responsibility and action for their community.

ACTIVITY 1:

"The Blind Men and the Elephant"

Students will examine the importance of perspective in how people perceive things.

In this lesson, educators use a retelling of a traditional folk take from India that illustrates how
different people can have distinctly different perceptions of the same thing. Students discuss
how each blind men's arguments differ when understanding an elephant, and even when

31
presented with a real elephant, each man could "see" only what he already believed to be true.
The story and this lesson is intended to encourage students to develop perspective awareness
—awareness that each of us creates a unique view of the world based on personal experience,
language, and culture.

Objectives

 Students will describe different perspectives and how those perspectives impact an
individual's point of view.
 Students will articulate their own perspectives and how those perspectives may impact
their perceptions of others and situations.

Procedures

Read The Blind Men and the Elephant, a folk tale from India. Since "The Blind Men and the
Elephant" is a story from oral tradition, you may want to rehearse the story several times and
tell it or have students act it out rather than reading it aloud or having students read it alone.
Before you present the story, ask students to give their interpretations of the word "see."
Before reading, reinforce the idea that "seeing" can mean perceiving something visually or
understanding an idea. Ask students to listen to the story for examples of both definitions.

Debrief with students, using the questions below.

Debriefing

After students have heard the story, use the following questions to guide discussion of how
differences in perspective can make it difficult for people to communicate. Students should be
encouraged to apply the moral of the folk tale to real-life situations.

1. What happens in the story when each blind man "sees" the elephant? Why were there
six different ideas about the elephant? Were any of the men right about the elephant?
Were any of them completely wrong?
2. What did the blind men learn from the Rajah? What does the storyteller want us to
learn from this tale?
3. Do problems like this happen in real life? Think of times when arguments or
misunderstandings have occurred because people saw situations from different points
of view. Describe what happened.
4. How does it feel when another person doesn't "see" something the way you do? How
can you address those differences in perceptions?

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 5. What if the men in this story were not blind? Would they still have different perceptions
about elephants? Why or why not?
6. Does the story give you any ideas about how these problems can be solved? What are
some steps you can take to understand why another person doesn't see things the way
you do? 

Extensions

1.  Ask students to write an extension of the story that includes the conversation the six
men might have had as they journeyed home.
2. Have students write original stories or skits that illustrate the importance of
perspective-awareness.
3. Ask students to write and perform a skit based on the story. The skit could be
performed for other classes, and the performers could guide a debriefing with their
audience.
4. Have students work in groups of six to create group illustrations of the story.
Alternatively, have them use recycled materials to create a sculpture of the elephant
combining the perspectives of the six blind men.
5. Encourage students to talk about misunderstandings they experience or observe that
seem to be the result of clashes between points of view. Work with students to role-
play behavior that resolves the misunderstanding.

"The Elephant and the Blind Men"

Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a village. One day the villagers told them, "Hey,
there is an elephant in the village today."

They had no idea what an elephant is. They decided, "Even though we would not be able to see
it, let us go and feel it anyway." All of them went where the elephant was. Everyone of them
touched the elephant.

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"Hey, the elephant is a pillar," said the first man who touched his leg.

"Oh, no! it is like a rope," said the second man who touched the tail.

"Oh, no! it is like a thick branch of a tree," said the third man who touched the trunk of the
elephant.

"It is like a big hand fan" said the fourth man who touched the ear of the elephant.

"It is like a huge wall," said the fifth man who touched the belly of the elephant.

"It is like a solid pipe," Said the sixth man who touched the tusk of the elephant.

They began to argue about the elephant and everyone of them insisted that he was right. It
looked like they were getting agitated. A wise man was passing by and he saw this. He stopped
and asked them, "What is the matter?" They said, "We cannot agree to what the elephant is
like." Each one of them told what he thought the elephant was like. The wise man calmly
explained to them, "All of you are right. The reason every one of you is telling it differently
because each one of you touched the different part of the elephant. So, actually the elephant
has all those features what you all said."

"Oh!" everyone said. There was no more fight. They felt happy that they were all right.

The moral of the story is that there may be some truth to what someone says. Sometimes we
can see that truth and sometimes not because they may have different perspective which we
may not agree too. So, rather than arguing like the blind men, we should say, "Maybe you have
your reasons." This way we don’t get in arguments.

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LESSON 3: THE ELEMENTS OF A COMMUNITY: NATURE AND POWER STRUCTURE

The dynamics of a community are determined by its nature and structure and how it

reacts with external and internal forces. Thus, it is important to recognize the characteristics

and features of a community to understand why it acts and reacts in a certain way.

Elements of Community

Based on the aforementioned definitions, (Hillery, 1972) identified the elements of a

community:

1. People- The very basic component of society is the people. Without this component, society

will not exist.

2. Territory- When people live together in clusters, they eventually declare themselves as

belonging to that particular territory. Territory, therefore, pertains to a definite area occupied

by people.

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3. Interaction- Interaction refers to the day- to- day encounter with the other members of the

community. With the presence of interaction, society, improves generally.

4. Common values- In every society, there exists a common standard of proper behavior.

Common norms and values shared by each member promote closer ties to members. Living

together promotes sharing of sentiments and goals.

THE NATURE OF A COMMUNITY

1. A Community is a Sociological Construct:

Not only is the concept of a community a "construct" (model), it is a "sociological

construct." It is a set of interactions, human behaviours that have meaning and expectations

between its members. Not just action, but actions based on shared expectations, values, beliefs

and meanings between individuals.

2. A Community has Fuzzy Boundaries:

When an identified community is a little village, separated by a few kilometres from

other villages, in a rural area, its boundaries appear at first to be very simple. That pattern of

36
human interaction may be seen as consisting only of relations between the residents living

inside that location, inside that village.

But its residents interact also with people outside the village. They marry persons from

near and far, and may move or bring a spouse in to live with them. At any one time, those

village residents may have sisters, brothers, cousins, parents and extended relatives living

elsewhere. The boundary of that community is not so precise.

3. Communities can be within Communities:

There may be communities within larger communities, including districts, regions,

ethnic groups, nations and other boundaries. There may be marriages and other interaction

that link villages on both sides of national borders.

4. Communities May Move:

Furthermore, where technology is not based on local horticulture, the community

residents may be physically mobile.

They may be nomadic herders walking long distances with their cattle. They may be

mobile fishing groups who move from time to time as the fish are available. They may be

hunters who move to follow the game. They may be hunters who move to follow the game.

5. Urban Communities are Special:

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 In urban areas, a community may be a small group of a few homesteads of people from

a common origin. That community in turn, may be part of a neighbourhood community or a

barrio or other local urban division.

As the boundaries become wider, there is more heterogeneity (differences in origin,

language, religion or other features that can form a common identity). It may be in turn, a part

of a wider municipality, which in turn may be part of a conglomeration comprising a large city.

In general (with exceptions) an urban community has more fuzzy boundaries, is more

difficult to demarcate, is more heterogeneous (varied, mixed), more complex, and more difficult

to organize using standard community development methods, and has more complex and

sophisticated goals, than rural communities.

6. The Social Perspective of Human Settlements:

A human settlement, or community, is not merely a collection of houses. It is a human

(social and cultural) organization. (The houses, which are cultural products of humanity, belong

to one of the six dimensions of society or culture, the technological dimension.

Also, it is not just a collection of human individuals; it is a socio-cultural system; it is

socially organized. This means that you need to know some things about society ─ things

learned in sociology.

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 The community has a life of its own which goes beyond the sum of all the lives of all its

residents. As a social organization, a community is cultural. That means it is a system of

systems, and that it is composed of things that are learned rather than transmitted by genes

and chromosomes. All the social or cultural elements of a community, from its technology to its

shared beliefs, are transmitted and stored by symbols.

Social Animation (promoting community participation or self help) mobilizes and

organizes a community. This means that the social organization of the community is changed,

however slightly or greatly. The mobilizer or animator, therefore, is a social change agent, or

catalyst. Understanding the nature of social change, its social nature, in a community, should be

in the mobilizer's tool box.

A community, like other social institutions, is not merely a collection of individual

persons; it is a changing set of relationships, including the attitudes and behaviour of its

members.

THE DIMENSIONS OF A COMMUNITY

A community is a complex system with different dimensions. So too a socio cultural

entity, like a community, no matter how small or in what ways you cut up a piece of culture, it

will always have all six of its dimensions. Bartle (2010) identified six community dimensions.

These dimensions of community include:

1. Technological,

39
 2. Economic,

3. Political,

4. Institutional (social),

5. Aesthetic-value, and

6. Belief-conceptual.

Each of these dimensions of culture are transmitted by symbols (not genes) and consist of

systems of learned ideas and behaviour. They are not "aspects" of culture; they are dimensions.

Cultural dimensions may vary in size but, by definition, permeate the whole.

1. The Technological Dimension of Community

The technological dimension of community is its capital, its tools and skills, and ways of

dealing with the physical environment. It is the interface between humanity and nature.

Remember, it is not the physical tools themselves which make up the technological

dimension of culture, but it is the learned ideas and behaviour which allow humans to invent,

use, and teach others about tools. Technology is much a cultural dimension as beliefs and

patterns of interaction; it is symbolic. Technology is cultural.

2. The Economic Dimension of Community

The economic dimension of community is its various ways and means of production and

allocation of scarce and useful goods and services (wealth), whether that is through gift giving,

obligations, barter, market trade, or state allocations.

40
3. The Political Dimension of Community

The political dimension of community is its various ways and means of allocating power,

influence and decision making. It is not the same as ideology, which belongs to the values

dimension. It includes, but is not limited to, types of governments and management systems. It

also includes how people in small bands or informal groups make decisions when they do not

have a recognized leader.

4. The Institutional Dimension of Community

The social or institutional dimension of community is composed of the ways people act,

interact between each other, react, and expect each other to act and interact. It includes such

institutions as marriage or friendship, roles such as mother or police officer, status or class, and

other patterns of human behaviour. The institutional dimension of society is what many non

sociologists first think

5. The Aesthetic-Values Dimension of Community

The aesthetic-value dimension of community is the structure of ideas, sometimes

paradoxical, inconsistent, or contradictory, that people have about good and bad, about

beautiful and ugly, and about right and wrong, which are the justifications that people cite to

explain their actions.

The three axes along which people make judgements are all dependent upon what they

learn from childhood. These include judging between right and wrong, between good and bad,

41
and between beautiful and ugly, all based upon social and community values. They are not

acquired through our genes, but through our socialization. That implies that they can be

relearned; that we could change our judgements.

Values, however, are incredibly difficult to change in a community, especially if residents

perceive that an attempt is being made to change them. They do change, as community

standards evolve, but that change cannot be rushed or guided through outside influence or

conscious manipulation.

Shared community standards are important in community and personal identity; who

one is very much is a matter of what values one believes in. The degree to which community or

organizational members share values, and/or respect each other’s' values, is an important

component among the sixteen elements of strength and capacity.

Values tend to change as the community grows more complex, more heterogeneous,

more connected to the world. Changes in values tend to result from changes in technology,

changes in social organization, and not by preaching or lecturing for direct changes.

It appears that there is no overall direction of change in human history, that judgements

become more liberal, more tolerant, more catholic, more eclectic, – or less – as societies

become more complex and sophisticated. Communities at either end of the social complexity

spectrum display standards of various degrees of rigidity. In spite of that range, within any

community there is usually a narrow range of values among residents. Urban and

heterogeneous communities tend to have a wider variation in values and aesthetics.

It is not easy to predict the value standards of any community before you go to live

there and to find out how to operate within the community. Because of their importance,

42
however, it is necessary that you, the mobilizer learn as much as you can about community

standards, and do not assume that thy will be the same as your own.

While the introduction of new facilities and services in a community may eventually lead

to changes in community standards, anything a mobilizer proposes must be seen to be within

the prevailing sets of community values.

6. The Beliefs-Conceptual Dimension of Community

The belief-conceptual dimension of community is another structure of ideas, also

sometimes contradictory, that people have about the nature of the universe, the world around

them, their role in it, cause and effect, and the nature of time, matter, and behaviour.

This dimension is sometimes thought to be the religion of the people. It is a wider

category, and also includes atheistic beliefs, for example, that man created God in his own

image. It includes shared beliefs in how this universe came to be, how it operates, and what is

reality. It is religion – and more.

ACTIVITY 1:

Objectives

Students will understand the following:

1. A community has an essence, or feel, about it.

2. The essence is the overall impression made by residents, business people, and
institutions.

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Materials

For this lesson, you will need:

• Video camera and tape (If a video camera is not available, this project can be altered
so that students present their end product as an oral presentation complete with
posters or hand-held visuals and, perhaps, audio accompaniment.)

Procedures

1. Ask your class to consider what makes the community around their school special. If
they respond that the community is not special and is interchangeable with a lot of
other communities, press them further, insisting that just as each person has his or
her own identity, so does a community. Motivate students by explaining that if they
can communicate the essence of their community in class orally, they will get a
chance to make a videotape that captures that essence. (An alternative to a
videotape is a multimedia presentation—perhaps on a computer—using
photographs, drawings, and other graphics as well as audio.)

2. To help students generate descriptive words and phrases about their community,
ask them to answer some or all of the following questions, and keep track of their
answers on the board or on poster paper. observation questions

 What sounds do you hear in the community?

 What tastes can you find in the community?
 What smells do you associate with the community?
 What does the community look like? What doesn’t it look like?

5w-how? questions

 What is the community most famous for, or what should it be famous for?
 Where in the community do people go to feel good?
 When is the community most enjoyable? most annoying?
 Why do people live here?
 How would we change the community if we could?

what if? questions

44
  What if this community didn’t exist? Where would we go to school then?
 What if the community won an award of many millions of dollars? What
could be done with the money to improve the community?

3. With the class, go over the responses you’ve noted on the board or poster paper.
Based on those responses, ask the students to state the essence of the community—
that is, the overall impression the community makes on them. That overall
impression should become the underlying theme of their videotape. The class
should also use the responses to come up with ideas of people, places, and objects
to videotape in an attempt to capture the essence of the community. Make a
separate list of their ideas.

4. For each item on the list, students must now suggest what the sound track will be:

 onscreen student hosts for some sections?

 interviews with special people in the community?
 general voiceover commentary about some places?
 sounds identified with certain places or objects?
 music that captures the essence of the community or parts of the
community?

5. Assign students to jobs, which include but aren’t necessarily limited to the following:

 directorial team (to plan the sequence of the videotape, time for each
section, angles of shots)
 advance team (to make appointments for visiting people to be featured and
interiors to be shot)
 camera operators
 writers (of scripts for on-screen reports, off-screen voices, questions for
interviewers)
 onscreen reporters (including interviewers) and off-screen voices
 editors (to shorten, cut, or rearrange segments of video)
 artists (to create title screens and credits)
 music specialists (to perform music or to select appropriate music to be
played)

6. Allow time for students to rehearse the scripts, tape each segment, overlay
additions to the sound track, review and edit the tape, prepare and shoot titles and
credits.

7. When the class is satisfied that its tape captures the essence of the community,

45
 invite other classes or members of the community to a showing of the tape (or other
multimedia presentation).

LESSON 4: TYPOLOGIES OF COMMUNITY

TYPES OF COMMUNTIES

A number of ways to categorize types of community have been proposed. One such

breakdown is as follows: 9

1. Location-based communities: range from the local neighbourhood, suburb, village,

town or city, region, nation or even the planet as a whole. These are also called

communities of place.

2. Identity-based communities: range from the local clique, sub-culture, ethnic group,

religious, multicultural or pluralistic civilisation, or the global community cultures of

46
 today. They may be included as communities of need or identity, such as disabled

persons, or frail aged people.

3. Organizationally based communities: range from communities organized informally

around family or network-based guilds and associations to more formal incorporated

associations, political decision making structures, economic enterprises, or professional

associations at a small, national or international scale.

The usual categorizations of community relations have a number of problems:

1. They tend to give the impression that a particular community can be defined as just this

kind or another;

2. They tend to conflate modern and customary community relations;

3. They tend to take sociological categories such as ethnicity or race as given, forgetting that

different ethnically defined persons live in different kinds of communities — grounded, interest-

based, diasporic, etc.

In response to these problems, Paul James and his colleagues have developed a taxonomy

that maps community relations, and recognizes that actual communities can be characterized

by different kinds of relations at the same time:

1. Grounded community relations. This involves enduring attachment to particular places and

particular people. It is the dominant form taken by customary and tribal communities. In these

kinds of communities, the land is fundamental to identity.

47
2. Life-style community relations. This involves giving give primacy to communities coming

together around particular chosen ways of life, such as morally charged or interest-based

relations or just living or working in the same location. Hence the following sub-forms:

 community-life as morally bounded, a form taken by many traditional faith-

based communities.

 community-life as interest-based, including sporting, leisure-based and business

communities which come together for regular moments of engagement.

 community-life as proximately-related, where neighbourhood or commonality of

association forms a community of convenience, or a community of place

3. Projected community relations. This is where a community is self-consciously treated as an

entity to be projected and re-created. It can be projected as through thin advertising slogan, for

example gated community, or can take the form of ongoing associations of people who seek

political integration, communities of practice based on professional projects, associative

communities which seek to enhance and support individual creativity, autonomy and mutuality.

A nation is one of the largest forms of projected or imagined community.

a. Location

Possibly the most common usage of the word "community" indicates a large group living in

close proximity. Examples of local community include:

 A municipality is an administrative local area generally composed of a clearly defined

territory and commonly referring to a town or village. Although large cities are also

48
 municipalities, they are often thought of as a collection of communities, due to their

diversity.

 A neighbourhood is a geographically localized community, often within a larger city or

suburb.

 A planned community is one that was designed from scratch and expanded more or less

following the plan. Several of the world's capital cities are planned cities, notably

Washington, D.C., in the United States, Canberra in Australia, and Brasília in Brazil.

b. Identity

In some contexts, "community" indicates a group of people with a common identity other

than location. Members often interact regularly. Common examples in everyday usage include:

a. A "professional community" is a group of people with the same or related occupations. Some

of those members may join a professional society, making a more defined and formalized

group. These are also sometimes known as communities of practice.

b. A virtual community is a group of people primarily or initially communicating or interacting

with each other by means of information technologies, typically over the Internet, rather than

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in person. These may be either communities of interest, practice or communion. Research

interest is evolving in the motivations for contributing to online communities.

c. These communities are key to our modern day society, because we have the ability to share

information with millions in a matter of seconds.

c. Overlaps

Some communities share both location and other attributes. Members choose to live near

each other because of one or more common interests.

a. A retirement community is designated and at least usually designed for retirees and seniors

—often restricted to those over a certain age, such as 56. It differs from a retirement home,

which is a single building or small complex, by having a number of autonomous households.

b. An intentional community is a deliberate residential community with a much higher degree

of social communication than other communities. The members of an intentional community

typically hold a common social, political or spiritual vision and share responsibilities and

resources. Intentional communities include Amish villages, ashrams, cohousing, communes,

ecovillages, housing cooperatives, kibbutzim, and land trusts.

CLASSIFICATION OF COMMUNITIES

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 Communities may be classified in a number of ways, but they are traditionally

categorized as either rural or urban. The classification is not quite satisfactory as there are

some communities whose characteristics may not fit into either of these types.

A. RURAL COMMUNTIES

Rural communities are not alike, but they have common features. Primary group contacts

predominate. Relationships are personalized and intimate, and a rural residents outlook in life

is usually narrow and localized and provincial.

The term “rural community” is usually associated with the barrio. The common images that

come to mind:

 scenes of rolling hills and plateaus

 majestic mountains

 streams and rivers

 swaying bamboos or coconut trees

 Woods and growing plants

 chirping birds and insects

 simple, unassuming, gentle folks

Rural communities usually have small populations and bigger geographical areas compared

to those of urban communities; hence, the population density of the former is low.

People in barrio can earn their livelihood through:

 Agriculture

 Fishing

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  Home-based or cottage industries

 Mining

Characteristics of rural community

1. Relatively small- group consisting of one or more houses with relatively few families

living on scattered farmsteads.

2. People are homogenous biologically, socially and culturally.

3. High degree of self sufficiency, group identity and group unity.

4. People have mutual relationships with one another.

5. There is the presence of dominant activity

ACTIVITY 1

1. The people from the barrio are sometimes criticized or ridiculed by some people in the urban
communities especially by residents of Metro Manila because the former’s traits or qualities.
Refute or explain these perceived characteristics of rural folks:

a. Baduy (out of fashion

b. Primitive (technologically incompetent)

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c. Mahiyain (very timid)

d. Very superstitious

e. Very conservative (e.g. language that is very formal and polite, outmoded style of dressing,
old-fashioned manners of young women, etc.)

ACTIVITY 2

1. Study the community or any barrio where you came from. Look into the way of life of the
people and report your findings in class.

B. URBAN COMMUNITY

Urban is both a process and a place, as the urban process cannot occur without the

resources, population, and economic base. Embraces the whole of the organization that is

based upon a settlement, which may be a city or something closely resembling city.

 Urbanization is a process in which increasing proportion of the total population

becomes concentrated in urban settlements (Kornblum, 2003)

 Urbanism - high degree of:

• Impersonalism

• cultural heterogeneity

• predominance of secular values

City- a geographic area designated by a special name comprising a large aggregation of people

engaged in non-agricultural pursuits

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Suburb - a small community adjacent to the city where people reside and there is extreme

division of labor

Characteristics of Urban Community

1. Population densities are high– due to migration of people from rural areas in search of

employment in the city.

2. Urban community is characterized by a secondary type of relationship – impersonal,

formal, objectives.

3. There is a widely divergent group of people.

4. There is anonymity on the part of the urban dwellers.

ACTIVITY 1

1. Make a study of any slum area or squatters community and characterize it.

ACTIVITY 2

2. Study a barangay in an urban community. Describe family life and the economy in the area.

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GEMEINSCHAFT and GESELLSHAFT

GEMEINSCHAFT = a kind of traditional society in which social relationships are based on

personal bonds of friendship and kinship and on intergenerational stability,. It is a community

life characterized by intimate, private, and exclusive living and familialism.

There is HIGH DEGREE of conformity with customs, laws, moral ideas, and other

expectation of the group.

The unity is based on a similarity of objectives, traits, and experiences (ex: Market).

GESELLSHAFT = a large urban society in which social bonds are based on IMPERSONAL and

SPECIALIZED RELATIONSHIPS, with long-term commitment to the group or consensus on values.

The community life is characterized by impersonal, formal, ration, BUSINESSLIKE and

CONTRACTUAL RELATIONSHIPS. PURPOSIVE and VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS EXIST.

The unity achieved, designated as organic solidarity is based on dissimilarities in

objectives, and specialization, resulting in MUTUAL INDEPENDENCE AMONG MEMBERS

(ex: Supermarket contractual employment)

COMPARISON OF RURAL AND URBAN COMMUNITY

RURAL URBAN

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1. Culture Homogeneous, simple Heterogeneous, complex
2. Occupation Generally fishing, food Non-fishing, non-farming,
gathering, cottage industries professions, skilled and semi-
skilled, sales and servicing,
business and commercial
pursuits, and white collar
jobs, underground economy
3. Geography Natural physical environment; Artificial, cultural
natural resources; offers environment human
opportunities in quiet solitude resources
and tranquility
4. Spatial patterns Farm villages; line and round Sector model, concentric –
villages; nucleated type, zone, multiple nuclei model,
dispersed type, great megastructure, ghettoes and
breathing spaces slums
5. Family More nuclear, bilateral close More extended; bilateral,
ties; bilocal or neolocal economic, political, religious
familistic relations; and family and educational functions are
loyalty; kinship relations; being taken by other entities,
traditional values romantic love as basis for
choosing one’s mate;
increased number of live-ins’;
extramarital births and
marital infidelity, secular
values
6. Religion Majority are Roman Catholic, Religious tolerance and
with Aglipayan religion religious pluralism but still
predominant in the North and predominantly Roman
Islam in the South; fiesta Catholic; folk Catholicism and
celebration in honor of patron split-level Christianity are
saints; more superstitious; observed
folk Catholicism
7. Economic Higher percentage of labor Lower percentage of labor
force in agriculture; fishing, force- great diversification of
livestock, cottage industry and occupations in business and
forestry; higher incidence of industries, white collar jobs;
poverty and indebtedness; social services; underground
prevalence of sari-sari stores economy; banks and financial
and fish and farm products facilities; domestic and
foreign trade; establishments
of supermarkets, groceries,
fast food centers and
restaurants
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8. Government Barangay government with a City government with city
barrio captain; 6 councilmen; councils from different
some powers of central districts; operates city
government; local charter ,more critical
government code, political electorate
patronage still exists
9.Education One finds only a 6-grade Complete elementary,
elementary school or, at best, secondary, and tertiary
community high school which education both public and
is poorly equipped and lack of private; better equipped
competent teachers, higher schools and more competent
drop- out rates, Muslims and teachers, lower drop - outs
cultural communities suffer and higher passing
from neglect; low quality percentage in achievement
education tests
10. Social Classes Fewer social classes and no More open and international
extremes in wealth; 2-class in composition; upper class
structure: upper ( foreign ( politicians, landlords,
elites and Filipino) and lower businessman, industrialist and
class or “big people: financiers); middle class (civil
and :small people”, a servants, mobile intellectuals,
symbiotic relationship exist merchants, etc); lower class
between these 2 groups ( cosmopolitan and
provinciano)
11. Social Status More on ascribed status few More achieved status,
achieved status; homogeneity heterogeneity of status due to
of status in farming or fishing varied culture and
village determined by birth opportunities for social
and personal qualities mobility

12. Social Mobility More horizontal mobility, Prevalence of vertical mobility

social mobility due to low over horizontal mobility;
density of population and more geographic mobility;
homogeneity of culture, less education as impetus for
mobility mobile upward mobility
13. Population density Sparsely populated, man-to- Densely populated; man-to-
land ratio is small; more land ratio is larger; congested
moving space
14. Social Control Social ostracism; gossip; Laws, rules, regulations, fines,
rumors; customs and imprisonment, capital
traditions; superstitions; punishment, rumor gossip,
praises; ordinances; columns
commendations; folkways and
mores; public opinions
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15. Transportation and Animal-drawn vehicles; few Modern means of
Communication jeepneys and buses; radio, transportation and
letters, scantly newspaper; communication
Tagalog magazines and
comics
16. Social Problems Poverty, illiteracy, unsanitary Rising crime rates, juvenile
surroundings; unhygienic delinquency, pollution;
practices; unemployment; congestion, corruption,
poor quality of life; poor disorder, alienation, drug
quality of education; poor trafficking and drug abuse,
farm production; lack of alcoholism, poverty and
cultural, educational and pauperism, prostitution and
modern amenities mental illness, housing
projects, flooding, traffic jams,
squatters and slums, gang
warfare, scavenging
17. Social and Cultural Change Slow, rural people are Rapid; social change due to
unprepared to accept and new technology and
adopt some of the developed continued migration of
technologies and the lack of various ethnic groups
strong local institutions to
carry in the project
18. Cultural Advantages Cultural disadvantages; no art Varied cultural advantages
centers, museum, universities and modern facilities for
and theaters, no modern modern living
facilities such as running
water sewage, disposal,
electricity, telephones,
supermarkets
19.Interpersonal Relationships Gemeinshaft community; Gesselschaft community;
and Social Interactions personal, close, and intimate, impersonal values, business-
family visiting, strong bonds like, contractual, secondary
of friendship; bayanihan group relations, extreme
spirit; primary group division of labor, decline in
relations; kinship groups; bonds of kinship,
communal activities, “we” neighborliness and intimacy;
feeling or “in-group” feeling; segmented and fragmentary
familistic relations and family social work
loyalty; sustained and
intimate relations with
relatives and close neighbors
20. Leadership Usually chosen with reference Traditional politician; usually
to personal qualities which chosen with reference to

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 conform to local values intelligence, party machine
and personal qualities
21. Health and Sanitation Poor health services, Better health service; more
malnutrition of pre-school clinics and hospitals; more
children, unsanitary variety of nutritious foods;
surroundings; unhygienic disease-control; hygienic
practices; prevalence of air- surroundings except in slum
borne, water-borne, areas.
communicable skin diseases,
sub-standard dwellings;
unsafe water supply; greater
trust in herbolarios and faith
healers
22. Leisure and Entertainment Few ball game; gossiping, All types of sports and
gambling, playing bingo and recreations; modern
checker, or seeing neighbors recreational facilities; hobby
and cockfighting, drinking clubs and sports clubs.
tuba or beer; do needle work
or embroidery, read
literature, and magazines in
vernacular

GLOBAL COMMUNITY

People today virtually live in a borderless world. The world has become smaller and

different people feel as if they belong to one community. Commonly, people of all nations

desire to live in peaceful and healthy environments with no poverty and inequality. This has

given rise to the concept of a “global community”.

A global community aspires to solve various global problems like overpopulation,

pollution, global warming, climate change, illegal drugs, and terrorism. It also attempts to

bridge the cultural gaps by establishing a norm to eradicate inequality and create a universal

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medium of communication. With these goals in mind, war, and environmental degradation,

discrimination, violence, and hunger will likely be eliminated.

MEANING OF GLOBAL COMMUNITY

The term “global community” has been defined in Collins English Dictionary (10th

edition) as “people or nations of the world considered as closely connected by modern

telecommunications and as being economically, socially, and politically interdependent.”

CHARACTERISTICS OF A GLOBAL COMMUNITY

1. The desire of establishing “one human family”. As a family, nations have begun treating each

other like brothers and sisters. Giving monetary aid and economic goods to nations who have

suffered losses due to typhoons, earthquakes, and other calamities has become standard

practice in the community of nations. Sympathy and even prayers are offered to the victims of

this earth-shaking events by citizens of different nations. Such practice manifests that nations

“dream” of having one human family, and treat other races as family members. Since people

have started calling this planet “mother earth”, then it is not difficult for them to call each other

brothers and sisters.

2. The existence of symbiotic relationship. Although living in different locations, people in global

community acknowledge the fact that no one can independently exist alone without others.

Nations are interdependent; the Philippines manufacture agricultural products; Middle East

countries provide oil; Japan produces machines and pieces of equipment. The global

community recognizes the contribution of every nation. Like a life cycle, one country is

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important for the survival of another. This is the reason why nations are economically

interdependent; this is precisely the reason why human civilization continues to exist.

3. The belief in “universal responsibility”. The preservation of the environment against

pollutants and other wastes and the campaign to fight climate change manifest that nations

assumes responsibility for everything that happens to “mother earth.” The passage of the

universal law on the proper treatment of animals and the observance of “earth hour”

worldwide to save energy and protect the environment clearly show that nations realize the

fragility of the Earth and pledge to take part in every endeavor that will preserve the planet.

The citizens of the global community claim “collective” ownership of the earth.

4. Advocacy in the use of non-violent means in the attainment of international order. With the

enactment of international law that is binding to most civilized states, the world has a limited

space for wars. The law compels member-states to maintain harmonious relationship with

other states, and that war should be the last resort. Using non-violent means in times of

conflicts prevents loss of lives and destruction of properties. International law has become the

bible of the United Nations whose objective is to promote peace and cooperation among all

member-nations in order to attain international peace and order.

5. People sharing similar values although living in different locations. People adhere to their

principle of equality as one of the universal values. This principle forbids all forms of

discrimination by reason of race, nationality, gender, creed, age, or language. All persons in a

given society are entitled to equal access to goods and services needed in order to survive, in

accepting this value, justice is attained. Under this principle, an individual and/or a nation has

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the right to invoke discrimination against any entity that will attempt to deprive them of such

right. Respecting the dignity and freedom of a person is another universal value that the global

community recognizes. This is manifested by the enactment of the universal declaration of

human rights and the proper and humane treatment of prisoners of war that almost all nations

observe at present.

Global Community in other Perspectives

1. Humanitarianism or charity works. Humanitarianism activities like peacekeeping mission,

rescue and retrieval operations for victims of calamities, and transport of needed goods for

victim of calamities are undertaken by various states.

2. Economics. This involves mutual relations among nations in relation to trade including loans

that a nation extends to another nation and the condonation of a country’s foreign debt.

3. Ecology. The efforts to conserve and protect mother earth include the ban on detrimental

mining operations hunting of endangered species of animals, harmful use of chemicals that

destroy the ozone layer, and all forms of pollutants.

4. Politics. When nations formed alliances, they are bound to provide military aid and

protection to a member – state especially a country under foreign aggression

ACTIVITY 1:
1. Do you think the goals of a global community are attainable? Explain your answer.

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 ACTIVITY 2:
2. What is the United Nations? What are the activities of the organization that promote
economic and military cooperation?

ACTIVITY 3:
3. Conduct a research about a failed alliance between two nations. What are the causes of the
break –up?

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