MODULE 1: UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITY

I. Defining Community Concepts ( Social Sciences, Institutional, Civil Society)

What is Community and Why is there a Need in Studying this?

Individuals having significant interaction within a specified area becomes one of the
contributory factors in forming community. The word community was derived from the Latin
word communis which means "common" or "shared".

It may share a certain sense of place whether it is geographical area or through a virtual space.
Geographical community is a community where members share the same geographical vicinity
such as a village, province or neighborhood. Non- geographical community is a community
formed based on needs, ideas, interests, identity, practices, and roles in social institutions such
as at home, all work, in government, society, or the community at large.

Communication and relationships are imperative in building community. As people

communicate and interact, relationships foster. It develops pattern by which adopted in the
environment.

Communities may also be in two levels: Micro-level community, a group is formed based on
personal ties. This may include groups formed for pursuing common interests or goals like
forming a small organization to hold a fund-raising activity such as concerts. At macro-level,
large group affiliation is formed such as national communities, international communities, and
virtual communities. Companies and corporations may develop various programs that would
include different members across the country. They will work on meeting certain objectives and
expand on the aspect of community involvement.

Various Perspective in Community

SOCIAL SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

In Social science perspective, community a is described as a group of people in a particular area

interacting together. Social science has several including Anthropology, fields, economics,
Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology.

ANTHROPOLOGY

This field examine the various aspects of humans, such as their biology, behaviour, culture and
social interactions.

It also studies how people adapt their ways. of living to different environment.
Example is determining ways to help a community solve health related concerns. This can be
addressed by understanding the situation through interacting with the people in the
community, connecting its history with its present conditions, and eventually solving the
community's concerns

ECONOMICS

This field studies the production, allocation and consumption of goods and services. In any
community, one finds various forms of wealth distribution.

The ultimate goal of economics is to improve the lives of people, such as that their needs are
satisfied.

POLITICAL SCIENCE

This field encompasses the various ways and means of allocating power, influence, and decision
making.

This includes the types of governments and management systems, and how people in a small
bands or informal groups make decisions when they do not have recognized leader.

All communities have some form of political system. The members of a community should
understand how its political system works, how power and influence are distributed and what
change of occur.

PSYCHOLOGY

This discipline studies the human mind, brain, and social behaviour. This extends to interactions
between people and interpersonal relationships. Psychology in general is most often associated
with the study, diagnosis, and treatment of mental illnesses.

SOCIOLOGY

This field is the study of society, social order, social interactions, and social behavior. It
introduces the concepts of social capital and communitarianism.

Social capital is defined as the networks of relationships among people who live and work in a
particular society for the effective functioning of the community.

The concept of communitarianism explains the connection between the individual and the
community. Every person has a special role in one's society, and it is part of human nature to
relate with other people in various conditions or situations.

INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE
The institutional perspective views the concept of community in three different dimensions.

First, it is an existing establishment or physical space where members of the community go for
a certain purpose. Examples of this are the companies, hospitals, or educational institutions.

Second is the institutional community as social model.

This is defined by networks and institutions where community groups are formed in certain
areas such as schools, churches or companies, and member is gather to meet their needs.

People join clubs and associations to hone their skills, join religious organizations to deepen
their faith, participate in media. activities to improve their communication skills, and meet with.
friends and family at restaurants to satisfy their hunger. Some of the religious organizations
based in the philippines are the catholic church, the Agama Islam Society, Couples for Christ,
and Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan.

• The youth also participate in various fellowship activities around the country. It is an avenue
for them to reflect, interact and strengthen their faith

• Show picture of Philippine Youth Conference

The third dimension is that community is composed of the ways people act, interact with each
other, react, and expect each other to act and interact.

Examples include institutions such as marriage or friendship, roles such as mother or police
officer, status or class, and other patterns of human behavior. This dimension presents how
people act in relation to each other. It includes their expectations, assumptions, judgments,
predictions, responses and reactions.

It perceives patterns of relationships sometimes identifiec. roles and status, and the formation
of groups and institutions that derived from those patterns. For example, a "father" is both a
role and an institution. This explains that in a community, its social organization is the sum total
of all those and relationships and patterns.

Based on the given definition of institutional communities, cite three similar communities that
you are involved in, and state their goals.

CIVIL SOCIETY PERSPECTIVE

The civil society perspective stresses the idea of forming a group, foundation or an organization
in service to society. This perspective views society as community of citizens linked by common
interest and collective activity. Examples include. people's organization, civic organizations, and
social movements.
This is considered effective model of community since a sense of belonging is achieved due to
the collaboration of shared interests and identities in serving the humanity.

The civil society perspective stresses the idea of forming a group, foundation or an organization
in service to society. This perspective views society as community of citizens linked by common
interest and collective activity. Examples include. people's organization, civic organizations, and
social movements.

This is considered effective model of community since a sense of belonging is achieved due to
the collaboration of shared interests and identities in serving the humanity.

By:Suhaina

IV. Exploring Community Dynamics and Processes (Power, Leadership, Conflict)

Community Dynamics
The changes in the community are brought about by social, cultural and environmental
experiences whether it is positive or negative development that impacts within the community.
People adopt the changes and it has shaped their way of life.

Community Dynamics

The critical approaches in exploring community dynamics and its processes focus on:

•Community power relations

•Leadership

•Social change

Community Power Relations

This is the community's capacity to have control of their own activities and resources, and their
ability to exercise decision-making.

Community Power is the copacity of community to exercise control over activities and seek
ways to employ available resources to establish a stronger and successful community.

Five Bases of Power

In 1959, social psychologists John R. P. French and Bertram H. Raven identified the sources or
forms of power from which a person gets power. These sources are now known as French and
Raven's Five Bases of Power.

The French and Raven's five bases of power are briefly explained as follows:-

1. Referent Power

Referent power is also called as personal power and the power of personality, This power
comes from each leader individually. It is the personality of a person that attracts followers.
People follow because they are influenced or attracted by the magnetic personality of the
leader. The followers admire their leaders and may even try to copy their behavior, dress, etc.
John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi are the
examples of leaders with referent power.

2. Legitimate Power

Legitimate power is also known as position pawer and official power. It comes from the higher
authority. In an organization, a manager gets power because of his position or past. It gives him
the power to contral resources and to reward and punish others. For e.g. a chief executive
officer (C.E.O) of a company gets legitimate powers because of the position which he holds.

3. Expert Power

Expert power is also known as the power of knowledge. It comes from expert knowledge and
skills. Expert power means the expert influences onother person's behavior. This is because the
expert has knowledge and skill which the other person needs but does not possess. Persons like
doctors, lowyers, accountants, etc., have expert power because they have expert knowledge
and skills, which others require.

4. Coercive Power

Coercive power is the ability to punish others or to pose a threat to other. Coercive power uses
fear as a motivator. The leaders or managers with coercive powers can threaten an employee's
job security, cut his pay, withdraw certain facilities, suspend him, etc. The coercive power may
have an impact in the short-run, It will create a negative impact on the receiver.

5. Reward Power

Reward power is opposite to coercive power. With the help of reward power, the leader tries to
motivate the followers to improve their performance. This power enables the leader to provide
additional facilities, increase in pay, promotion of the subordinates, etc. The reward power also
enables the leader to recognize the services of the subordinate through appreciation.

LEADERSHIP

A leader is generally defined as the person who has the responsibility of controlling or taking
charge of a particular group. This important figure will guide the members to carry out the
plans in pursuit of the group's objectives. The guidance of a good leader in a group in source
documents of plans and better. Implementation of programs.

In a community, its leaders must be able to lead the members in carrying out their shared
objectives.

Social change refers to changes that occur in the social order of our society This changes may
be related to nature, social institutions, social behavior, or social relations. Social change can be
driven by cultural, religious, economics, scientific, or technical forces.

What is Community Action?

Community Action is any activity that aims to increase the understanding. engagement and
empowerment of communities for the intention of giving services to people. There are 3-key
points in grasping the definition more meaningful:

•Understanding-raise an awareness about certain communal issues that needs to be

addressed. People develop the feeling of involvement once they truly comprehend the
situation within. They come together to support advocacies that will overcome community
needs and difficulties.

•Engagement- Once issues are assessed properly and people in the community understand the
needs, they work collaboratively to act on it. The main goal of engaging in the community is to
improve the partnership and coalitions among the community. It is important that engagement
occurs so that members will be able to involve meaningfully in the activities that they have
created.

•Empowerment-enable the people to independently decide, plan-out and take action to

control the situation they have in the community. This means, initiative and decisions come
from internal group organized for the benefit of everyone. It is also necessary that the
community can provide significant networks and linkages that will genuinely serve the
advocacies that they have built.

Hence, the study of community action is imperative in the field of social sciences and other
related disciplines as it lays on the foundation that individuals and families as basic unit, are
embedded in different social structures that shape the behaviors in the system. Having
knowledge in community action makes an individual understand better by being aware in the
environment, have meaningful engagement and accept empowerment to create significant
impact.

By: Umbaro