Community

Engagement, Solidarity and

Citizenship
The Importance of Studying
Community Dynamics and
Community Action
What is community?

• A community is a group of people who share

something in common. You can define a
community by the shared attributes of the people
in it and/or by the strength of the connections
among them. You need a bunch of people who
are alike in some way, who feel some sense of
belonging or interpersonal connection.
Community
• A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality
such as norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may
share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a
country, village, town, or neighbourhood) or in virtual space through
communication platforms. Durable relations that extend beyond
immediate genealogical ties also define a sense of community,
important to their identity, practice, and roles in social institutions such
as family, home, work, government, society, or humanity at large.
Although communities are usually small relative to personal social ties,
"community" may also refer to large group affiliations such as national
communities, international communities, and virtual communities.
• The English-language word "community" derives from
the Old French comuneté (currently "Communauté"),
which comes from the Latin communitas
"community", "public spirit" (from Latin communis,
"common"). Human communities may share intent,
belief, resources, preferences, needs, and risks in
common, affecting the identity of the participants and
their degree of cohesiveness.
• According to David M. Chavis & Kien Lee, “Community” is so
easy to say. The word itself connects us with each other. It
describes an experience so common that we never really
take time to explain it. It seems so simple, so natural, and so
human. In the social sector, we often add it to the names of
social innovations as a symbol of good intentions (for
example, community mental health, community policing,
community-based philanthropy, community economic
development).
•However, the meaning of community is
complex. Insufficient understanding of
what a community is and its role in the
lives of people in diverse societies has
led to the downfall of many well-
intended “community” efforts.
Types of Community

• A formal group is formed when people come together

to accomplish specific goals an objectives.
• An informal group is formed when two or more
people come together to accomplish a specific task
which is mainly socially geared.
• An urban area is the region surrounding a city. An
area with high density of population.
• A rural area is an open swath of land that has few
homes or other buildings, and not very many people.
A rural area’s population density is very low.
• A global community are the people or nations of the
world, considered as being closely connected by
modern telecommunications and as being
economically, socially, and politically interdependent.
• Sectoral means relating to the various economic
sectors of a society or to a particular economic
sector.
• A social space is physical or virtual space such as
a social center, online social media, or other
gathering place where people gather and
interact.
There are, broadly speaking, five common features of communities.
You can classify every type of community by the purpose that
brings them together.

•1. Interest. Communities of people

who share the same interest or
passion.
•2. Action. Communities of people
trying to bring about change.
•3. Place. Communities of people
brought together by geographic
boundaries.
•4. Practice. Communities of people in
the same profession or undertake the
same activities.
• 5. Circumstance. Communities of people brought
together by external events/situations.
• About 90% of community projects, especially
branded communities, try to develop a community
of interest. But a community of interest competes
with our mental leisure time. Communities of
interest are the hardest type of community to
develop.
• Community Dynamics is the process of change
and development in communities of all living
organisms—including plants, microorganisms,
and small and large creatures of every sort.
Populations of an organism will appear in an
environment as its requirements for
establishment are met.
What could it be used for?
• For commissioners, policy-makers and anybody
else involved in the design and delivery of local
services, Community Dynamics data can be
used to bring additional depth into the
understanding of your local areas.
• Particularly, these data sets could have a role to
play in projects and initiatives looking to work in
a more asset-based way.
Importance of Understanding Community Dynamics and Community Action

• Community Dynamics is the change and development

involved in a community that includes all forms of living
organisms.
• Community Action is putting communities as the center of
the services development and services delivery. This
initiative aims to cater the primary needs of the communities
before implementing it. In such way, community action will
help the community dynamics or the degree of improvement
of the community.
It is important to understand these two because these will
propel the success and stability of the communities. They
go hand in hand and are proportionally related.
• What is community action?
• Community action is any activity that increases the understanding,
engagement and empowerment of communities in the design and
delivery of local services. It includes a broad range of activities and is
sometimes described as ‘social action' or ‘community engagement'.
These activities can vary in their objective, the role the community
plays, the types of activities involved, their scale and their integration
within the council. What they have in common is that they all involve
greater engagement of local citizens in the planning, design and
delivery of local services.
Why is community action
important?
• Community action is about putting communities at the heart of their
own local services. Involving communities in the design and delivery
of services can help to achieve a number of objectives, including:
•  Building community and social capacity –
helping the community to share knowledge,
skills and ideas.
•  Community resilience – helping the
community to support itself.
•  Prevention – a focus on early access to
services or support, engagement in design,
cross-sector collaboration and partnerships.
•  Maintaining and creating wealth – for
example helping people into employment or
developing community enterprises.
•Role of the Community
•The role the community includes
community consultation, joint
planning, joint design, joint delivery
and community-led activities.
Applied Social Sciences
• These are social science disciplines, professions
and occupations which seek to use basic social
science research and theory to improve the daily
life of communities, organizations and persons.
• What can I do with my degree in Social
Sciences?
Social Science Careers
• The occupations listed below are a selection of those which may
interest Social Sciences students and graduates from the School of
Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research.
• Advice Worker- Advice Workers provide information, advice and
guidance on a range of topics depending on the role. These topics
may include housing, employment, welfare, education, finance and
law.
• Civil Service Career- The Civil Service delivers public services
according to government policies. There are a large number of
different departments and so a huge variety of different roles.
• Charity Officer- here are a variety of different roles
within charities including project management,
volunteer co-ordination and fund raising.
• Community Development Worker- Working in
communities and liaising with different agencies to
bring about change and improvements. Some work
may be targeted towards certain groups of people e.g.
the unemployed or the homeless.
• Community Education Officer- Promoting and
coordinating a range of educational options to
members of a local community.
• Equality and Diversity Officer- Equality Officers
promote diversity and work to ensure that
people are treated fairly and not discriminated
against for characteristics including race, gender,
age or disability.
• Family Support Worker- Working with families facing a
variety of difficulties and helping them to solve problems and
move forward.
• Housing Officer- Housing Officers work for local authorities
or housing associations to manage rented accommodation
including solving problems raised by tenants, 8 organizing
maintenance, allocating properties and dealing with
payment issues. Housing Policy Officers develop policies for
local authorities or housing associations.
• Human Resources Officer- Human Resources Officers aim to
ensure that organizations have a skilled and efficient
workforce. They are involved in recruitment and selection,
training and development, grievance and discipline and
provide advice on employment law. Immigration, Customs
and Border Roles- There are a variety of roles involving
monitoring people, banned substances and other goods
leaving and entering the country to ensure safety and
security and to maintain the law.
• Intelligence Analyst- Analyzing and
assessing intelligence data largely for the
purposes of security and crime prevention.
• International Aid/Development Worker-
Working to improve the lives of people in
developing countries.
• Legal Careers- Providing legal services to clients.
• Local Government Careers- Developing policies
and delivering local services. There are a huge
variety of roles within local government
including roles in social care, housing and
education to name just a few.
• Mediator- Working with people to help them solve
conflicts and disagreements.
• Police Officer- Police Officers work to make
communities safer by maintaining the law and
preventing crime.
• Prison Officer- Prison Officers are responsible for
maintaining security in prisons and supporting the
rehabilitation of prisoners.
• Probation Officer- Probation Officers work with
offenders and aim to reduce rates of re-
offending and protect the public.
• Psychologist- There are a range of different
psychologist roles but broadly they help clients
to improve their psychological well being.
• Psychotherapy, Counselling and mental Roles-
Supporting people to overcome a range of
psychological or emotional difficulties.
• Social Researcher- Social Researchers could work for
universities or research/market research
organizations. Social research covers a wide range of
topics including crime, transport and education. Social
Researchers manage research projects including
collecting and analyzing data and presenting the
results.
• Social Worker- Social Workers work with people in
the community who need support, for example, the
elderly, children who are at risk, people with
disabilities or mental health difficulties.
• Substance Misuse Worker- Supporting clients to
overcome their problems with drug, alcohol or
solvent misuse.
• Teacher/Lecturer/Education Roles- There are a
variety of opportunities within education from
primary schools to universities.
• Victim Care Officer- Providing help to people
who have been victims of crime, including
supporting them during court proceedings.
• Volunteer Coordinator- Managing the recruitment,
training, placement and retention of volunteers.
• Youth Offending Officer- Working with young offenders
with the aim of reducing rates of re-offending and
supporting young people to achieve positive outcomes.
• Youth Worker- Working with young people to provide
support, raise aspirations and break down barriers to
achieving. This is done in a variety of ways including
through recreational activities, organizing projects,
mentoring and liaising with other agencies.
• 
• INSTRUCTIONS:
• In your BONDPAPER, answer the following questions.
• 1.) Define Community in your own words.
• 2.) Give three (3) reasons why do we need to study
community.
• 3.) Describe your community in one (1) word, and why?
• 4.) List down at least five (5) activities in your community
that you actively
• engaged in.
• 5.) Give at least five (5) contributions you did to your
community as an individual.
• ACTIVITY 1
• 1.) Make a non-sequential blocks in your
notebook focusing in the Social Science
• Careers listed above, select the top five (5)
priority career you want in the
• future.
• (Note: Limit 5 careers only and you can have
your own graphical design)
• Top1 Career • Top2 Career
• Top3 Career • Top4 Career
• Top5 Career
 ASSESSMENT
 Instructions: Match each statement in Column A with what it describes in Column B. Write the
letter of the answer.

• Column A
• 1 A human settlement with a high population
• Column B
• density. • a. Social Science
• 2. Areas have a low population density and
• small settlements. • b. Rural community
• 3. Known as the change and development
• involved in a community that includes all forms • c. Community action
• of living organisms.
• 4. A physical or virtual space such as a social
• d. Community dynamics
• center, online social media, or other gathering
• place where people gather and interact.
• e. Social space
• 5. A situation putting communities as the center • f. Community
• of the services development and services
• delivery. • g. Urban community
• 6. A group of people who share something in
• common. • h. Sociology
THANK YOU FOR
LISTENING!