CONCEPTS AND PERSPECTIVES OF COMMUNITY

Learning Objectives:

1. Compare and contrast the definitions of a community using various perspectives

(social sciences, institutionalism, civil society, and organic/grassroots/local level);
2. Recognize essential characteristics of communities in terms of elements and structures;
3. Develop /affirm a sense of shared identity and willingness to contribute to the attainment
of the common good;
4. Recognize diversities in communities; and
5. Analyze the functions of communities in terms of structures and typologies.

Discussion

Community – derived from the Latin word “communitas”. (“Communitas” – fellowship “Communis” –
common; “Com” – with; “munire” – to strengthen)

 generally defined by their common cultural heritage, language, beliefs, and shared
interest among people.
 An informally organized social entity, characterized by a sense of identity.
 A group of people living in the same defined area, sharing common basic values,
organization and interest.
 It is a group of people whose connection and relations are formed by their shared histories,
experiences, geographies, and identities. Members of the community are brought together
by commonly held interests, aspirations, perspectives and values.
Three Notions of Community:

1. Community as shared political and territory and heritage

a. A tradition understanding of community refers to a group of people living in the
same geographical area where interpersonal ties are locally bounded and are
based on a shared government and a common cultural and historical heritage.
Since the community is viewed as something that is situated within local boundaries,
this notion of community is applied to the institutional and grassroots perspective.
b. Example: Education, military, government, healthcare
2. Community as a network of interpersonal ties based on common interest.
a. Another notion of community refers to a network of interpersonal ties that are
based around a common interest. These ties, in return, provide mutual support, a
sense of identity, and a sense of belongingness for the members.
b. Example: Sporting community, LGBT community, virtual community/netizens
3. Community as profound sharing of spiritual and/or emotional connection
a. Community also pertains to a sense of spiritual and/or emotional connection to
others, or communion with others on the basis of an experience of a common
problem, bond, or a situated cognition.
b. Example: Disaster survivors, People living with HIV, Christian Community

Sense of Community

Term by McMilliam and Chavis (1986), the term means “a feeling that members have of belonging,
a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members’
need will be met through their commitment to be together. Further developments lead to the Four
Elements of Sense of Community:

1. Membership – refers to the feeling of belonging or of sharing a sense of personal

relatedness. It consists of five attributes:
a. Boundaries – allowing others to belong and keep others out.
b. Emotional safety – feeling of security and trust.
 c. Sense of belonging and identification – members’ feeling that they belong, fit in, and
are accepted by the community.
d. Personal investment – sacrifices made to maintain membership in the community.
e. Common symbol system – represent the community such as emblems, ritual, rites
of passage, dress codes, etc.
2. Influence – refers to the sense of having importance or of feeling valued, wherein there is
balance between members feeling that they have a say in the community and a
community being a body that also has the power to make its members conform.
3. Integration and fulfilment of needs – refers to the feeling of fulfilment, which stems for
persona investments that members make in maintaining community membership or in
participating in community activities and affairs.
4. Shared emotional connection – refers to a sense of shared cultural and heritage
and the feeling that common experiences will continue to be shared in the future.
Community Structures and their Elements

1. Social Structures (refer to your previous lesson on UCSP & DISS) – refers to the rules and
expectations that people develop in the community over time to help regulate and
manage their interaction from one another.
a. Social Institutions – are established patterns of belief and behavior that are
centered on addressing basic social needs of people in the community.
i. Example: family, religion, economy, government, education, healthcare
b. Social groups – consist of two or more people in the community who regularly
interact with one another and consider themselves a distinct social unit.
i. Example: Primary groups (family, peers) & Secondary groups (clubs, gangs,
political parties); in-groups and out-groups.
c. Status – refers to the position or rank of the person holds, in relation to other members
of the community.
i. Example: Ascribed Status and Achieved Status
d. Role – refers to the obligations or behaviors expected from an individual on the basis of
one’s status in life.
2. Cultural Structures (refer to your previous lesson on UCSP) – refers to the institutionalized
patterns of ways of life that are shared, learned, developed, and accepted by the people
in the community.
a. Symbols and language – symbols are the shared words, gestures, objects, or
signals which people in a community use to convey and develop recognizable
meanings. Language is a symbolic system that allows people to develop complex,
thoughts and records and explain ideas either through written oral or nonverbal
communication.
b. Norms - are socially accepted behavior.
c. Values and belief – values define the ideal principle of what is good, just and
desirable. Belief refer to the shared ideas of what is collectively true by people in a
community.
d. Rituals – refers to the sacred or secular procedures and ceremonies that people in
the community regularly perform.
3. Political Structure – refers to the people’s established ways of allocating power and making
decisions in running and managing community affairs.
a. Leadership Structure – refer to the composition of recognized leaders in the
community and the workflow of their authority.
b. Political Organization- pertains either to political parties or political groups in
the community who are engaged in political activities.
4. Economic Structure – pertains to various organized ways and means through which
people in the community produce goods and services, allocate limited resources, and
generate wealth on order to satisfy their needs and wants.
 a. Capital Asset – refers to a property that is owned and has an economic value,
which is expected to generate interest and profit for a long period of time. There
are 5 types of assets:
i. Human capital – pertains to the labor force in the community and
their background in terms of health, education, skills and capacity to
work.
ii. Social capital – refers to the collective value of social networks and
connections (patronage, neighborhoods, kinships) and inclinations that arise
in order to provide mutual support
iii. Natural capital – refers to land and water resources (forest, wildlife, kamote).
iv. Physical capital – refers to man-made infrastructure and technology
(road, transportation, energy).
v. Financial capital – refers to the savings, credit and debt, remittances,
pensions, and salary and wages.
b. Vulnerability context – pertains to the insecurity in the well-being of individuals
and households in the society.
c. Business climate – refers to the attitudes, laws, and policies of the government
and economic institutions toward businesses, enterprises and commercial
activities.
d. Trade – pertains to the enterprise and business activities involving the sale and
purchase of goods and services.
Theoretical Perspectives in Community Engagement

1.Structural-Functionalism – Emile Durkheim

 According to Structural-Functionalism, communities are analogous to living organisms (for

example, a human being). Each part of the human body is linked to all other parts.
Individual organs combine to create something that is "greater than the sum total of their
individual parts".
 In social terms, "organs" equate to social institutions (patterns of shared, stable, behaviour)
and the focus of analysis is upon the relationship between various institutions in society.
Society is a system of interconnected parts that work together in harmony to maintain a
state of balance and social equilibrium for the whole.
 According to Durkheim, community should be analyzed and described in terms of
functions. Society is a system of interrelated parts where no one part can function without
the other. These parts make up the whole of society. If one part changes, it has an impact
on society as a whole.
 Functionalists use the terms functional and dysfunctional to describe the effects of social
elements on society to a community. Elements of society are functional if they contribute
to social stability and dysfunctional if they disrupt social stability. Some aspects of society
can be both functional and dysfunctional.
Structural-Functionalism Community Typologies (Ferdinand Tonnies & Emile Durkheim)

a. Gemeinschaft is a community of individuals with close personal and family ties.

 Natural will – where members relate to one another as total personality.
 Durkheim designate this as mechanical solidarity. It is a form of social cohesion
that arises when people in a society maintain similar values and beliefs and
engage in similar types of work. Mechanical solidarity most commonly occurs in
traditional, simple societies such as those in which everyone herds cattle or farms.
Amish society exemplifies mechanical solidarity.
 Rural Communities – are territorial enclaves or villages where there is a small, low-
density and homogenous population. The economic system is based on agriculture.
b. Gesselschaft is characterized by impersonal, secondary, contractual, and
rationalize relationship.
 Rational Will – characterized by forethought and deliberation.
  Durkheim designate this as organic solidarity. It is a form of social cohesion that
arises when the people in a society are interdependent, but hold to varying values
and beliefs and engage in varying types of work. Organic solidarity most commonly
occurs in industrialized, complex societies such those in large American cities like
New York in the 2000s.
 Urban Communities – are cities or big towns where there is a large, high dense,
and heterogeneous population. The economic system is industrial and/or
administrative in nature.

Scope of Structures of Communities

1. Local Community – example: village, barangay, town, city, municipality, province, region
2. Global Community – characterized the interconnectivity of people or countries all over
the world.
2.Institutionalism

Social Institution - a group of people assigned to perform a definite task and function in a social
system.

 Institutions are social structures that have attained a high degree of resilience. They
are composed of cultural-cognitive, normative, and regulative elements that together
with associated activities and resources, provide stability and meaning to social life.
 Institutions increase the predictability of the decision-making situation by setting rules
that govern the players, allowable actions and strategies, authorized results and linkages
among decisions (Heywood, 2000).
Two Types of Institutions

Institutions consist of formal rules and informal constrains. Definition of their distinction as follows:
Formal Institutions Informal Institutions
Formal institutions are openly codified, in the Informal institutions are socially shared rules,
sense that they are established and usually unwritten, that are created,
communicated through channels that are communicated, and enforced outside of
widely accepted as official. This refers to those officially sanctioned channels’. Informal
officially established often by the government. institutions are equally known but not laid
They’re legally introduced and enforced by down in writing and they tend to be more
the state. persistent
than formal rules.
Formal institutions are those officially established
Informal institutions are not officially established,
in one way or another, often by governments. but practices commonly accepted throughout
society.
Laws, Constitutions, Government Beliefs, Norms, Values

3.Civil Society Perspective

Civil Society- conventionally refers to the political community of organized group operating
within the authoritative parameters of the state. It is an aggregate of active groups and
associations such as business, interest groups and clubs. It has been referred to as the third sector
distinctive from the state (government) and the market (businesses).

Kinds of Civil Society Organizations

1. Non-Government Organizations – the Philippine National Economic Development

Authority (NEDA) describes NGOs as private, non-profit, volunteer organizations that are
committed to the task of what is broadly termed development.
2. People’s Organizations – POs are independent, autonomous entities, officially registered
and acknowledged as organizations according to rules and standards set by the state.
Significant
 features of POs is that it claims to represent impoverished, vulnerable, and
marginalized communities.
3. Social Movements – is a form of collective behavior which springs largely from the
attitudes and aspirations of its participants. Social Movements confront with specific power
structures and pursuit socioeconomic and political change.
3. Organic Perspective

- It refers to local or grassroots groups within a particular locale that are driven and organized
because of community issues and concerns. They are referred to as “grassroots” because of their
local and capacity-building characteristics. It is generally conceptualized as the formation of
neighborhood organizations, rural or urban, convened to pursue local development goals or
address particular issues.

Activity:
Answer the item comprehensively. Write neatly and legibly with minimal erasure.
(2 items, 10 points each, 20 points)
1. In your own words, what makes a community a true community?

2. Based on the different definitions and perspectives of a community, how would you
elaborate on the present global situation because of the CoronaVirus Disease-19 (COVID-19)?

DESCRIPTION POINT SYSTEM

CONTENT ARGUMENT: breadth and depth of
5: excellent reasoning with highly appropriate discussions 4:
working knowledge was shown through superior reasoning with appropriate discussions
examples, explanations, suppositions, and
3: very good reasoning with slightly appropriate discussions 2:
premises that showed application and good reasoning but lacks appropriate discussion
analysis 1: strained reasoning with no apparent appropriateness in discussion
of situation.
ORGANIZATION: presentation of ideas was clear
5: excellent organization with highly appropriate discussions 4:
and cohesive showing proper association of superior organization with appropriate discussions
arguments. 3: very good organization with slightly appropriate discussions 2:
good organization but lacks appropriate discussion
1: strained organization with no apparent appropriateness in discussion

References:

Abenir, M. (2017) Community Engagement, Solidarity, and Citizenship. Makati City: Diwa Learning
System Inc.

Taguibao, J. (2017) Community Engagement, Solidarity, and Citizenship. Quezon City: Vibal Group
Inc.