CSC Q2

• Community is a set of meaningful social connections within a group
• The size of the group may vary, but all the members have something in common
• Communities are characterized by established traditions and particular patterns of behavior, which can be implied or defined
• Communities form a social institution that provides a stable structure of conventions, offering social order and meaning
• 5 Common Features of a Community:

  1. Interest

  2. Action

  3. Place

  4. Practice

  5. Circumstance
• Interest:

  • A community can be made up of people acting together to bring about a change
• Action:

  • Co-existence in a geographical area can shape up a community
• Place:

  • Communities can be formed by people who are from the same profession or undertake the same activities
• Practice:

  • Some communities are brought together by external events or situations
• Circumstance:

  • People with common interests or passions can form a community
• 3 Types of Communities:

  1. Basic Communities

  2. Rural Community

  3. Urban Community
• Rural Community:

  • Characterized as a natural phenomenon
  • Agriculture is a fundamental part of the identity of a rural community
  • Necessary facilities are mostly absent
  • Mostly made up of smaller populations
• Urban Community:

  • Highly impersonal, complex, and heterogeneous in identity and lifestyle
  • Product of rational choice
  • Based on a larger population
• Suburban Community:

  • Intermediate to rural & urban communities, often outlying a larger city
  • Limited resources and little political autonomy
  • Single-family homes or housing divisions that are closer to each other
• Slums:

  • Places at the bottom of the urban space hierarchy
  • Densely-populated areas with dirty or run-down housing
  • Brought about by massive urban migration
  • Lack of basic necessities like improved water and sanitation
  • Substandard and non-durable housing
  • Insecure residential status
  • Insufficient and overcrowded living space
• Community action forms of collective mobilization where people join to identify their needs and plan their actions to meet those needs
• Reasons for mobilization:

  • To provide local services
  • To campaign for changes in policy
  • To raise awareness of an issue
• Community is the group of people or organizations who come together around a particular issue, or issues, and who share a commitment to create change
• Importance of Local Community Action in Shaping Development:

  • Groups that seek to protect community quality
  • Those that seek to exploit local resources
• In response to the pressures and changes in our communities, activists, grassroots social change orgs, NGOs, and coalitions emerged to shape and guide the development process
• Community action is seen as being the foundation of the community development process because it encompasses deliberate and positive efforts designed to meet the general needs of all local residents
• The action process is intended to benefit the entire community and to cut across divides that may exist (class, race, social), often arising from an emotional or social need by working together
• The existence of community action directs attention to the fact that local people acting together often have the power to transform and change their community
• The Community Action Process:

  • First Stage: Goal setting and strategy development
  • Second Stage: Initiation and organization of sponsorship
  • Third Stage: Development of targets for action and identification of strategies for achieving community decided goals
  • Fourth Stage: Recruitment and mobilization, implementation of specific actions
• The FIRST STAGE focuses on promoting awareness of the issue related to the action
• The SECOND STAGE addresses the structures, organizations, and resources available within and outside of the community
• The THIRD STAGE develops targets for action and identifies strategies for achieving community decided goals
• The FOURTH STAGE involves taking specific actions, assessing, adjusting, and implementing them again
• Action emerges out of interaction between diverse social groups, who often have clashing or distinctly different points of view
• Community action and the emergence of community should not be seen as representing romantic or idealized notions of local harmony and solidarity
• The input and guidance from local residents allows development by providing a comprehensive assessment of local conditions that represents all segments of the community, leading to more efficient and successful programs
• Five Functions of a Community

  • Production, Distribution, Consumption
  • Socialization
  • Social Control
  • Social Participation
  • Mutual Support
• Production, Distribution, Consumption


  The community provides its members with the means to make a living through agriculture, industry, or services
• Socialization


  The community has means by which it instills its norms and values in its members through tradition, modeling, and/or formal education
• Social Control


  The community has the means to enforce adherence to community values through group pressure to conform and/or formal laws
• Social Participation


  The community fulfills the need for companionship, which can occur in a neighborhood, church, business, or other group
• Mutual Support


  The community enables its members to cooperate to accomplish tasks too large or too urgent to be handled by a single person through volunteering or donation
• When the community successfully attains its functions, it leads to economic stability, cultural preservation, social order, active civic engagement, and enhanced resilience
• Community Organization


  Organizing aimed at making desired improvements to a community's social health, well-being, and overall functioning
• Community Organizer


  Aims to organize, mobilize and educate people to build a sense of community, resulting in the community gaining power or influence over issues concerning their welfare