Understanding Community Chapter 6 Fall 20101

What “communities” do you belong to? Fall 20102

What is a community? Fall  “A readily available, mutually supportive network of relationships on which one could depend.”  sense of community: key value to judge quality of life

What is a community? Fall Locality-based Community: 2. Regional Community:

What is a community? Fall Locality-based communityRegional community

What is a community? Fall Locality-based community Regional community LowHigh Low High

Practice: University of Massachusetts Lowell Fall  How is it a locality-based community?  How is it a regionally-based community?

Psychological Sense of Community (SoC) Fall  strength of bonding among community members (Sarason, 1974)  McMillan & Chavis (1986) expanded on this definition:  Feeling that members belong  Feeling that members matter to one another & to group  Shared faith that members’ needs will be met through commitment to be together

4 Elements of SoC (p. 175) Fall Group membership 2. Group influence 3. Group integration & fulfillment of needs 4. Shared emotional connection with group members

(1) Group Membership Fall  Personal investment in the community:  Boundaries  Common symbol system  Emotional safety  Personal investment  Sense of belonging & identification

(2) Group Influence Fall  2 types of power 1. Power that members exercise over group 2. Reciprocal power that group dynamics exert on members  People most attracted to groups where they feel influential  Those who try to dominate group often become isolated  Groups typically strive for balance & cohesiveness through mutual influence

(3) Integration & Fulfillment of Needs Fall  Concerns horizontal relationships among members (whereas influence concerns vertical relationships)  2 aspects to Integration:  Shared values: ideals pursued through community involvement (i.e., improving education)  Satisfying needs & exchange of resources occurs among community members  Purpose: to meet individual needs (physical, psychosocial, etc.)

(4) Shared Emotional Connection Fall  “definitive element for true community” (McMillan & Chavis)  Involves spiritual bond (not necessarily religious)  Recognized through behavior, speech, or other cues  Deeper than behavior  Strengthened through important group rituals

Research on Sense of Community (pp ) Fall  Textbook covers a number of issues regarding research on the concept of sense of community  College students (e.g., Loomis et al., 2004; Lounsbury et al., 2003) - look for reference at back of book - search in PsychInfo

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Practice: Group Membership Fall  Community = UML Community  Boundaries:  Common symbol system:  Emotional safety:  Personal investment:  Sense of belonging & identification:

Opinion Question  Is sense of community an individual appraisal?  Or is sense of community a community level construct? Fall

Example  Survey of college department found:  Students report faculty-student relationship is good.  Faculty report faculty-student relationship is good.  Students report faculty-faculty relationship is not good.  Faculty report faculty-faculty relationship is good  What can you tell about this department? Fall

Narratives Fall  Helps to build sense of community  stories shared by group members  Dominant Social Narratives:  Community Narratives:  Personal Stories:

SoC Potential Downsides Fall  Negative psychological SoC (example on pp )  Competition for individual’s time & commitment  Consider your own communities  External relationships between communities may increase out-group conflict (example on pp )

Sense of Community Downsides Fall  Conflicts can exist among macrobelonging & microbelonging to communities:  Macrobelonging:  Mircrobelonging:  Example: Women’s Movement

Practice Question  What type of narrative is based on emotional relationships between people within the same group? a) Dominant Cultural b) Community c) Personal d) Other Fall

Social Capitol Fall  Sense of Community:  Social Capital:  social networks  norms of reciprocity & trust that arise from social networks  Formal:  Informal:

Functions of Social Capitol Fall  Bonding:  Internal ties that underlie sense of community  Bridging:  to increase access to resources

Example: Facebook  What social capitals exist within the Facebook community?  How does Facebook promote bonding?  How does Facebook promote bridging? Fall

Skip Concepts related to Sense of Community  Skip Concepts related to Sense of Community  Read & Understand all 3 exammples of building communities (pp )  Spirituality  Community Service Learning  Online Communities Fall

Practice Questions  What types of communities are the following: ____ church ____ public school ____ zip code ____ UML ____ facebook group: 30 Rock Fall