1. Understanding Community Chapter 6 Fall 20101

2. What “communities” do you belong to? Fall 20102

3. What is a community? Fall 20103  “A readily available, mutually supportive network of relationships on which one could depend.”  sense of community: key value to judge quality of life

4. What is a community? Fall 20104 1. Locality-based Community: 2. Regional Community:

5. What is a community? Fall 20105 Locality-based communityRegional community

6. What is a community? Fall 20106 Locality-based community Regional community LowHigh Low High

7. Practice: University of Massachusetts Lowell Fall 20107  How is it a locality-based community?  How is it a regionally-based community?

8. Psychological Sense of Community (SoC) Fall 20108  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

9. 4 Elements of SoC (p. 175) Fall 20109 1. Group membership 2. Group influence 3. Group integration & fulfillment of needs 4. Shared emotional connection with group members

10. (1) Group Membership Fall 201010  Personal investment in the community:  Boundaries  Common symbol system  Emotional safety  Personal investment  Sense of belonging & identification

11. (2) Group Influence Fall 201011  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

12. (3) Integration & Fulfillment of Needs Fall 201012  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.)

13. (4) Shared Emotional Connection Fall 201013  “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

14. Research on Sense of Community (pp. 177-180) Fall 201014  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

15. Source: http://community.livejournal.com/ljsecret15

16. Practice: Group Membership Fall 201016  Community = UML Community  Boundaries:  Common symbol system:  Emotional safety:  Personal investment:  Sense of belonging & identification:

17. Opinion Question  Is sense of community an individual appraisal?  Or is sense of community a community level construct? Fall 201017

18. 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 201018

19. Narratives Fall 201019  Helps to build sense of community  stories shared by group members  Dominant Social Narratives:  Community Narratives:  Personal Stories:

20. SoC Potential Downsides Fall 201020  Negative psychological SoC (example on pp. 180-181)  Competition for individual’s time & commitment  Consider your own communities  External relationships between communities may increase out-group conflict (example on pp. 183-184)

21. Sense of Community Downsides Fall 201021  Conflicts can exist among macrobelonging & microbelonging to communities:  Macrobelonging:  Mircrobelonging:  Example: Women’s Movement

22. 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 201022

23. Social Capitol Fall 201023  Sense of Community:  Social Capital:  social networks  norms of reciprocity & trust that arise from social networks  Formal:  Informal:

24. Functions of Social Capitol Fall 201024  Bonding:  Internal ties that underlie sense of community  Bridging:  to increase access to resources

25. Example: Facebook  What social capitals exist within the Facebook community?  How does Facebook promote bonding?  How does Facebook promote bridging? Fall 201025

26. Skip Concepts related to Sense of Community  Skip Concepts related to Sense of Community  Read & Understand all 3 exammples of building communities (pp 191-199)  Spirituality  Community Service Learning  Online Communities Fall 201026

27. Practice Questions  What types of communities are the following: ____ church ____ public school ____ zip code 01854 ____ UML ____ facebook group: 30 Rock Fall 201027