What is community? Community. What is community and why should educators be concerned with it? We explore the development of theory around community, and the significance of boundaries, social networks and social norms – and why attention to social capital and communion may be important. Since the late nineteenth century, ‘the use of the term community has remained to some extent associated with the hope and the wish of reviving once more the closer, warmer, more harmonious type of bonds between people vaguely attributed to past ages’ (Elias 1. Hoggett 1. 99. 7: 5). Before 1. 91. 0 there was little social science literature concerning ‘community’ and it was really only in 1. This was coined by C. Bob Larson is the world's foremost expert on cults, the occult, and supernatural phenomena. Further reading. Adolf E. Jensen, Myth and Cult among Primitive Peoples, University of Chicago Press, 1963; Larson, Jennifer, Greek Heroine Cults (1995). LINKS ON CULTS WHICH YOU SHOULD LOOK INTO. THE WAY OF CHRIST If you study this course, you will be subjected to a synthesis of the worst New Age theology along with. J. Galpin in relation to delineating rural communities in terms of the trade and service areas surrounding a central village (Harper and Dunham 1. A number of competing definitions of community quickly followed. Some focused on community as a geographical area; some on a group of people living in a particular place; and others which looked to community as an area of common life. Beyond this there are issues around the way ‘community’ appears in political discourse. For some it might mean little more than a glorified reworking of the market. For others, it may be a powerful organizing ideal (such as those concerned with advancing the communitarian agenda). on this page. Here we will focus on understandings within social theory – and ask why should educators be interested in them?Approaching the theory of community.It is helpful to begin by noting that community can be approached as a value (Frazer 2.As such it may well be used to bring together a number of elements, for example, solidarity, commitment, mutuality and trust.It comes close to the third of the ideals that were inscribed on many of the banners of the French Revolution – fraternity (the others, as you will most likely remember, were liberty and equality).Socialists such as William Morris talked similarly of ‘fellowship’: Fellowship is heaven, and lack of fellowship is hell; fellowship is life, and lack of fellowship is death; and the deeds that ye do upon the earth, it is for fellowship’s sake ye do them. A Dream of John Ball, Ch.The Commonweal 1. Basic Ophthalmology Book Free Download . Community can also be approached as a descriptive category or set of variables (see below).In practice the two are entwined and often difficult to separate (Frazer 2.Here we will initially explore community in three different ways (after Willmott 1.Lee and Newby 1. 98. Crow and Allen 1. As: Place. Territorial or place community can be seen as where people have something in common, and this shared element is understood geographically. Another way of naming this is as ‘locality’. This approach to community has spawned a rich literature – first in ‘community studies’ and more recently in locality studies (often focusing on spatial divisions of labour). Interest. In interest or ‘elective’ communities people share a common characteristic other than place. They are linked together by factors such as religious belief, sexual orientation, occupation or ethnic origin. ![]() In this way we may talk about the ‘gay community’, the ‘Catholic community’ or the ‘Chinese community’. Development in what might be called the sociology of identity and selfhood have played an important role in ‘opening out the conceptual space within which non- place forms of community can be understood’ (Hoggett 1. Elective groups’ and ‘intentional communities’ (ranging, according to Hoggett op cit from cyber- communities to car- boot enthusiasts) are a key feature of contemporary life Communion. In its weakest form we can approach this as a sense of attachment to a place, group or idea (in other words, whether there is a ‘spirit of community’). In its strongest form ‘communion’ entails a profound meeting or encounter – not just with other people, but also with God and creation. One example here would be the Christian communion of saints – the spiritual union between each Christian and Christ (and hence between every Christian). Another is Martin Buber’s interest in meeting and ‘the between’. There is, of course, a strong possibility that these different ways of approaching community will also overlap in particular instances.Place and interest communities may well coincide – for example in the case of places where many of those who live there work in the same industry – such as was the case in ‘mining villages’. Installing Air Lines In Workshop Plans . Willmott (1. 98. 9) argues that it is legitimate to add a third understanding of community – that of attachment – as communities of place or interest may not have a sense of shared identity. Anthony P. Cohen’s (1. He argues that communities are best approached as ‘communities of meaning’. In other words, ‘”community” plays a crucial symbolic role in generating people’s sense of belonging’ (Crow and Allan 1. The reality of community, Cohen argues, lies in its members’ perception of the vitality of its culture (a significant element of this is what Putnam calls ‘social capital’ – see below). People construct community symbolically, making it a resource and repository of meaning, and a referent of their identity’ (Cohen 1. This, and the above discussion, leads us to three key questions: How is one community or communion marked off from another? What sort of social networks or systems are involved in a particular grouping or encounter? What norms or ‘habits’ are involved? Boundary and community. Cohen argues that ‘community’ involves two related suggestions that the members of a group have something in common with each other; and the thing held in common distinguishes them in a significant way from the members of other possible groups (Cohen 1. Community, thus, implies both similarity and difference. It is a relational idea: ‘the opposition of one community to others or to other social entities’ (op. This leads us to the question of boundary – what marks the beginning and end of a community? Cohen’s argument is that boundaries may be marked on a map (as administrative areas), or in law, or by physical features like a river or road. Some may be religious or linguistic. However, not all boundaries are so obvious: ‘They may be thought of, rather, as existing in the minds of the beholders’ (Cohen 1. As such they may be seen in very different ways, not only by people on either side, but also by people on the same side. This is the symbolic aspect of community (or communion) boundary and is fundamental to gaining an appreciation of how people experience communities (and communion). An obvious example of this is the sorts of ritual people connect with in terms of religious observance, for example, the rites of worship, the objects involved and the actions of the priest, imam or rabbi. Indeed, it is very significant that the notion of community recurs in major religions: … the Christian ideal of the communion of saints and the congregation and the Eucharist as forms of community; the centrality of umma or community in Islamic traditions and contemporary practice and theology; community is prominent theme in Judaism, and in Buddhism. Confucianism is not, of course, a religion, but neo- Confucianism is closely intertwined with Buddhism and with traditional religious cults of the family and ancestors, and Confucian norms of family and community life are politically significant in many contemporary contexts. Frazer 1. 99. 9: 2. Each has expression has its own symbols and markers of boundaries defining who is ‘in communion’ or ‘in community’, and who is not. The defining of a boundary places some people within, and some beyond the line. The definition of ‘community’ or ‘communion’ can, thus, become an exclusionary act. The benefits of belonging to a particular group are denied to non- members. A very obvious example of this is the growth of ‘gated communities’ in the USA and UK. A physical barrier is erected to keep out, in this case, those who are poor or who are seen as a threat (Blakely and Snyder 1. Community as network and local social system. As Lee and Newby (1. There may be little interaction between neighbours. It is the nature of the relationships between people and the social networks of which they are a part that is often seen as one of the more significant aspects of ‘community’. When people are asked about what ‘community’ means to them, it is such networks that are most commonly cited. For most of us, our deepest sense of belonging is to our most intimate social networks, especially family and friends.
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