1. Unit 4: AOS 1 Community

2. History of Community
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 1974, quoted by Hoggett 1997: 5).

3. Origin of Community
The origin of the word community comes from the Latin munus, which means the gift, and cum, which means together, among each other.
Community literally means to give among each other.
Community could be defined as a group of people who share gifts which they provide to all.

4. Community can be defined using different patterns.
A community can be large or small; local, national, international; real or virtual; cooperative or competitive; formal or informal.

5. Community is a Sociological Construct
Not only is the concept of a community a "construct" (model), it is a "sociological construct."
It is a set of interactions, human behaviours that have meaning and expectations between its members.
Not just action, but actions based on shared expectations, values, beliefs and meanings between individuals.

6. Boundaries A small village has simple boundaries.
Interaction is between residents.
Interaction outside the communities.
Other village shops
Marriage and dating from other villages
Sports
When an identified community is a little village, separated by a few kilometres from other villages, in a rural area, its boundaries appear at first to be very simple. That pattern of human interaction may be seen as consisting only of relations between the residents living inside that location, inside that village.
That pattern of human interaction may be seen as consisting only of relations between the residents living inside that location, inside that village.
But its residents interact also with people outside the village. They marry persons from near and far, and may move or bring a spouse in to live with them. At any one time, those village residents may have sisters, brothers, cousins, parents and extended relatives living elsewhere. The boundary of that community is not so precise.

8. Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft
A community bound together in a tightly knit pattern which is socially homogeneous and based on a clear-cut piece of territory.
Gemeinschaft is a world dominated by face-to-face contacts, where each person is aware of his or her status, each is attached to a particular place, and the community is well regulated.
It is said to be a feature of villages and small towns, and contrasts with gesellschaft society, said to be a feature of an urban, industrialized populace.
Both concepts are idealized; in real life there are ingredients of both, in varying proportions, in all societies.
For example, within many cities there are neighbourhoods which operate as urban villages.

9. Jewish community of Caulfield
Case study

10. Today's Jewish community is concentrated in the St
Today's Jewish community is concentrated in the St. Kilda district, home of the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation, the oldest and largest synagogue in the city. The original kehilla that was formed in 1841 moved into this large, stately building in 1930, and the dome-topped, Victorian structure has been in use ever since. Other synagogues in Melbourne include Temple Beth Israel, a Liberal synagogue that seats more than 2,000 people; the St. Kilda Hebrew Congregation, which is more in the old-world style; and the Kew synagogue, the newest and most modern looking temple.
The Jewish museum of Australia displays Judaica, ritual objects, Holocaust material, and paintings and sculptures by Jewish authors. The nearby Kadimah Cultural Center shows Jewish and Yiddish drama, and has a large library of Judaica. There are also kosher restaurants and grocery stores throughout the St. Kilda area.

11. The history of the Jews in Australia dates back to 1788, when a number of Jews were among the convicts brought to the country aboard the First Fleet to establish the first European settlement on the continent, on the site of present-day Sydney. Today, an estimated 120,000 Jews live in Australia.[1] The majority are Ashkenazi Jews many of them refugees and Holocaust survivors who arrived during and after World War II. There is also a significant Sephardic Jewish population.

12. * The meaning and history of the concept of community including the theory of Ferdinand Tonnies

13. What is a community? Can be difficult to define
Has traditionally been used to describe groups of people who:
Live in the same geographical area
Are connected with an institution e.g. a church or a school
Belong to the same cultural or language group e.g. Vietnamese Australians
Have similar occupations e.g. nurses
Share similar experiences e.g. refugees and asylum seekers
Have ideas or values in common e.g. environmental social movements
Have a similar interest e.g. gym members
Share a lifestyle e.g. people are same sex attracted
Share a government e.g. the city of Monash

14. When the term community is used in connection with any of these practices and activities it is generally intended to suggest that the people in the group have something in common

15. 4 key characteristics of a community include
Live in the same area
Are interdependent in terms of work
Share social interactions
Share a sense of belonging to that group

16. Types of communities
Geographic communities – local neighbourhood, suburb, shire, town or city (sometimes called communities of location) – large group living in close proximity
Cultural communities – local club, sub-culture, ethnic group, religious, or multicultural group (e.g. Indigenous and Greek-Australian groups)
Interest based communities – people who share a common identity other than location and who often interact regularly (eg a sporting club or a land care environmental group)

17. Types of communities
Intentional communities – formed with the purpose of providing social and/or practical support for a group (e.g. a retirement village or nursing home, young mothers group)
Internet communities – groups of people who may have never met but share some interest or connection via the internet (e.g. second life, blogs, facebook and political/non government organisations)

18. Ref pg 96
How might the definition of community have changed over time?

19. Industrial Revolution
1760 – 1850
Transformed society economically moving from an agrarian farming economy to a manufacturing economy
Technologically from manual to mechanical labour
Socially from rural to urban life, changing control over labour processes and gender relations

20. FERDINAND TONNIES German sociologist
Studied how life in the new cities differed from life in rural villages
Introduced 2 contrasts that reflected the contrast between very different social experiences

21. GEMEINSHAFT (community)
Used to describe a social group in which people are closely tied by kinship (family) and tradition
GESELLSCHAFT ‘society’
The informal and impersonal relationships that occur within cities

22. GEMEINSCHAFT
In traditional villages the intimate ties of Gemeinschaft connected people
Connections based on blood (kinship)
Mind (sense of being a unique group) and land
Seen as being culturally homogenous as shaped by the moral laws of the church and family

23. Admiration for the way that Gemeinschaft groups maintain social cohesion and a concern about the loss of these forms of community

24. Examples of Gemeinschaft
Rural farming communities
Extended families
Religious communities

25. Gesellschaft
Tonnies concerned that society over time would comprise Gesellschaft groups
Worried that people would be ‘essentially separated in spite of uniting factors’
Characterises a group of people who come together by choice usually for very specific practical reasons

26. Instead of being guided by traditional norms – people follow their own selfish interests
They adopt a ‘contracual’ attitude becoming more deliberate, rational and calculating in their social interactions (eg connecting for work opportunities rather than emotional well – being)

27. Tonnies noted that as social and geographic mobility increased the close ties of Gemeinschaft were replaced by social relationships
Which were impersonal, superficial and fleeting

28. Examples
Corporate workplaces
Gyms
universities

29. GEMEINSCHAFT (COMMUNITY)
GESELLSCHAFT (SOCIETY)
Bonds among people are intimate and personal
Based on strong social ties, tradition and personal relationships
Descriptive of rural life
People know each other, share interests oriented toward collective community
Shared identity
Family ties are strong which provides unity
Bonds are practical and impersonal
Association of people with social ties, considerable social diversity and impersonal relationships
Descriptive of urban life
People largely motivated by self interest which can result in disunity
Few common values or shared identities
Tradition and custom are no longer binding forces. Individuals choose to participate

30. Below slides are a cartoon play on the difference between Geselschaft and Gemeinschaft

33. Although technically we still have Gemeinschaft communities
Gemeinschaft could be regarded as traditional (earlier) communities and Gesellschaft to modern (later) communities
M comes before S in the alphabet

34. Emile Durkheim Agreed with Tonnies theory about community and society
Durkheim believed that cities do not lack social bonds
Outlined 2 different forms of community – they either reflected the ‘mechanical solidarity’ of traditional society or ‘organic solidarity’ present within modern societies.

35. Mechanical solidarity
Durkheim believed that pre-industrial societies were united by mechanical solidarity or shared moral beliefs
Members of traditional communities viewed each-other as being similar in terms of work, values and social connections

36. Similar to Tonnies Gemeinschaft community
Durkheim suggested that the unity generated within traditional community comes from having the shared culture and maintaining regular face to face contact

37. Organic solidarity
More optimistic than Tonnies about the shift in community types as a result of urbanisation
Durkheim outlined a new type of social connection called ‘organic solidarity’
Involved social bonds based on specialisation (division of labour and interdependence)

38. Concept similar to Gesellschaft groups but has key differences
Both sociologists felt that the expansion of industrial cities had the potential to undermine tradition
For Durkheim urban society offered more personal choice, tolerance and privacy than was found in traditional communities

39. Durkheim's theory of social change warned about the potential for increasing organic solidarity and its associated individualism to cause a reduction in the involvement of communal activities instead of combining their efforts, individuals might allow selfish interests and competitiveness to divide them

40. This could lead to social disorder
And ‘anomie’ a society without norms
People could become increasingly isolated and dissatisfied
Durkheim saw anomie as the cause of the rising rate of suicide, crime and social disorder in urban society at the time

41. Listen to ..
Florence and the machines never let me go – how might Durkheim explain this song??
Use key terms to explain…
And “I wish I was a punk rocker…” song

42. What would Durkheim say?
“And it's peaceful in the deep,  Either way, you cannot breathe,  No need to pray, no need to speak  Now I am under.”
Though the pressure's hard to take,  It's the only way I can escape,  It seems a heavy choice to make,  Now I am under. And it's breaking over me,  A thousand miles down to the sea bed,  Found the place to rest my head.

43. Create a venn diagram
To explain the similarities and differences between Tonnies and Durkheim

44. Community over time ref pg 100
Using the pictures - add your own drawings and write the features of traditional communities and the features of modern communities
..\Documents\Sociology\sociology 3&4\Unit 3\AOS 3- Community\COMMUNITIES OVER TIME.docx

45. Common features of traditional and modern communities include
Sense of belonging
Identity
Security
Social interaction and participation

46. Factors contributing to shift from traditional to modern community
Travel and advances in technology and communications
Feminism
Work
Urbanisation
Educational opportunities
Multiculturalism
Industrialisation

47. Your task
Complete Activity 4.02 pg 102

48. Castell’s theory of network society and its connection to modern forms of community
Contemporary theory
‘network society’
Explores how use of ICT in industrialised cities has improved social networks and connections between people

49. Castells’ theory
States that online connections supplement and enrich ‘offline’ connections
Believed those who are active within their ‘real world’ communities use the internet to maintain and expand their range of social activities and friendships

50. Some social researchers are concerned about the breakdown of community and family life as isolated and alienated ‘netizens’ (cyber citizens) become addicted to online interaction

51. BUT Castell argues that pessimistic views are based on insufficient empirical evidence and nostalgia for the intimate communities of a past that never existed
His research found that the Internet has the potential to provide a much broader range of social contacts and opportunities for discussion compared to face to face connections

52. Further research into whether relationships that are exclusively formed and experienced online were considered meaningful and lasting 
Found that many online communities were fleeting groups containing “variable geometry and changing composition”

53. Online interactions were seen as resulting in weak social ties rather than creating long lasting relationships

54. Another concern relates to negative social behaviours
Eg networks of paedophiles, racist groups and internet fraudsters can be formed  Castell reported that the vast majority of online community members do not engage in these offensive behaviours

55. 2 main forms of ICT communities
Virtual communities
Social network created through use of information technology
Second life (people create avatars or alternative reflections of themselves)
(Rheingold’s theory)
Online communities
Collection of people who communicate online
Seek social support, company and information
Make connections based on shared interest and values

56. SUMMARY OF CASTELL’s theory
Manual Castells – ‘network society’
Explores how the use of ICT in industrialised cities has improved social networks and connections between people
He argues that the Internet has helped to reinforce and intensify existing social patterns rather than threaten community

57. Rheingold Empowering potential of internet
New community online allows people to make connections based on shared interests and values
Online communities are a natural response to the human need for social contact which has been eroded due to the loss of traditional communities

58. Rheingold
Argues online communities have been created as “an alternative reality in a world gone wrong”
While Castell supports Rheingold’s empowerment model, he notes that the impact of the internet on social interaction has been less dramatic than originally predicted

59. Castell – the same problems occurring in real life (exclusion, conflict and racism) are also present in online communities
Access to ICT remains restricted to those with enough economic, educational and social resources to participate in these forms of community

60. FACEBOOK Desire for popularity rather than genuine friendships?
LIST THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF VIRTUAL AND ONLINE COMMUNITIES pg. 104

61. CLASS DISCUSSION What internet communities do you know of?
What is considered acceptable and unacceptable behaviour within internet communities
How have these social rules been established?
What are the consequences of the rules are broken?

62. Complete Activity 4.03
Research newspaper articles and representations on online and virtual communities
In your opinion are online communities genuine forms of community? Justify your answer with specific examples and theory
Read pg 105 and answer questions 1-5 on pg 106

63. Experience of community
Sense of community
Involves a feeling that members belong, are connected to each other and believe that their needs will be met through their participation in the group

64. Ways in which a sense of community can be built
Participating in festivals celebrating the community
Working towards a common goal or purpose (wining a sporting premiership or raising funds for charity)
Promoting the community among its members
Attending social nights or organised activities

65. Maintaining or Weakening?
The rebuilding of Kinglake after the fires has simultaneously maintained and weakened a sense of community
Changes to clearway times has brought Stonnington Council traders together as a community to “fight” the State Government

66. Sense of community can also be instilled in individuals by..
Family – determines which communities a person will interact with and how often this occurs
Ethnic origin – provides a person with friendship links and cultural connections to communities while also exposing people to racism and prejudice that may make individuals stick with ‘people like us’
Work – determines a persons status and power within a community

67. Inclusion and Exclusion
How community members made to feel part of the group
Participation in community activities is often responsible for this connection
Involves:
Being made to feel welcome – sense of belonging
Generates a feeling of being part of something
Provides individuals with security, identity, support and access to skills and information possessed by the community
How people can be isolated from the community
Can be unintentional (not being able to join a swimming team if you cant swim) or intentional (neo Nazi movement excluding people who are not of an Anglo Saxon background)
Causes individuals to feel isolated and alienated from a community (ies)
Helps define a community by identifying who is not included
Can result in individuals feeling angry, resentful, frustrated and powerless
Can lead to conflict or violence between different community groups

68. Relationship between inclusion and exclusion
Concepts are interrelated
Often actions that make one person feel apart of a community can be the same factor that excludes someone else
Niklas Luhmann ( ) describes the interrelationship as being like “two sides of the same coin”

69. EXAMPLE OF inclusion and exclusion
A Greek social club has a strong sense of community because its members have their ethnicity in common
This club is not deliberately seeking to exclude non Greek people but has unintentionally done so. If a non Greek person were to join, while it would eliminate the feeling of exclusion for that person, it would likely remove the strong sense of community the Greek members feel because the new member may not understand their culture and experiences in the same way

70. How can a sense of community be weakened?
Political factors – change in government policy, such as the closure of a school in a small country town
Economic factors – loss of financial support/funding (rural football and cricket clubs needing to merge instead of closing)
Social factors – sexism, racism, ageism

71. ..\Documents\Sociology\sociology 3&4\Unit 4\AOS 3- Community\Exclude women at your own peril.docx
Read pg 106 and answer questions 1-5
Complete activity 4.04 pg 109

72. Information and communications technology
What is ICT?
Networking (mobile phones towers, broadband, satellites)
Hardware (computers, laptop, iphone)
Software (web browsers, )
The internet
The people who work with these technologies

73. What are the positive and negative consequences for Australian communities as a result of the development of ICT..\Documents\Sociology\sociology 3&4\Unit 4\AOS 3- Community\Positive and negative consequences of ICT on community pg 110.docx complete Activity 4.05 pg 112 ** Find current articles on internet communities

74. Effects of economic, social, political and environmental changes
The impact of change from various institutions and the environment can range from a minor inconvenience to the complete destruction of a community

75. When considering the impact of change it is important to be able to describe what the experience of community was like ‘before’ and ‘after’ the change
The following categories of change have had a significant impact on the structure and experience of community over time

76. Economic change Gain or loss of funding
Decrease or increase in membership fees
Increase in rent, licensing fees or other costs
Need for sponsorship and fundraising
Loss of industry and unemployment

77. Social change Changing social attitudes Changing gender roles
Social trends and fashions
Popular opinion
Attitudes of people inside and outside a community

78. Political change Changing government policy
Laws and legislation (eg anti-discrimination laws), government grants
Council bylaws and restrictions (eg building permits
Removal of services

79. Environmental changes
Sustainability – ensuring there are adequate resources for future community groups to use (eg water for ovals, private and public space for sporting activities)
Climate change (shifting weather patterns have had significant impact on many communities esp. rural communities who have been subjected to floods, draughts and fires.