Community

Concept of Community:

  • Definition: A group of people living in the same place or sharing common characteristics.
  • Characteristics: Social unit with shared values, interests, and goals.
  • Importance: Provides a sense of belonging, social support, and interaction.
  • Types: Geographic, interest-based, action-oriented, virtual, and professional communities.
  • Varies in size and structure based on context.

Sense of Community:

  • Definition: Feeling of belonging and connection within a group.
  • Researchers: Studied by McMillan, Chavis, Perkins, and Pretty.
  • Influence: Impacts individual well-being, social support, and community engagement.
  • Factors: Shared values, trust, and participation influence the sense of community.
  • Explored in psychology, sociology, and community development.

Community Development:

  • Focus: Improving quality of life and well-being within a community.
  • Initiatives: Economic development, social services, infrastructure improvements.
  • Collaboration: Involves residents, organizations, and local government.
  • Goals: Address social issues, promote inclusion, empower community members.
  • Emphasizes participation, sustainability, and long-term planning.

Community Building and Organization:

  • Processes: Strengthen relationships and connections within a group.
  • Activities: Community events, shared projects, communication platforms.
  • Benefits: Promotes social cohesion, resilience, mutual support.
  • Examples: Neighborhood associations, community centers, online forums.
  • Goal: Create a sense of belonging, identity, and shared purpose.

Online Communities:

  • Nature: Virtual spaces for social interaction, collaboration, support.
  • Platforms: Social media, forums, online gaming facilitate online communities.
  • Reach: Transcend geographical boundaries, connect individuals globally.
  • Opportunities: Learning, networking, activism in online communities.
  • Challenges: Cyberbullying, misinformation, digital divide in online communities.
Community (Wikipedia)

A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with a shared socially significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, town, or neighbourhood) or in virtual space through communication platforms. Durable good relations that extend beyond immediate genealogical ties also define a sense of community, important to their identity, practice, and roles in social institutions such as family, home, work, government, TV network, society, or humanity at large. Although communities are usually small relative to personal social ties, "community" may also refer to large group affiliations such as national communities, international communities, and virtual communities.

Community Town hall
A community of interest gathers at Stonehenge, England, for the summer solstice.

The English-language word "community" derives from the Old French comuneté (Modern French: communauté), which comes from the Latin communitas "community", "public spirit" (from Latin communis, "common").

Human communities may have intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, and risks in common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness.

 

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