Defining Community

• What is your definition of community?

• How can we create solidarity within community?
• What are your perspectives in understanding the community?
• Can you think of words that would define your understanding
about community is based on the pool of words above? Do you
think these words are enough to explain the dynamics of
community?
• The word community, considered as a Late Middle
English term, it is derived from the Latin word
communitas which means “fellowship.” Its Latin
roots, communis, means “common.”
• A community is a group of people whose connections
and relations are formed by their shared histories,
experiences, geographies, and identities. Members of
community are brought together by commonly held
interests, aspirations, perspectives, and values.
 Social Science Perspective

A social science perspective is the understanding of

communities in the social dimension of individual – the
interaction, relationships, and bonds formed by individuals
with other individuals and how these are manifested in the
formation of organizations within communities.
Anthropology, is a social science discipline that examines
human society.
- It specifically looks into the origins, physical and cultural
development, biological and ecological characteristics, and
the culture, values, and social customs of community.
Social Psychology, studies social behavior, specially the
interaction and influence of individuals and groups on each
other.
• Sociology, studies the structures, developments and
functioning of human society. It looks into social
relations, organization, institutions, and societal segments
and groups.
Political science, refers to the study of activities related to
the art of governing, the management of public affairs or
the creation, preservation, and amendment of the general
rules which operate in communities and society.
 Institutional Perspective
• Institutions are established rules that ensure the
regular and predictable behavior of actors within a
community.
• Nobel Laureate Douglas, describes institutions
as the “rules of the game” that shape a community
and society in general.
 Two types of Institutions

• Formal Institutions are explicitly communicated,

embodied in legally codified documents or artifacts.
• Informal Institutions are practices, norms,
traditions, culture, conduct and belief systems of a
community.
 Civil Society Perspective
• Civil society refers to a political community of
organized groups operating within authoritative
parameters of the state.
- from the view of politics, it is distinguished from
the state to broadly refer to organizations that are
private, autonomous from the government, and
which are in pursuit of advocacies, causes, and goals.
Non-government organization (NGO)
- Galing Pook Foundation Inc., World Vision
Foundation Inc., and the Tuloy Foundation Inc.
People’s organization (Pos)
- The Partido ng manggagawa, Rotaract Club, and
the Philippine Alliance for Human Right Advocates.
 Organic Perspective
An Organic perspective of community refers to local or
grassroots groups within a particular locale that are driven
and organized because of community issues and concern.
-it is generally conceptualized as the formation of
neighborhood organizations, rural or urban, convened to
pursue local development goals or address particular issues,
such as crime prevention, environmental protection and
waste management.
ACTIVITY 2

List at least 5 Non-government organizations (NGOs) and 5

People’s organizations (Pos) that you know of.
Processing Questions:
1. What do the NGOs and POs in your list have in common?
2. What type of issues do the NGOs and POs in your list
address?