Community Engagement,

Solidarity and Citizenship

Module 2 – Quarter 1 Functions of

Communities in Terms of Structures, Dynamics, and

Processes
 WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT

Learning Competency 1B: Define using various perspectives, e.g.,

social sciences, institutions, civil society, and local/grassroots
level HUMSS_CSC12-IIa-c-2 (2 hours).

At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

1.describe the community networks and functions;
2. analyze the functions of communities in terms of structures,
dynamics and processes;
3. appreciate the value of networks and functions of community;
and
4.discuss the community development process.
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WHAT’S NEW

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FUNCTIONS OF
COMMUNITY

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 1. Production, Distribution, Consumption

 The community provides its members with the means to make a living.

 This may be agriculture, industry, or services.

 No community can survive if it does not provide some way for its people
to make a living and obtain the material resources that they need for
living.

 When Henry Ford was criticized for paying his laborers the princely sum of
$5 a day (a lot of money in 1920), he replied that all those cars he was
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making were no good if no one could afford to buy them.
 2. Socialization

 The community has means by which it instills its

norms and values in its members.

 This may be tradition, modelling, and/or formal

education.

 No community can survive if it does not arrange for

its continuation. 5
 3.Social Control
 The community has the means to enforce adherence to community
values.

 This may be group pressure to conform and/or formal laws.

 it is an issue of forming and enforcing contracts (mutual agreements about

who will do what to whom how and with what) and supporting the “social
contract” (those “rules” of what is expected of one that were learned
through socialization).

 This function is also often referred to as “boundary maintenance.”

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 4. Social Participation

 The community fulfils the need for companionship.

 This may occur in a neighbourhood, church,

business, or other group. In part, it is through

participation that much of those functions is

accomplished.
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 5.Mutual Support
 The community enables its members to cooperate to accomplish

tasks too large or too urgent to be handled by a single person.

 Supporting a community hospital with tax dollars and donations is

an example of people cooperating to accomplish the task of health

care.

 Finally, one of the purposes of community is to “share the journey,”

and to motivate and encourage each other along the way

.
 1.Community Social Structure

2.Community Cultural Structure

3.Community Political Structure

4.Community Economic Structure

 1.Community Social Structure

The rules and expectations that people

develop in the community over time to help

regulate and manage their interaction with one

another.
Elements of Community Social Structure

A. Social Institutions

B. Social Groups

C. Status

D. Role
A.Social Institutions – it established

patterns of belief and behavior that are

centered on addressing basic social

needs of people in the community.

b. Social Groups – it consist of two or

more people in the community who

regularly interact with one another and

consider themselves a distinct social

unit.,
c. Status – the position or rank a person hold ,

in relation to other members of the community.

1. Ascribed status – it is assigned at birth

2. Achieved status – acquired on the basis

work.
d. Role – the obligation or

behaviors expected from an

individual on the basic of ones

status in life.
2. Community Cultural Structure
 the institutionalized patterns of ways of

life that are shared learned developed

and accepted by the people in the

community.
Elements of Community Social Structure
A. Symbols
B. Language
C. Norms
D. Values
E. Beliefs
F. Rituals
G.Artifacts
Elements of Community Social Structure
A. Symbols - the words, gestures, objects or
signals.
B. Language – written, oral or non verbal
actions.

C. Norms – the most cherish values in the

society
d. Values – abstract values on what is good and
acceptable

e. Beliefs – the collective ideas of the community which

is perceived as true

f. Rituals – sacred or secular procedures and

ceremonies that community regularly performs.

g. Artifacts – objects/things that have special meanings.

Elements of Community Political Structure

A.Political organization
B.Power Relations
C.Leadership structure
3. Community Political Structure

 the people’s established ways of

allocating power and making

decisions.
A. Political organization – the political parties or
groups in the community who are engaged in
political activities.

B. Power Relations – how does the community

are able to interact with and control other
groups.
C. Leadership structure – the composition of
recognized leader in the community and the
lines or workflow of their authority.

1. Hierarchical – top down leadership

2. Egalitarian – horizontal leadership
 4. Community Economic Structure

 pertains to the various organized ways and means

through which the people in the community

produce goods and services, allocate limited

resources and generate wealth in order to satisfy

their needs and wants.

Community Networks and Community Development

Communities comprises of individuals, families, groups,

organizations and institutions, all of which, both individually and
collectively, contribute to and effect the development of the whole.

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How Community Involvement Influences Socialization?

Physical Factors: Population, noise, community

design/arrangement and of housing, play settings.

Is it safe to go out and ride a bike? Was it only safe to play

inside? Is the subway or bus the main transportation or is a
personal car? Where does playing take place, on the streets? In an
enrichment class? All of these can affect the child's socialization.
It affects what they do, who they do it with, and where they do it-
the community.
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 Social and Personal Factors: The neighborhood
setting, patterns of community interaction.

How do people interact with one another and build

relationships? Do they do it at all? Are the people loving
and caring, or mean and neglectful? Are neighbors close or
far apart? Again, the people in the community and how
they interact with one another is a socializing agent.

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The Community as a Support System

The community can serve as a support system for

families. It can provide informal support, when families
watch each other’s children. Or it can be formal support,
like when it helps family through publicly or privately
funded community services.

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 Preventative Services (Parks, recreation, and Education):
These attempt to lessen the stresses and strains of life
resulting from social and technological changes and to avert
problems. For example, parks and recreations programs set up
in rapidly developing urban areas are meant to be used by
children in their free time to keep them from engaging in bad
behavior.

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The Community as a Support System

Supportive Services (Child and Family): These include

educational programs, counselling services, health services, policies
related to demographic changes, employment training, and
community development projects. These services maintain the
health, education, and welfare of the community.

Rehabilitative Services (Correction, Mental Health, and Special

Needs): These services enable or restore people's ability to participate
in the community effectively. 7
II. STRUCTURES OF COMMUNITY

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 II. STRUCTURES OF COMMUNITY

Community structure means the internal structure

of an employment area, town, city, neighbourhood or
another urban area. It includes the population and
housing, jobs and production, service and leisure time
areas, along with transport routes and technical
networks, their location and relationships.

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 II. STRUCTURES OF COMMUNITY
Communities are complex entities that can be
characterized by their structure (the types and numbers
of species present) and dynamics (how communities
change over time). Understanding community
structure and dynamics enables community ecologists
to manage ecosystems more effectively.

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 Communities may be small, consisting of few species
populations in a small space, or large, comprising several species
populations in a large area. The community structures,
composition and other characteristics can be readily described
by visual observation without actual measurement.

This is a qualitative approach which is easier than the

quantitative population analysis where measurements are actually
made. Communities usually categories by the ecologists in various
ways primarily based of habitat features like water availability,
high exposure, or other habitat features.
 For instance, depending on the amount
of water availability, plant communities may
be hydrophytic (aquatic habitats), mesophytic
(moderately moist soil habitat) and xerophytic
(dry or arid habitat).
 Similarly, communities growing on conditions of
abundant light are called heliophytic and those
growing in shade sciophytic. Identically communities
growing on various habitats designated as desert
communities, mountain communities and estuarine
communities and so on.
 In general, a community is dynamic since it changes over
time. This dynamic nature is reflected in the succession of
organisms in a habitat. A series of changes result in the
development of a relatively stable community, which maintains
its structure and influences the climate of the area.
Such a stable and mature community is called a climax
community, while communities of successional stages are
called seral communities. The plant community structures,
composition and other characterizes can be described in both
qualitative and quantitative means.
III. DYNAMICS OF COMMUNITY
 Community dynamics are the changes in
community structure and composition over time.
Sometimes these changes are induced by
environmental disturbances such as volcanoes,
earthquakes, storms, fires, and climate change.
Communities with a stable structure are said to be
at equilibrium. Following a disturbance, the
community may or may not return to the equilibrium
state.
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 Communities are dynamic systems constantly interacting with
another system, the environment, which is equally dynamic. The
community charges are gradual and imperceptible at any time but
easily recognizable if observed at regular intervals over a long period
of time. Seasonal changes in plant communities always occur at every
place, particularly in areas where temperature variation is significant.

However, in course of very long period of time at many places the

communities have reached a peak stage and attained a dynamic
balance with the environmental changes. The process of change in
communities and their environment at one place in the course of time
is called “ecological succession”. 9
 IV. PROCESSES OF COMMUNITY

Community is a process. The importance of this as the fundamental

principle of sociology it is impossible to over- estimate.

Physical science based on the study of function is a study of

process. The Freudian psychology, based on the study of the 'wish,' is
preeminently a study of process and points towards new definitions
of personality, purpose, will, freedom. If we study community as a
process, we reach these new definitions. For community is a creative
process. It is creative because it is a process of integrating.
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 IV. PROCESSES OF COMMUNITY

The Freudian psychology, as interpreted and expanded by Holt,'

gives us a clear exposition of the process of integrating in the
individual. It shows us that personality is produced through the
integrating of 'wishes,' that is, courses of action which the organism
sets itself to carry out. The essence of the Freudian psychology is
that two courses of action are not mutually exclusive, that one does
not 'suppress' the other. It shows plainly that to integrate is not to
absorb, melt, fuse, or to reconcile in the so-called Hegelian sense. The
creative power of the individual appears not when one 'wish'
dominates others, but when all 'wishes' unite in a working whole.
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Community Organization

Community organization refers to organizing aimed at

making desired improvements to a community's social

health, well-being, and overall functioning. Community

organization occurs in geographically, psychosocially,

culturally, spiritually, and/or digitally bounded communities..

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 Community organization includes community work,

community projects, community development, community

empowerment, community building, and community mobilization. It

is a commonly used model for organizing community within

community projects, neighborhoods, organizations, voluntary

associations, localities, and social networks, which may operate as

ways to mobilize around geography, shared space, shared experience,

interest, need, and/or concern. 9

 Community organization is a process by which a community

identifies needs or objectives, takes action, and through this process,

develops cooperative and collaborative attitudes and practices within a

community.
pinterest.com

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 Community development is a process where community

members come together to take collective action and generate

solutions to common problems. Community well being

(economic, social, environmental and cultural) often evolves from

this type of collective action being taken at a grassroots level.

Community development ranges from small initiatives within a

small group to large initiatives that involve the broader community.

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Effective community development should be:

 a long-term endeavour
 well-planned
 inclusive and equitable
 holistic and integrated into the bigger picture
 initiated and supported by community members
 of benefit to the community
 grounded in experience that leads to best practices
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Community development is a grassroots process by which communities:

 become more responsible

 organize and plan together

 develop healthy lifestyle options

 empower themselves

 reduce poverty and suffering

 create employment and economic opportunities

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 achieve social, economic, cultural and environmental goals
 Community development seeks to improve quality of life. Effective

community development results in mutual benefit and shared

responsibility among community members. Such development

recognizes:

 the connection between social, cultural, environmental and economic

matters;

 the diversity of interests within a community; and


 Community development helps to build community

capacity in order to address issues and take advantage of

opportunities, find common ground and balance

competing interests. It doesn’t just happen – capacity

building requires both a conscious and a conscientious

effort to do something (or many things) to improve the

community.
Development

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 Development
The term development often carries an assumption of growth
and expansion. During the industrial era, development was
strongly connected to increased speed, volume and size. However,
many people are currently questioning the concept of growth for
numerous reasons – a realization that more isn’t always better, or
an increasing respect for reducing outside dependencies and
lowering levels of consumerism. So while the term
“development” may not always mean growth, it always imply
change. 12
 The community development process takes charge of the conditions
and factors that influence a community and changes the quality of
life of its members. Community development is a tool for managing
change but it is not:
 a quick fix or a short-term response to a specific issue within a
community;
 a process that seeks to exclude community members from
participating; or
 an initiative that occurs in isolation from other related community
activities.
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 Community Development

is about community building as such, where the process

is as important as the results. One of the primary challenges

of community development is to balance the need for long-

term solutions with the day-to-day realities that require

immediate decision-making and short-term action.

 AS S E S S M EN T

Instructions: Concisely explain the following:

1. In a one whole, list down the five (5) functions of community and describe each in your own
words.

2. As a member of the community, what should be done to become part of its development? Five
(5) sentences only.
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

My contributions to my community Community contributions to me