Community

Psychology:
Linking Individuals
and Communities
CHAPTER 6: WHAT
DEFINES COMMUNITIES?
Guiding Questions
How has our understanding of community changed over time?

What is the psychological sense of community and how can it affect our lives?

What factors help promote a sense of community?

What are some of the benefits and costs of belonging to a community?

How can a negative sense of community be adaptive?

What is a Community?
Tonnies, a German sociologist, proposed Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft relationships and how
they differ

Gemeinschaft is translated as “community” and refers to relationships that are multidimensional

and are valued in their own right
◦ There is a shared sense of obligation to each other, not for a specific reason but because of the shared
relationship
◦ Often a sense of bond and a connection that is life enhancing
◦ Often there are personal connections that transcend limits of place
What is a Community?
Gesellschaft, translated as “society”, refers to relationships based upon a specific transaction
◦ This relationship is instrumental in that the relationship is fundamentally a “means to an end”
◦ Examples might include
◦ Friendships based on work alone (e.g., co-workers interact on the job but not outside of work),
◦ Friendships rooted in school alone (e.g., teachers)
◦ These kinds of relationships are valuable and useful for helping each other, but they are not as intimate
or one doesn’t rely on them for personal things.

Our lives involve both types of relationships but Gemeinschaft relationships define community
We talk about both concepts as we look at “community” across levels of analysis
Types of Communities
Locality-based communities are the traditional view of
community, a sense of community identity created by a
shared physical space

Relational communities are communities that are defined

more by shared goals, interests, activities, or social identities
rather than by geographical location or physical proximity
Levels of Communities
Fundamental point of the ecological-transactional model is
the fact that communities exist at different ecological levels
◦ Microsystems such as classrooms
◦ Organizations such as workplace
◦ Localities such as city blocks
◦ Macrosystems such as political parties

The transactional aspect of the model emphasizes that

communities are related across levels
Levels of Communities
A change in one setting or ecological level will trigger changes in other settings

Improving communities involves interventions designed to change level but results in changes in
multiple levels
 How a community is defined has far reaching implications
◦ Geographical boundaries used for organizing public services
◦ Where does your neighborhood start and end?
◦ What could be meant by the phrase, “the other side of town”?

Who Defines
Communities? It can affect inclusion and exclusion of community members
and the political power of a community

Empirical evidence has resulted in a move to emphasize

member-defined communities in community research
Sense of Community
People have emotional relationships with their communities, and the qualities of those
relationships has implications for well-being

Psychological sense of community is “a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that
members matter to one another, and a shared faith that members’ needs will be met through
their commitment to be together” (McMillan & Chavis, 1986, p. 9)
Psychological Sense of Community
Sarason (1974)
◦ The perception of similarity to others.
◦ An acknowledged interdependence with others.
◦ A willingness to maintain this interdependence by giving to or
doing for others what one expects from them.
◦ The feeling that one is part of a larger dependable and stable
structure.
Sense of Community
Core Concept in Community Psychology

“I have never met anyone – young or old, rich or poor, Black

or White, male or female, educated or not – to whom I have
had any great difficulty explaining what I meant by the
psychological sense of community.”
Seymour Sarason, 1974, p. 1
Benefits of a Sense of Community
A strong positive sense of community is associated with benefits at multiple ecological levels

Individual-level benefits:
◦ Adolescent identity formation
◦ Individual well being
◦ Life satisfaction
◦ Recovery from substance abuse
Benefits of Sense of Community
Community-level benefits:
◦ Participation in community coalitions & neighborhood groups
◦ Participation in religious groups
◦ Development of immigrant communities

National-level benefits:
◦ Voter participation
 What are the important communities in your
life?
Consider why you listed each community.
Exploring ◦ What do you receive from this community?
Community ◦ What does the community ask of you?
◦ What emotions do you experience in this
Discussion community?
Finally, identify one time in your life when you
felt you were excluded, or treated unjustly, by
a community.
◦ How did that happen?
◦ How did affect you?
Strong Sense of Community

Images L to R: WellSphere.com; NJInquirer.com

Image: Public Domain, courtesy of Charles Russell / en.wikipedia.org
Strong Sense of Community
Four Elements of Sense of Community
McMillan and Chavis (1986) identified four elements that formed the basis for a sense of
community
◦ Membership
◦ Influence
◦ Integration
◦ Fulfillment of Needs

All four elements must be present to form a sense of community

Elements of Sense of Community:
Membership
Membership is sense among community members of personal investment in the community
and belonging to it (McMillian & Chavis, 1986)

This element has five attributes

◦ Boundaries
◦ Common Symbols
◦ Emotional Safety
◦ Personal Investment
◦ Sense of Belonging and Identification
Elements of Sense of Community:
Membership
Boundaries are a set of standards for defining who is a member of the community and who is
excluded
◦ May be clearly marked or obscure and rigid or permeable

Common symbols are partially defined boundaries and are things such as Greek letters for
sororities

Emotional safety refers to a sense of security from crime and harm or a deeper sense of having
secure relationships within a community
Elements of Sense of Community:
Membership
Personal investment is the level of long-term commitment, effort, and participation one has in a
community

Sense of belonging and identification refers to feeling accepted by other community members
and having one’s membership in their community being part of their personal identity
Elements of Sense of
Community: Influence
Influence refers both to the power that members exercise
over the group and to the reciprocal power that group
dynamics exert on members

Members are more attracted to groups they feel they can

influence

Reciprocal in nature - the individual influences the wider

group and the community influences the views and actions
of the person
Elements of Sense of Community:
Integration and Fulfillment of Needs
Integration is the extent to which relationships within a community contribute to a sense of
community

Includes two aspects

◦ Shared values are ideals that can be pursued through community involvement
◦ Exchange of resources (also called fulfillment of needs) is satisfying needs and exchanging resources
among community members

Individuals participate in communities because their individual needs are met

Elements of Sense of Community:
Shared Emotional Connection
Considered the “definitive element for true community”
(McMillian & Chavis, 1986, p. 14)

Shared emotional connection is a common bond that unites

community members that isn’t easily defined but is
understood by those who share it

May be recognized through behavior, speech, or other cues

Questions and Issues for Defining and
Measuring Sense of Community
Empirical research has established the importance of overall sense of community research
supporting the four elements is limited

Just like communities are contextual, sense of community is contextual as well and varies among
different cultures and communities
Concepts Related to Sense of
Community
Sense of Community is conceptualized as the affective component of
relationships with communities, but this component is related to and
build upon specific behaviors
◦ Neighboring
◦ Place attachment
◦ Citizen participation
◦ Social support

Neighboring is informal contacts and assistance among neighbors

◦ Can occur in neighborhoods with little sense of community and
between neighbors who feel little connection to the wider
community
Concepts Related to Sense of
Community
Social support is help provided by others to promote coping with stress
◦ Overlaps with sense of community but is distinctly different

◦ Some communities in which we feel belongingness may be much larger and less intimate than the
immediate network of persons who provide social support

Mediating structures are individuals or smaller groups within a larger community that link
different ecological levels to provide individuals an opportunity to participate in that larger
community
Concepts Related to Sense of
Community
Sense of community responsibility: feeling of personal responsibility for the individual and
collective well-being of a community of people not directly rooted in an expectation of people’s
gain (Norwell & Boyd, 2014)
◦ Related to but distinct from sense of community
◦ Sense of community responsibility is related to the amount of time, effort, and resources members are
willing to devote to a community
◦ Sense of community related to general participation in the collaborative
The Complex Realities of Communities
We do not have complete control over the communities to which we belong

Strong communities do not come without a cost

The personal investment involved in sense of community almost always involves an obligation

Communities can sometimes restrict individual development and freedom

Counterspaces
Deliberately constructed spaces created to provide support and community for defined groups
who historically lacked such settings

Can take the form of social networks or expand beyond that and take the form of a community

Counterspaces play an important role in people’s lives, but that are never the only community of
importance
Multiple Communities in a Person’s Life
Individuals belong to many communities and form multiple identities based on those
communities

Experiences in one community affect experiences in another

Memberships in communities’ and the importance of these communities' changes continually

over time
Complexities of Communities:
Negative Sense of Community
 SOC is negative when a person feels strongly negative about the wider community.

Brodsky (1996)
◦ Qualitative study of mothers in risky neighborhoods.
◦ Not feeling safe may lead to a withdrawing from the community.
Complexities of Communities
Myth of “we” (Wiesenfeld, 1996)
◦ Failing to attend to marginalized subcommunities.
◦ SOC leading to limited acceptance of diversity.
Interactions between community-level
structures.
Conflict and Change Within a
Community
Relationships between communities can be complex
Relationships among diverse communities can create conflict, and this conflict is where
constructive community change begins
Without attention to complexities and conflict in communities a sense of community can
become a static concept
Sense of community is ultimately a process
A disadvantage of strengthening sense of community is the potential to increase conflict
between communities, especially if they encourage prejudice and hostility towards others
 Research suggests that sense of community and respect for
diversity can be conflicting values

High community diversity is related to a lower sense of

Respect for community
Diversity and
Sense of Homogenous communities are more likely to have a strong
sense of community
Community
Interventions designed to increase sense of community need
to be examined for unintended negative effects in relation to
diversity
The Importance of Community
Social scientist argue that strong communities are essential
for well functioning societies

Durkheim proposed our memberships in communities is

what prompts us to adhere to social norms

This is a belief that our conscious lies in our bonds to other

people
Social Capital
Social capital are the interpersonal relationships formed through social networks that benefit
the public good, thus improving a community’s ability to function effectively
One can have significant social capital without having a large amount of economic capital
This concept can be understood as an explicitly community construct
Social capital varies among communities, some have a lot, and some have very little (Putnam,
1996)
When communities have a lot of social capital their members benefit
Bonding Social Capital
Bonding social capital are elements such as
reciprocity, trust, and shared norms within
a network
◦ Relies upon a sense of shared identity and group
cohesion
◦ Can result in reluctance to address conflict

At the community level bonding social Work group celebrating success

capital increases sense of community and
community responsibility
Bridging Social Capital
Bridging social capital refers to creating and
maintaining links between networks
◦ Reach out to a broader set of persons than bonding

At the community level bridging social capital

extends reach or breadth of contacts, access to
diversity of views and resources
Bipartisan Problem Solver Caucus

Social capital can result in benefits at multiple

ecological levels
Community Psychology and Social
Capital
Community psychologists have begun to adopt the concept of social capital

A psychological definition of neighborhood social capital composed of four elements: sense of

community, neighboring, citizen participation, and sense of collective efficacy (Perkins & Long,
2002)

Social capital does not come without a negative side

◦ An emphasis on local social capital can lead to underestimating the importance of macrosystem factors
The Physical and
Natural Environment
The way the physical environment is constructed can
work to support or destroy a community

Architects understand how we construct buildings had a

direct effect on how residents interact and on the
development of sense of community
◦ Example: High rise buildings negatively affect
neighboring

When people do not interact with each other, it is

impossible for a sense of community to develop
The Physical and Natural
Environment
Other elements of the physical/natural environment effects
neighborhood interactions

“Busy Streets Theory” postulates neighborhoods that are busy

with maintained social spaces, commercial traffic, and visible
positive social interactions foster social cohesion and social
capital

When individuals have access to common spaces with some

level of landscaping, they are more likely to spend time in those
spaces
Sense of Community Online
Online communities exist when people carry on public
discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form
webs of personal relationships in cyberspace (Rheingold, 1993)

Online mutual help groups, individuals with a shared problem or

concern help each other online – this facilitates support among
persons unable to attend face-to-face groups

While online communities can provide support, we still have a

lot to learn about the risks and benefits that result from online
communities
Hope, Spirituality, and Transcendence in
Relation to Sense of Community
Sense of community has been related to sense of the transcendence
(Sarason, 1993)

Sense of the transcendent is a spiritual experience beyond oneself and

one’s immediate world

Hope is the feeling that things do not have to stay the way they are, tha
the future can be better than the present

Spirituality is the sense of connection one feels to something beyond

themselves and their immediate world that is expressed through beliefs
and practices
Hope, Spirituality, and Transcendence in
Relation to Sense of Community
Spiritual communities refer to religious, spiritual, or faith-based institutions, organizations, or
settings

Spiritual communities can serve as mediating structures that help link members to local,
national, and international communities

Historically they have played a strong role in community development and social advocacy
 What are the pros and cons of geographical communities versus
relational communities?

Discussion What are some negative examples of social capital?

Questions
Think of a time in your life when you felt distance between
yourself and your community. What caused it, and how did that
affect your personal well-being? How might other members of
your community have been affected?