CESC - Lesson 3 Functions of Community

LESSON 3
FUNCTIONS
OF
COMMUNITY
The Elements of a Community:
Nature and Power Structure
The dynamics of a community

are determined by its nature
and structure and how it reacts
with external or internal
forces.
The Elements of a Community:
Nature and Power Structure
It is thus important to
recognize the characteristics
and features of a community to
understand why it acts and
reacts in a certain way.
The Nature of a Community
Nature Description
The concept of a community is

A not only a “construct” (model);
community it is a sociological construct or a
is a set of interactions or human
sociological behaviors that have meaning
and expectations between its
construct
members.
Nature Description
Some communities only interact

A and build relations among the
community residents of a certain village.
has fuzzy There are some communities
that interacts and build
boundaries.
relations outside of their village.
Nature Description
There may be communities

A
within larger communities,
community including districts, regions,
can exist ethnic groups, nations, and
within a other boundaries. There may be
marriages and other
larger
interactions that link the
community. villages of a nation together
Nature Description
Community may move because

A they are:
community nomadic herders
may move. mobile fishing groups
hunters
A community can be
considered like an organism
because it can function even
people come and go.
The Structure of a Community
In a community, change agents

put premium in understanding
power structure.
Community power structure is
about the distribution of power
at the local community level
(Sociology Guide).
Power in a community is the

capacity to influence the
decision-making and
distribution processes, to bring
about change and get things
done.
The idea of power includes

determining the structures
that have impact on local
communities and also the
linkages that form
collaborative works.
The forms of power present,

however, vary from one
community to the other.
Community organizers and

development workers pay
close attention to power actors
and the key people in the
community power structure
because of their significant
roles in social change.
Their behavior or reaction can

break or make community
development interventions.
Bases of Local
Community Description
Power
The capacity to create

linkages and develop
Connections helpful relationships with
powerful individuals,
family, and organizations.
Bases of Local
Power
The base, back-up, and

Power in
support of the people
Number
in the community.
Bases of Local
Power
The ability to provide

awards, promotion,
money, and gifts that
Rewards
are useful to meet
individual or
organizational goals.
Bases of Local
Power
The capacity to foster

Personal
respect and loyalty
Traits/
based on charm,
Expertise talents, and skills.
Bases of Local
Power
The leadership title or

Legitimate higher organizational
Power or institutional
position
Bases of Local
Power
The ability to keep

Information or share
information
Bases of Local
Power
Influence through
Coercion manipulation and
coercion.
The Dimensions of a Community
A community is a complex
system with different
dimensions.
These dimensions may be
present in all communities, but
they may vary in size, degree,
and complexity.
This characteristic of a
community may be attributed
to the combination of the
communities’ human resource,
natural resource, culture,
structure, and other factors.
Bartle (2010) identified six

community dimensions:
1. technological
2. economic
3. political
4. institutional
5. aesthetic-value
6. belief-conceptual.
Dimensions Description
It is the community
capital - its tools, skills,
and ways of dealing
with the physical
Technological
environment.
It is the interface
between humanity and
nature.
It is the community’s
various ways and
means of production
and allocation of scarce
Economic
and useful goods and
services through barter,
market trade, state
allocations, and others.
The various ways and

means of allocating
power, influence, and
decision-making.
Political
It includes, but is not
limited to, types of
governments and
management systems.
These are the ways

people act, react, and
interact with each
other, as well as the
Institutional
ways they expect each
other to act and
interact. Ex: Marriage or
Friendship
This refers to the

structure of ideas-
sometimes paradoxical,
Aesthetic- inconsistent, or
Value contradictory-that people
have about what is good
and bad, beautiful and
ugly, and right and wrong.
This dimension is
sometimes thought to be
the religion of the people.
Beliefs- It is however a wider
Conceptual category, and it includes
atheistic beliefs, such as
how man created God in
his own image.
Understanding the different

dimensions of a community is
a prerequisite to the process
of community mapping and
analysis.
It is only when you have a full

grasp of the economic,
political, social, cultural,
ecological, physical
dimensions of the community
that you may be able to build
the community puzzle.
There is a need to detect the

key or combinations of keys to
put together the different parts
of the puzzle successfully in
order to see the whole picture
of the social issues affecting the
community.
It is thus important to develop

not just the skill of assessing or
analyzing observable data, but
also the skill of sensing or
intuiting because there are
things that the people do not
show or say.
That is the value of the so-

called paglubogor community
immersion.
The Four Approaches in Applying
the term Community
Approaches of each group in
Groups
applying the term community
First Group They are concerned about the social

and spatial formation of social
(Sociologists
organizations into small groups, such
and as neighborhoods, small towns, or
Geographers) other spatially bounded localities.
the term Community
Groups
Second Group
(Those Applies the term to ideas of
Working in belonging and difference
Cultural around issues such as
Studies and
identity.
Anthropology)
the term Community
Groups
Third Group Considers community as a form of

(Those political mobilization inspired by
Working in the radical democracy that prompts
Social communities of action to oppose
Movement) social injustice.
The Four Approaches in Applying the term
Community
Approaches of each group in applying
Groups
the term community
Consider the development of a

Fourth Group community based on the rise of a global
(Those society that draws on processes, such
Concerned as transnational mobility and the
about the development of diaspora, and
Influence of technological development, such as
Globalization) global communications and the
Internet, to explain this.
the term Community
The identification of the four

approaches indicates that
perspectives on communities
evolve depending on the
realities and requirements of
the environment.
the term Community
In the earlier points of view,
communities are seen,
traditionally, as spatially
bounded and attached to the
powers of locality or place
(Delanty 2003).

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LESSON 3

The dynamics of a community

The concept of a community is

Some communities only interact

There may be communities

Community may move because

In a community, change agents

Power in a community is the

The idea of power includes

The forms of power present,

Community organizers and

Their behavior or reaction can

The capacity to create

The base, back-up, and

The ability to provide

The capacity to foster

The leadership title or

The ability to keep

Bartle (2010) identified six

The various ways and

These are the ways

This refers to the

Understanding the different

It is only when you have a full

There is a need to detect the

It is thus important to develop

That is the value of the so-

First Group They are concerned about the social

Third Group Considers community as a form of

Consider the development of a

The identification of the four

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