LESSON 1

Community Dynamics and Community Action

The Living Commune

The Basics of a Community

When we think of a community, we think of how people come together to form a singular faction. We
see it as a structure that is made up of individuals bound by something abstract and unforeseen It is not
as simple as such, as the community is bound because of self-help. The concept of self help is albout
how individuals seek personal development without the help of others. Through community
participation, individuals can provide their own contributions through acts of volunteerism in projects
and other communal initiatives.

While participation is key, inclusion is one aspect of the community that is integral in binding the
collective into a whole. As a form of social assembly, the personalities within a community are different
and unique.

Highlighting inclusivity are access and equity. These two are the goals that a commune must strive for to
create a better society. Access and equity imply the ease in which various individuals and groups can
attain the basic necessities and resources.

The Community as a Movement

A community is more than just a collective. It acts much like a living entity that takes on life. Living
within the imaginations of its members, a community also embodies a perspective, identity, and stand,
Word count much like a social movement. The main difference Through issues and concerns that are
shared among its members, advocacies are formed by the community and its leaders. To improve and
garner support, communities try to garner support from other individuals or groups which are aligned
with their worldview. Through issues and concerns that are shared among its members, advocacies are
formed by the community and its leaders. To improve and garner support, communities try to garner
support from other individuals or groups which are aligned with their worldview.

Formations are created with the organic networking of actors that later on find commonalities and
avenues for cooperation and partnerships. Under pinning these efforts important for mobilization and
value creation

Standing on the foundation of advocacies and networking is the hope for social action. At the end of the
day, the community hopes to address the issues of the status quo through the combined effortyof
actors.

Social Science Perspective

The social science are regarded simply as the study of people and societies throughout history, social
science concentrated on the factors that and dedicated the course of our civilization. A study in social
science demands a deeper understanding of people's behavior and processes in relation to the science
of societal order.

ECONOMIC STRUCTURES

Societies run on production and consumption. The economic system of modern communities is the
market economy. Here, the market is free to produce what to make, how to make it, and who is it for.
The current economic system we have is laissez- faire (French word meaning "allow to do") which does
not have any central group or institution that can determine the means of production and control the
market as a whole.

PERFECT COMPETITION

Perfect competition is an open market that has an Indefinite number of buyers and sellers. Because
there are so many actors in this market sphere, it will be hard for anyone to take hold of the market, let
alone control it by altering price or supply. During this perfect state of competition, buyers can choose
which is best to suit their interest by freely determining which one to buy.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, SOLIDARITY AND CITEZENSHIP(SOCIETAL STRUCTURE)

MONOPOLY

Contrasting from perfect competition, pure monopoly is a kind of market where only one Individual or
company has the capability to produce a much-needed good or service. In this market, the source of
goods or services is only from a single source, thus, consumers have no other choice but to avall them
from the single seller.

OLIGOPOLY

An oligopoly, fundamentally, is a market where only a few are able to produce certain goods or services.
This sets an unfair advantage since the limited community. This resulted in political and cultural
interactions and exchanges of goods and knowledge among states

DISADVANTAGES

number of producers can easily manipulate supply and prices for their own interests.

MONOPOLISTIC COMPETITION

Treading between a monopoly and a perfect competition is monopolistic competition. If we were to

Monopsony
We can also determine a market type depending on the number of buyers the particular market has
Fundamentally, we are looking into the number of producers in the market dynamic, but in this type, we
are looking into the condition where there is only one buyer and where there is an infinite number of
producers.

SOCIOCULTURAL STRUCTURES

The interactions generated in between these social variables provide the syntheses from multitudes of
discourses that create the patterns of social norms. To engage and see these patterns, we can look into
specific behavioral syntheses that are results of these interactions.

POLITICAL TRENDS

The Philippines has experienced numerous political shifts that have altered the way we view power,
authority, and the government. From our rich political history, we have gone through several
powerstruggles which, at present, have left scars that areas fresh as they were before.

CULTURAL TRENDS

After the Cold War, globalzation was in as the free market started taking over the world. People and
governments opened up for the international community. This resulted in political and cultural
interactions and exchanges of goods and knowledge among states

DISADVANTAGES

Too much patronization of foreign brand would mean fewer sales for our local products. Because of
"colonial mentality," we give undue bias toward foreign culture, and we consider our own to be inferior.
To avoid this, the government should support our local manufacturers in making their products
competitive in the global market and the people should learn to patronize their own.

ECONOMIC TRENDS

The Philippine economy is regarded as one of the most resilent in Asia. With a stable monetary and fiscal
policy, the Philippines has set one of the best examples of a developing market economy. Despite the
relatively volatile economic condition, which is often affected by political instability, the Philippine
market was able to withstand multitudes of challenges, from the Asian financial crisis during the 1990s
to the market crashes, credit crunch, and housing bubbles of its biggest economic partner, the Unite
States, in the 2000s.

TECHNOLOGICAL STRUCTURES

In the current fast-paced society, we need to advance critical thought and innovation as one of the most
important governance initiatives. Research has been undervalued in the Phillippines for too long to a
point that many of our latest discoveries and innovations were overlooked and ended up
underdeveloped or underutilized Culture to understand man's social experience, it is necessary to make
a wider analysis of 6/8 Adaptation Is the capacity of society to take resources from its Word count
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man's relationship to his natural environment. However, we need to identify the significance of culture,
society, and politics in order to appreciate the different components that are essential to the total
development ofa human person fnctions in the following wavs and from which

Political Science

Political Science is a part of the social sciences that deals with the study of politics, power, and
government. In turn, politics refers to "the process of making collective decisions in a community,
society, or group, through the application of influence and power".

Anthropology

Anthropology, as a scientific discipline, originated from social philosophy and travelogues of Western
travelers.

Sociology

is a branch of the social sciences that deals with the scientific study of human interactions, social groups
and institutions, whole societies, and the human world as such. It also addresses the problem of the
constitution of the self and the individual, but it only does so in relation to larger social structures and
processes.

Adaptation

Is the capacity of society to take resources from its system and distribute tjem accordingly Integration
The homozanation of the entire society to achieve concensus

Economic institutions

Economics Institutions as the mechanism in which good, services, and money are distributed

DEVIANCE

we hear the word deviance or deviant, we often have a feeling of unease. In sociology, studying
deviance rooted on the interaction of society with a certain social anomaly such as a deviant act or
norm-defying stum To become a deviant, it must be against a preset rule or agreed-upon norm.
Sociology studies the interaction of deviants to emphasize the dynamics within social systems.

Political Perspective
The study of politics, some say, is all about the interplay of power and society. According to Harold
Lasswell, the study of politics can be summed up as to "who gets what, when, and how." If we were to
close scrutinize this view, we can unravel power relationships in this simple yet powerful statement and
in which othe disciplines, such as economics, can be used to interpret it. Politics is not just the study of
power or systems, is it about leaders or laws. Political science, as a field of study, intersects other
branches of knowledge inquiry, it is, in fact, multidisciplinary, The study of politics cuts across all these
dimensions in an attempt to explain political action and behavior and the distribution of power and
authority in the real world.

Nation, State, and Nation-state

√State

is a political ticalentity that has the four characteristics: Population, teritory, sovereinty, and government

•Population

The people sharing a geographical space (towns, cities, countries)

•Territory

Physical area under the rule or jurisdiction under a political system or ruler

•Sovereignty

Authority of a state for self-governance and rule

•Government

A group of individuals that administer the functions of the state

Lesson 2
INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE

What are institutions?

Institutions are grand social structures that are made up by individuals which, when viewed as what a
exhibit patterns of behavior that create conventions and norms in our society. These patterns of
behavior then establish the different facets of our daily lives.

Government institution

The government, as an institution, grants its citizens with the liberties and rights. In essence, the
government has the power to lead and govern its citizens within a confined territory.
Economic Institution

Economic institutions are the formal and informal rules, structures, and organizations that influence and
regulate economic activity within a society.

Brach of economic

(Microeconomics) is concerned about the behavior of individual actors and their patterns of
consumption. It focuses on Individual agents and pattern of decision-making.

RELIGION INSTITUTIONS

Religion is one of the pillars from which ourcivilization is built thousands of years, men have ought for
meaning. Today's society emphasizes on the importance of religion as a communal experience. In many
communities, activities are still tied to the concepts and teachings of their faith.

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

Education takes up a quarter of our whole lives. Our whole development infancy to adulthood.
Incubates within the ivory towers of the educational institution. Basic education paves the way for
individuals to be functional in our society. Generally, the task in school system is to arm us with the
needed skills and knowledge in relation with the demand of an environment.

FAMILY INSTITUTION

Our own families are considered as the building blocks of our society. The origin of a family goes back
prehistory and is the factor that bound early settlements.

Lesson 3
INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL SOCIETY

Civil society is broadly understood as the combination of organizations, establishments, and individuals
that operate outside the influence of the governmental institution.

MANIFESTATIONS OF CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS

The emergence of civil society groups is well received by development practitioners in varied forms.
Such groups are formed based on the customs and norms of the prevailing society. Groups that are
formedunder these have individuals who can freely choose to assiociate eith not just one but as many as
he or she likes.

Social Movements

Non government Organizations

Lesson 4:
SOCIETAL STRUCTURES

Social Status and Roles

Social Status is all about the dynamic of individual identity relative to its social environment. This
Interaction between the self and the community equates to the individual's stature in said setting.

A Role is a set of defined and expected behavior of norms that is ascribed to a certain social status. We
al have our roles in our communities. We are perceived by others around us as more than just another
pile of flesh and bone but as an individual that has his or her own unique social persona. This perceived
notion of identity is caried about and reinforced or even altered by how we play our roles.

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

Functionalism-According to French sociologist Emile Durkheim, there is a glaring difference how we look
at Individuals and collectives. There is also conceptual difference between looking into individuals and
studying groups of people or communities

Conflict Theory-This perspective was created by Karl Marx, the famous author of Das Kapital and ane of
the fathers of communism. Central to Marx's analysis of our society is how he sees that almost
everything starts with economics. Marx proposes that there is a class conflict from the haves and have -
nots. In his writings, he called out the struggle of the proletariat or the working class from the
bourgeoisie or the owners of trade or means of production. The "working class" is the workers that toil
to earn their wages.

Symbolic Interactionism

A society and its core characteristics are, in itself, a product of the ongoing consensus held by the
members of the commune. Symbolic interactionism takes itself away from the other theories and
perspectives as it does not look into primary social institutions as the main variable of study but rather
looks into individuals, their histories, and their perspectives.

POLITICAL STRUCTURES

Politics has already been established as one of the main cogs that have influence over institutions.
Politics is about power, governance, administration, and decision-making. It is somewhat the rope that
binds all communities and societies together. A political structure is defined not just by the government,
but also by groups, other institutions, pressure groups, social movements, and people as parts of the
political landscape.