Unit 4: AOS 1 Community

1. Unit 4: AOS 1 Community

2. History of Community Since the late nineteenth century, ‘the use of the term community has remained to some extent associated with the hope and the wish of reviving once more the closer, warmer, more harmonious type of bonds between people vaguely attributed to past ages’ (Elias 1974, quoted by Hoggett 1997: 5).

3. Origin of Community • The origin of the word community comes from the Latin munus, which means the gift, and cum, which means together, among each other. • Community literally means to give among each other. • Community could be defined as a group of people who share gifts which they provide to all.

4. Community can be defined using different patterns. • A community can be large or small; local, national, international; real or virtual; cooperative or competitive; formal or informal.

5. Community is a Sociological Construct • Not only is the concept of a community a "construct" (model), it is a "sociological construct." • It is a set of interactions, human behaviours that have meaning and expectations between its members. • Not just action, but actions based on shared expectations, values, beliefs and meanings between individuals.

6. Boundaries • A small village has simple boundaries. • Interaction is between residents. • Interaction outside the communities. • Other village shops • Marriage and dating from other villages • Sports

8. Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft • A community bound together in a tightly knit pattern which is socially homogeneous and based on a clear-cut piece of territory. • Gemeinschaft is a world dominated by face-to-face contacts, where each person is aware of his or her status, each is attached to a particular place, and the community is well regulated. • It is said to be a feature of villages and small towns, and contrasts with gesellschaft society, said to be a feature of an urban, industrialized populace. • Both concepts are idealized; in real life there are ingredients of both, in varying proportions, in all societies. • For example, within many cities there are neighbourhoods which operate as urban villages.

9. Jewish community of Caulfield • Case study • http://www.jewishaustralia.com/?Page=communityhistory

10. Today's Jewish community is concentrated in the St. Kilda district, home of the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation, the oldest and largest synagogue in the city. The original kehilla that was formed in 1841 moved into this large, stately building in 1930, and the dome-topped, Victorian structure has been in use ever since. Other synagogues in Melbourne include Temple Beth Israel, a Liberal synagogue that seats more than 2,000 people; the St. Kilda Hebrew Congregation, which is more in the old-world style; and the Kew synagogue, the newest and most modern looking temple. • The Jewish museum of Australia displays Judaica, ritual objects, Holocaust material, and paintings and sculptures by Jewish authors. The nearby Kadimah Cultural Center shows Jewish and Yiddish drama, and has a large library of Judaica. There are also kosher restaurants and grocery stores throughout the St. Kilda area.

11. Thehistory of the Jews in Australia dates back to 1788, when a number of Jews were among the convicts brought to the country aboard the First Fleet to establish the first European settlement on the continent, on the site of present-day Sydney. Today, an estimated 120,000 Jews live in Australia.[1] The majority are Ashkenazi Jewsmany of them refugees and Holocaust survivors who arrived during and after World War II. There is also a significant Sephardic Jewish population.

12. * The meaning and history of the concept of community including the theory of Ferdinand Tonnies

13. What is a community? • Can be difficult to define • Has traditionally been used to describe groups of people who: • Live in the same geographical area • Are connected with an institution e.g. a church or a school • Belong to the same cultural or language group e.g. Vietnamese Australians • Have similar occupations e.g. nurses • Share similar experiences e.g. refugees and asylum seekers • Have ideas or values in common e.g. environmental social movements • Have a similar interest e.g. gym members • Share a lifestyle e.g. people are same sex attracted • Share a government e.g. the city of Monash

14. When the term community is used in connection with any of these practices and activities it is generally intended to suggest that the people in the group have something in common

15. 4 key characteristics of a community include • Live in the same area • Are interdependent in terms of work • Share social interactions • Share a sense of belonging to that group

16. Types of communities • Geographic communities – local neighbourhood, suburb, shire, town or city (sometimes called communities of location) – large group living in close proximity • Cultural communities – local club, sub-culture, ethnic group, religious, or multicultural group (e.g. Indigenous and Greek-Australian groups) • Interest based communities – people who share a common identity other than location and who often interact regularly (eg a sporting club or a land care environmental group)

17. Types of communities • Intentional communities – formed with the purpose of providing social and/or practical support for a group (e.g. a retirement village or nursing home, young mothers group) • Internet communities – groups of people who may have never met but share some interest or connection via the internet (e.g. second life, blogs, facebook and political/non government organisations)

18. Ref pg 96 • How might the definition of community have changed over time?

19. Industrial Revolution • 1760 – 1850 • Transformed society economically moving from an agrarian farming economy to a manufacturing economy • Technologically from manual to mechanical labour • Socially from rural to urban life, changing control over labour processes and gender relations

20. FERDINAND TONNIES • German sociologist • Studied how life in the new cities differed from life in rural villages • Introduced 2 contrasts that reflected the contrast between very different social experiences

21. GEMEINSHAFT (community) • Used to describe a social group in which people are closely tied by kinship (family) and tradition • GESELLSCHAFT ‘society’ • The informal and impersonal relationships that occur within cities

22. GEMEINSCHAFT • In traditional villages the intimate ties of Gemeinschaft connected people • Connections based on blood (kinship) • Mind (sense of being a unique group) and land • Seen as being culturally homogenous as shaped by the moral laws of the church and family

23. Admiration for the way that Gemeinschaft groups maintain social cohesion and a concern about the loss of these forms of community

24. Examples of Gemeinschaft • Rural farming communities • Extended families • Religious communities

25. Gesellschaft • Tonnies concerned that society over time would comprise Gesellschaft groups • Worried that people would be ‘essentially separated in spite of uniting factors’ • Characterises a group of people who come together by choice usually for very specific practical reasons

26. Instead of being guided by traditional norms – people follow their own selfish interests • They adopt a ‘contracual’ attitude becoming more deliberate, rational and calculating in their social interactions (eg connecting for work opportunities rather than emotional well – being)

27. Tonnies noted that as social and geographic mobility increased the close ties of Gemeinschaft were replaced by social relationships • Which were impersonal, superficial and fleeting

28. Examples • Corporate workplaces • Gyms • universities

30. Below slides are a cartoon play on the difference between Geselschaft and Gemeinschaft

33. Although technically we still have Gemeinschaft communities • Gemeinschaft could be regarded as traditional (earlier) communities and Gesellschaft to modern (later) communities • M comes before S in the alphabet

34. Emile Durkheim • Agreed with Tonnies theory about community and society • Durkheim believed that cities do not lack social bonds • Outlined 2 different forms of community – they either reflected the ‘mechanical solidarity’ of traditional society or ‘organic solidarity’ present within modern societies.

35. Mechanical solidarity • Durkheim believed that pre-industrial societies were united by mechanical solidarity or shared moral beliefs • Members of traditional communities viewed each-other as being similar in terms of work, values and social connections

36. Similar to TonniesGemeinschaft community • Durkheim suggested that the unity generated within traditional community comes from having the shared culture and maintaining regular face to face contact

37. Organic solidarity • More optimistic than Tonnies about the shift in community types as a result of urbanisation • Durkheim outlined a new type of social connection called ‘organic solidarity’ • Involved social bonds based on specialisation (division of labour and interdependence)

38. Concept similar to Gesellschaftgroups but has key differences • Both sociologists felt that the expansion of industrial cities had the potential to undermine tradition • For Durkheim urban society offered more personal choice, tolerance and privacy than was found in traditional communities

39. Durkheim's theory of social change warned about the potential for increasing organic solidarity and its associated individualism to cause a reduction in the involvement of communal activities instead of combining their efforts, individuals might allow selfish interests and competitiveness to divide them

40. This could lead to social disorder • And ‘anomie’ a society without norms • People could become increasingly isolated and dissatisfied • Durkheim saw anomie as the cause of the rising rate of suicide, crime and social disorder in urban society at the time

41. Listen to .. • Florence and the machines never let me go – how might Durkheim explain this song?? Use key terms to explain… And “I wish I was a punk rocker…” song

42. What would Durkheim say? • “And it's peaceful in the deep, Either way, you cannot breathe, No need to pray, no need to speak Now I am under.” • Though the pressure's hard to take, It's the only way I can escape, It seems a heavy choice to make, Now I am under.And it's breaking over me, A thousand miles down to the sea bed, Found the place to rest my head.

43. Create a venn diagram • To explain the similarities and differences between Tonnies and Durkheim

44. Community over time ref pg 100 • Using the pictures - add your own drawings and write the features of traditional communities and the features of modern communities • ..\Documents\Sociology\sociology 3&4\Unit 3\AOS 3- Community\COMMUNITIES OVER TIME.docx

45. Common features of traditional and modern communities include • Sense of belonging • Identity • Security • Social interaction and participation

46. Factors contributing to shift from traditional to modern community

47. Your task • Complete Activity 4.02 pg 102

48. Castell’s theory of network society and its connection to modern forms of community • Contemporary theory • ‘network society’ • Explores how use of ICT in industrialised cities has improved social networks and connections between people

49. Castells’ theory • States that online connections supplement and enrich ‘offline’ connections • Believed those who are active within their ‘real world’ communities use the internet to maintain and expand their range of social activities and friendships

50. Some social researchers are concerned about the breakdown of community and family life as isolated and alienated ‘netizens’ (cyber citizens) become addicted to online interaction