Unit 1

Community and community

action: importance, concepts
and perspectives
At the end of the Unit, you are expected to
develop the following:
• Community Briefer
This is a situationer of a chosen community. It contains the economic
political, environmental, physical, ecological and sociocultural
conditions of the community.
The briefer serve as a material for orientation and awareness building,
you must be able to articulate your working definition of community.
At the end of the Unit, you are expected to
develop the following:
• Community Case Analysis
This assessment contains the context and different elements, systems,
and processes of the community.
Context – refers to the history and evolution of the community, its
struggles and successes.
The elements, systems, and processes denotes the high points and low
points of economic, political environmental/physical/ecological, and
sociocultural aspects of the community.
At the end of the Unit, you are expected to
develop the following:
• Proposal for Youth Community Plan
This plan comprised of the following:
a. Community situationer
b. Community case analysis
c. A recommended plan of action which represents possible projects
based on the result of the analysis
d. A feasible and realistic community development project plan that
can be implemented within the given period.
Chapter 1 – Community Importance,
Definition, Elements and Approaches
Lesson 1: The Importance, Definition, and Elements of a
Community and the Approaches in the Study of It
Lesson 2: The Different Perspectives on the Community
Lesson 3: The Types of Communities
Chapter 2 – Definition, Forms, Purposes of the
Approaches to Community Action
Lesson 1: The Definition and Forms of Community Action
Lesson 2: The Purposes of and the Approaches to Community
Action
Lesson 3: Youth in Community Action
LESSON 1: THE IMPORTANCE, DEFINITION, AND ELEMENTS
OF COMMUNITY AND THE APPROACHES ON THE STUDY OF IT
THE IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDING A COMMUNITY
It is important for those individual who are interested to work with a
community to first have a clear picture and a good grasp of the entity
they are trying to address.
It is appreciating the features and elements of a community that
engagement processes and actions become relevant, acceptable, and
appropriate.
Without a deep and wide knowledge of a target community,
interventions may emerge as exclusive, inappropriate, or totally
insensitive to the members of the community.
What are the other gains you can derived from understanding a
community?
a. Provide benchmarking
Before the undertaking of any community action or development
intervention like a community project, it is important to establish
benchmark data. The data illustrate the preliminary picture or image of
the community. It serves as the initial community situationer or briefer.
b. Provides preliminary project planning information
It is necessary to secure community information and feedback needed
for the conceptualization of a project design or plan. Understanding
community dynamics is the key to as sound and relevant community
development action plan. A community development action plan
includes strategies and actions meant to enhance the quality of life in a
community.
c. Provides an idea of the community’s strengths and challenges
An in-depth understanding of the community’s strengths and
challenges guides the community-based project development team to
identify the strengths and possible loopholes of the project design.
Thus, it will make the design more feasible and realistic. The project
development team involves they key stakeholders in the community,
such as the community leaders and the representatives of the people
who will be directly or indirectly affected by the project
implementation, as well as external members like community
development agency representatives and external consultants.
d. Provides an opportunity to understand the community’s dominant
rules and norms
The success or failure of a community project more often than not is
strongly affected by the prevailing rules and norms in the community.
The intensity or degree of reactions or sensitivities of the community
members is affected by those rules and norms. A successful community
development project requires a consideration of those rules and
norms.
e. Provides an occasion to gauge the attitude and behavior of the
community
An understanding of the community members’ attitude and behavior
will give the project development team an idea whether the project
will be supported or rejected or whether it can be negotiated with the
people.
f. Provides a way for a more directed and well-informed dialogue with
the community
If one is an outsider in a target community for project development, a
crucial activity one should undertake is dialogue with the community.
The quality of the dialogue depends on how well-informed or how
knowledgeable the outsiders are on the community situation and
issues. Project development is a progress of creating or innovating
ideas interventions, and technologies that would respond to a
particular need or problem in the community.
g. Make networking and partnership building more favorable
By having an idea of the different advocacy and interest groups in the
community, it is easier for people from schools, institutions, or groups
to partner with local networks or associations.
h. Gets project implementation less complicated
Without a good grasp of the community they are aimed at, project
development and implementation become complicated and stressful.
The project implementation plan includes the steps and processes that
must be taken into consideration. An understanding of the community
will tell the project development and implementation team what not to
do or what to be more concerned of.
There are many ways to understand and appreciate a community but
there is no substitute to immersing and living with that community.
Social development workers, social workers, social action people and
community organizers cannot escape what we call in Tagalog as
“paglubog” or “pagbabad”
It is more than exposure; it means immersion.
It is a process of living with the people in order to feel, smell, and think
like them.
The getting-to-know stage or phase is the “see” or “masid” portion in
the “See-Judge-Act” method is originally coined and used by Cardinal
Cardijn in 1925.
 THE DEFINITION OF A COMMUNITY
Communities are generally defined by their common cultural heritage,
language, beliefs, and shared interests.
They may be classified as small such as small place-based community
of a barangay or coastal village, or large such as a region, state, or
nation (Murhy and Cunningham, 2003)
According to Murhy and Cunningham (2003), small communities have
defined territories and are given life by three people processes:
a. An underlying web of human relationships called social fabric
b. A unique community power structure
c. A set of resource flows that constitute a local economy
 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. 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
a. A community is a sociological construct
The concept of a community is not only a “construct” (model); it is a
sociological construct or a set of interactions or human behaviors that
have meaning and expectations between its members. There is not just
action, but actions based on shared expectations, values, beliefs, and
meanings between individuals.
In understanding how a community operates and how it changes, it is
necessary to learn a little bit about sociology, the science. The mobilizer
is an applied scientist, a social scientist. While a pure scientist is
interested in how things work, the applied scientist is interested in
taking that knowledge and getting useful results.
b. A community has fuzzy boundaries
When a community is a little village separated by a few kilometers from
other villages in a rural areas, its boundaries appear at its first to be
very simple. The human interaction present may be seen as consisting
only of relations among the residents living inside the village.
If the residents interact with people outside the village, they may, for
example, marry persons from other places and move or bring a spouse
in to live with them. At any given time, those village residents may have
sisters, brothers, cousins, parents, and relatives living elsewhere. The
boundary of the community is no longer that precise.
c. A community can exist within a larger community
There may be communities within larger communities, including
districts, regions, ethnic groups, nations, and other boundaries. There
may be marriages and other interactions that link the villages of a
nation together.
d. A community may move
When technology is not based on local horticulture, the community
residents may be physically mobile. They may be nomadic herders
walking long distances with their cattle. They may be mobile fishing
groups who move from time to time to where the fish are available.
They may be hunters who move to follow the game.
 THE STRUCTURE OF A COMMUNITY
Community power structure is about the distribution of power at the
local community level.
The 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.
What are the bases of local community power?
a. Connections
The capacity to create linkages and develop help relationships with
powerful individuals, family and organizations.
b. Power in Number
The base, back-up, and support of the people in the community.
c. Rewards
The ability to provide awards, promotion, money, and gifts that are
useful to meet individual or organizational goals.
d. Personal Traits/Expertise
The capacity to foster respect and loyalty based on charm, talents, and
skills.
e. Legitimate Power
The leadership title or higher organizational or institutional position.
f. Information
The ability to keep or share information
g. Coercion
Influence through manipulation and coercion.
 THE DIMENSION 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 characteristics 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:
a. Technological
It is the community capital—its tools, skills, and ways of dealing with
the physical environment. It is the interface between humanity and
nature. This dimension is not comprised of the physical tool themselves
but of the learned ideas and behavior that allow humans to invent, use
and teach others about these tools. Technology is as much a cultural
dimension as beliefs and patterns of interaction are. It is symbolic.
b. Economic
It is the community’s various ways and means of production and
allocation of scare and useful goods and services through barter,
market trade, state allocations, and others. This dimension is not about
physical items like cash but about the ideas and behavior that give
value to cash (and other items).
c. Political
The various ways and means of allocating power, influence, and decision-
making. It is not the same as ideology, which belongs to the values
dimension. It includes, but is not limited to, types of governments and
management systems. It also includes how people in small bands or informal
groups make decisions when they do not have a recognized leader.
d. Institutional
These are the ways people act, react, and interact with each other, as well as
the ways they expect each other to act and interact. It includes institutions
like marriage or friendship; roles like a mother or a police officer; status or
class; and other patterns of human behavior. This dimension looks at
patterns of relationships that are sometimes identified as roles and status,
and the formation of groups and institutions that derive from those patterns.
e. Aesthetic-Values
This refers to the structure of ideas—sometimes paradoxical,
inconsistent, or contradictory—that people have about what is good
and bad, beautiful and ugly, and right and wrong. This is what they use
to explain or justify their actions. The three axes are not required
through our genes but through our socialization. That implies that they
can be relearned, that we could change our judgments. Values,
however, are incredibly difficult to change in a community. They do
change as community standards evolve, but that change cannot be
rushed or guided through outside influence or conscious manipulation.
Shared community standards are important in community and personal
identity.
f. Beliefs-Conceptual
This is another structure of ideas, also sometimes contradictory, that
people have about the nature of the universe, the world around them,
their role in it, and the nature of time, matter, and behavior. This
dimension is sometimes thought to be the religion of the people. It is
however a wider category, and it includes atheistic beliefs, such as how
man created God in his own image. Also, it includes share beliefs in
how this universe came to be how it operates, and what reality is. It is
religion and more.
It is necessary to study and be aware of what the prevailing beliefs are
in the community. For you to be an effective catalyst of social change,
your actions must not offend those prevailing beliefs; they must be
consistent with, or at least appropriate to, existing beliefs and concepts
of how the universe works.
 THE FOUR APPROACHES IN APPLYING THE TERM COMMUNITY
To understand the concept of community further, four approaches in
applying the said term have been identified by Delanty (2003) as cited
by Clark (2007).
a. Sociologist and Geographers (First Group)
They are concerned about the social and spatial formation of social
organizations into small groups, such as neighborhoods, small towns,
or other spatially bounded localities.
b. Those Working in Cultural Studies and Anthropology (Second
Group)
Applies the term ideas of belonging and differences around issues such
as identity.
c. Those Working in the Social Movement (Third Group)
Considers community as a form of political mobilization inspired by
radical democracy that prompt communities of action to oppose social
injustice.
d. Those Concerned about the Influence of Globalization (Fourth
Group)
Consider the development of a community based on the rise of a global
society and draws on processes, such as transactional mobility and the
development of diaspora, and technological development, such as
global communications and the Internet, to explain this.
The identification of the four approaches indicates that perspectives on
communities evolve depending on the realities and requirements of the
environment. In the earlier points of view, communities are seen,
traditionally, as spatially bounded and attached to the powers of locality
or place. Yet Delanty (2004, p. 4) claimed:
“The cosmopolitization of community has encouraged reflection of issues
such as proximity and distance and co-presence and absence that are central to
more static concepts of community, for as social contacts become stretched over
great distances, so social relations are being reshaped beyond the traditional
categories of place”.
Community is not just limited to a congregation of people living in a
geographically bounded location has been extended to social spaces.
Relationships and advocacies are pursued in social spaces. What can be
done or accomplished in a geographically bounded location, such as
teaching and learning, forging partnerships, developing plans, and
building agenda, may also be accomplished in social spaces.
Short Story
Once upon a time, an elephant came to a small town. People had read
and heard of elephants but no one in the town had ever seen one. Thus
a huge crowd gathered around the elephant, it was an occasion for great
fun, especially for the children.
Five blind men also lived in that town, and consequently, they also
heard about the elephant. They had never seen an elephant before, and
they were eager to find out about the elephant.
Then someone suggested that the blind men could go and feel the
elephant with their hands. They could then get an idea of what an
elephant looks like. The five blind men went to the center of the town
where all the people made room for them to touch the elephant.
Later on, they sat down and began to discuss their experiences. One
blind man, who had touched the trunk of the elephant, said that the
elephant must be like a thick tree branch. Another who touched the tail
sad the elephant probably looked like a snake or rope. The third man,
who touched the leg, said the shape of the elephant must be like a pillar.
The fourth man, who touched the ear, said that the elephant must be
like a huge fan. The fifth, who touched the side, said it must be like a
wall.
They sat for hours and argued, each one sure that his view was correct.
Obviously, they were all correct from their own point of view, but no one
was quite willing to listen to the others. Finally, they decided to go to the
wise man of the village and ask him who was correct. The wise man
said, “Each one only touched a part of the elephant’s body. Thus, you
only have a partial view of the animal, If you put your views together,
you will get an ideas of what an elephant looks like.”
Questions:
1. Whose description of the elephant was correct?
2. What does this story tell you?
3. What parallels does the story have with real life?
4. What factors affect our different views or perspectives of reality?
5. What significance can this story have on the story of the
community?
LESSON 2: THE DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE ON THE
COMMUNITY
UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ON COMMUNITY
A community has different parts and is therefore seen from various
viewpoints. The varying viewpoints come as a result of the distinct
perspectives of the different academic disciplines and sectors. Their
perspectives are influenced by their academic or sectoral orientation,
philosophy and values.
It is important to be acquainted with the different perspectives on the
community in order to appreciate why certain things are seen and done
differently when it comes to community interventions. What people
say and do depends mainly on their perspectives.
The following are the several perspectives on community:
1. The Social Science Perspective
From the point of view of social science, a community is a congregation of
people unified by at least one common characteristic. The people can be
unified by geography, shared interests, values, experiences or traditions.
Generally, there is a common patterns of behavior. The course of embracing
the behavior patterns of the community is referred to as socialization.
Socialization starts at the early stage of life where one develops knowledge,
skills and orientation. Also it happens during adulthood especially when the
person is placed in a new environment, and there is a need to adapt a new
pattern of behavior.
The engine of behavior adaptation is the family. They create a certain patterns
of behavior. As the person learns to socialize with peers and engage with
different societal institutions such as the mass media, government, work
place, and school, the person develops a new pattern of behavior—a behavior
which is usually associated with the community where the person belongs to.
2. The Community-Based Perspective (Local and Grassroots Level)
Community is seen as a setting for intervention, target for change,
resource, and agent from the community based-perspective. (Merzel
and D’Afflitti, 2003 as cited by McLeroy, 2003)
The following are the descriptions per classification:
a. As a setting for change – the community is mainly defined
geographically. As pointed out in the review, interventions may be
implemented at various places, within community institutions
including neighborhoods, schools, churches, work areas, and
community organizations. Project interventions may concern
education, health, and other services.
b. As a target of change – the community denotes the goal of creating a
healthy environment facilitated by policy and community-wide institutions
and services. The community is the target beneficiary of service interventions
and community developments.
c. As a resource – the community is a good material for promotion as it has
considerable degree of “community ownership and participation”. Thus the
situation provides a high possibility of project intervention success.
d. As an agent – the focus is on “respecting and reinforcing the natural
adaptive, supportive, and developmental capacities of communities”. This
means that communities, through local institutions, provide resources for
realizing regular needs.
This perspective requires vigilance in assessing community structures and
processes before any community interventions. The situation entails a
thorough understanding of the community in order to determine appropriate
and strong solutions. (McLeroy et al., 2003)
3. The Ecological Perspective
The community is a congregation of species that occur together in time
and space and have high probability for interaction. Behavior of an
individual as is seen by social ecologist in a wide context is comprised of
the “development history of the individuals, their psychological
characteristics (norms, values, attitudes), interpersonal relationships
(family, social networks), neighborhood, organizations, community,
public policy, physical environment, and culture.”
From the ecological perspective, behavior is perceived not only as a
product of knowledge, values, and attitudes of individuals but also as a
result of social influences involving the family, social networks,
organizations, and public policy. Therefor, changing social behavior
necessitates applying social influences as strategies for social change.
The network of social influences at various levels may be used as the
venue for social interventions.
4. Sectoral Perspective
Communities are seen as a system which is comprised of individuals and
sectors with diverse characteristics and interrelationships (Thompson, et al.,
1990). The sectors are composed of groups of individuals embodying distinct
roles and interests within the community system. Every sector functions
within particular margins to sustain the requirements of its members and
beneficiaries (Center for Disease Control and Prevention).
Each sector has its own focus which is primarily membership- and beneficiary-
driven. The sectors have roles to fulfill, and a functional seizure means demise
or closure. Thus, a breakdown if that role results to the weakening of the
sector’s community system.
The community must have well-integrated sectors—sectors that distribute,
divide, and exact accountabilities in managing the welfare and safety of the
community. The important factors to consider when attending to community
problems include teamwork, collaboration, partnership, and coordination.
5. The Civil Society Perspective
Civil society is generally defined as a wide array of nongovernmental
organizations and volunteer groups that are fighting for solutions to social
issues that continue to worsen the condition of the disadvantaged sectors of
society, especially the poor.
CS is embedded within the community system. (Warwick and Voitzwinker,
2014). To the community-based health group, the CS is regarded as the
“setting of setting”. It can be derived from these definitions that CS is a
representation of various communities as it pushes for the communities’
common interest.
Community is viewed as composed of people, structures, and systems
endowed with resources but is confronted with social issues as well. The CS is
likewise recognizes that those who are affected by social problems must
organize and band together to pursue and advocate for social change. Hence
the goal is to mobilize the members of the community to participate in the
community’s advocacies.
Community development is a means of enhancing CS as it prioritizes and
aligns community actions with economic, political, social, and ecological
policy development. CS plays a transformative and integral role as it
helps empower the community to enter into advocacy, dialogue, and
networking. It promotes a cognizant effort from the community to build
leadership, enhance organizations, and advance community
development interventions.
LESSON 3: TYPES OF COMMUNITIES

CLASSIFICATION OF COMMUNITIES
1. Rural-Urban
This classification is basically geographical in nature. Rural areas are
separate and away from the influence of large cities and towns. It is
known as the countryside, farmland or agricultural land. Urban areas
on the other hand, are called cities or towns.
QUESTIONS RURAL
Where is it? In a community away from the city
with a lot of open space and
natural areas.
Who lives there? Majority are poor people coming
from the farming, fishing, and
mining sectors who failed to finish
college education
How many people live in Low density of human population
it?
What are the services? Poor infrastructure facilities for
electricity, water, transport,
educational institution, health,
employment, etc.
URBAN
In a city with not much open space
and natural areas.
Many are educated, professionals,
and businessmen. However, there
is also a lot of urban poor and
informal settlers come from the
labor sector.
High density of human population
With the presence of infrastructure
facility
QUESTIONS RURAL URBAN

What is the land used Land is for agriculture/farming Land is for the buildings of government,
for? educational institutions, corporations; business
establishments and factories, high-rise
housing/condominiums, infrastructure for
transportation/roads, and subdivisions.
What jobs do people Farming, fishing, teaching, Information technology, professionals
have? barangay health workers, etc. (medicine, engineering, teaching, research),
labor works, informal street and community
works; corporates
How do people treat They have a sense of unity and In some parts of the urban community, sense of
each other? What is belongingness. They also have unity is far from that of the rural area. People
their dynamics? less social mobility and social are a bit indifferent with each other, and there
differentiation is a feeling of distrust. There is more social
night life because of the presence of bars,
restaurants, and entertainments.
2. Local-Global
The local-global community refers to “spatialized networks of social
relations”. Global and local are “not spatial structures but different
representations of space competing against each other in a process to
determine the society of that society (Guy, 2009 as cited in Shanyana
and Endofirepi, 2015).
3. Physical Space-Virtual Social Space
A social space is either physical or virtual like an online social media or
a center gathering place people where interact. Physical space refers to
unlimited three-dimensional expanses in which material objects are
located. On the other hand, virtual social space refers to nonphysical
spaces created by the development of technology (Zahi Alrayyes, 2012)
With the development of online communication, the concept of
community went beyond geographical limitations, Now we have a
virtual community, a congregation of people communicating and
interacting with each other through information technology. People
now gather virtually online and share common interests irrespective of
physical location. Before the rise of the Internet, virtual communities
were limited by communication and transportation constraints.
 THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMMUNITIES
1. Geographical Community or Neighborhood
This type of community focuses on the physical boundaries that make
it distinct or separate, such as a river or a street. It has a diverse
population with individuals or groups occupying different physical
spaces, and each with special attributes such as religion, economic
status, etc.
2. Community of Identity
This community has common identifiable characteristics or attributes
like culture, language, music, religion, customs, and others.
3. Community of Interest or Solidarity
This community incorporates social movements such as women’s rights
environment, peace, and human rights. Individuals may be connected
to their community of interest at the local and international levels. It
may also be formal or informal or both.
4. Intentional Community
This community refers to individuals that come together voluntarily and
support each other. Members may share the same interests and
identity or geographical location.
Let’s do it!
Let us assume that in your school, before undertaking activity outside
the school premises, you are required to ask permission from the
principal and justify your request. Given this requirement, you are
instructed to write a permission letter addressed to the principal
requesting that your group be allowed to make a community visit and
assessment as a project preliminary activity. In that permission letter,
state the following:
1. The rationale of the community visit and assessment
2. The objective of the visit and assessment
3. The expected output and gains from the visit and assessment
Chapter 2 – Definition, Forms, Purposes of the
Approaches to Community Action
Lesson 1: The Definition and Forms of Community Action
Lesson 2: The Purposes of and the Approaches to Community
Action
Lesson 3: Youth in Community Action
LESSON 1: THE DEFINITION AND FORMS OF
COMMUNITY ACTION
THE DEFINITION AND FORMS OF COMMUNITY ACTION
A community of people who are experiencing the same situation tend
to connect with each other and pursue a common goal and action. This
act or movement can be referred to as community action.
Community action is a manifestation of a collective grasp and
ownership of a situation that generally has an effect on them. Such
situation touches their sense and sensibilities as individuals and as a
group.
What are the important ingredients of community?
1. Community context – people live in a similar setting and/or locality.
The members of the community must come from familiar, if not a
similar, milieu or setting.
2. Common experiencing – people encounter a comparable experience
individually or collectively. This experience gives the members of the
community sense of being one, thus creating a common sentiment.
This drives the community to stick together in pursuing the same
cause.
3. Common understanding of an issue – people have more or less a
similar view of the issue at hand. This elevates the community
relationship from a “feeling” level to a “thinking” level. It translate the
emotional state to a more objective view of the situation.
4. Common analysis – people went through a process of analyzing the
issue and may have a similar take on the issue, partly or in a whole.
This puts the members’ understanding of the issue to a certain
perspective based on core values and principles.
5. Acceptable standard – people usually establish a minimum standard
in undertaking an action together. This ingredient paves the way for a
process of reaching compromises, setting minimum standards, and
targeting bottom lines. Often because of differences in core values and
principles, the community will target minimum standards. These
targets or processes must always be present and cannot be
compromised.
6. An action that is acceptable to the community – people discuss and
agree on what action to take, who will take the lead, who will do the
supporting roles, and who will do other tasks.
In community action or development, there are four general phases of
community organization process:
1. Issue identification, analysis, and dissemination
This phase is the key step toward the development of community action.
Relevant community information is collected, consolidated, analyzed,
defined, processed and disseminated. In this phase, “real needs” are
determined and differentiated from “felt needs”. Debates, dialogues,
and sharing of thoughts are undertaken. Also, relationships are built and
strengthened in this phase.
2. Mobilization of Community
This phase is the step of gathering people to meet regularly, discuss
community problems, plan as a community, formulate implementing
mechanisms, identify community leaders, and organizational structure,
and develop systems. In this phase, work is systemized, and the people
are organized. It is where agreements and processes are aligned.
3. Organization
This is the “bolt-in” phase where all the resources, material or
nonmaterial, process or product, soft or hard technology, and physical
and spiritual are mapped out and consolidated. It is the phase where
“what is lacking” and “what is available” are determined; strengths and
weaknesses are identified; options are laid down; and plans are
implemented in a systematic and organized manner.
4. On Education
This is the skills development or human resource enhancement phase.
Members are provided with necessary skills, knowledge, and
orientation. This is prerequisite for the commencement of duties and
responsibilities as members and officers of the community
organization. The success of community action may depend on how
efficient the members and officers are.
The differences in perspectives, experiences, and values contribute in
making the situation complex. Agents of community change have to
contend with community dynamics and they must learn to be friend.
Therefore, community undercurrents or forces at work must be
ignored. To facilitate a process of appreciating community dynamics,
community change agents must be aware if the following:
1. Know the community issue
2. Analyze the issue from different perspectives
3. Identify and get to know the relevant community structures and
systems
4. Identify and get to know the players
5. Identify community power actors
6. Trace connections
It is also important to have a grasp of people’s apprehensions and fears.
There is a need to undertake a process of converting these anxieties
into an animo or spirit that would lead to motivate and stir people’s
action.
The Forms of Community Action: Community Engagement, Solidarity, and
Citizenship
Community Engagement
Engagement denotes interaction, sharing, and relationship at different
levels. It can be defined as partnership between two parties, such as
academic institutions and local communities for mutual benefits, and it is
characterized by reciprocal relations.
Community engagement has a four-part definition:
-active collaboration
-build on the resources, skills, and expertise and knowledge of the campus
and community
-improves the quality of life in the communities
-in a manner that is consistent with the campus mission
Citizenship
Citizenship denotes membership of a citizen in a political society. The
membership implies duty of allegiance on the part of the member and
a duty of protection on the part of the state.
The principle of citizenship recognizes that people have a moral
responsibility to elf, others, and community. Nevertheless, this moral
responsibility has to be matched and expressed with social
responsibility.
Solidarity
Solidarity as a concept is still ambiguous, although in this discussion,
the normative perspective shall be applied and used as a positive
valued model of relations between social entities. It is about regarding
our fellow human beings justly and respecting who they are as persons.
Based on the perspective that a person is a relational being; a person is
in connection with other people, with the society, and with the
environment. This means that a person has to relate responsibly and
act in solidarity with others and the whole humanity. His or her acts
affect others and consequently affect him/her as well.
The Social Situation of the PHILIPPINES
Economic Issues
There is a relatively high poverty incidence in the country. Although the
economy has started to pick up, it fluctuates because of environmental
problems, political uncertainties, and crime rates. The fluctuations affect the
income improvements, restrain economic development, and negatively
affect the development of the people, especially the poor.
Ecological Issues
The natural resources of the country have been imperiled by unrelenting
exploitation. Land degradation remains a problem of poor families who
depend on land. Man-made activities such as logging and slash-and-burn
that cause deforestation persist. The quality of water continues to
deteriorate, and the increase in population results in an increase in human
encroachment of the country’s natural resources.
Political Issues
Despite the restoration of democratic political institutions and the
development of participatory and community-oriented development
strategies, the country is still far from having a stable, strong, and
functioning democracy. Corruption, nepotism, patron-client relations,
cronyism, and political conflict persist.
Social Issues
The social sector still faces massive challenges in terms of access to
basic social services despite the gains in health, education, nutritional
status. The greater challenge is how to provide people’s access to basic
education and health services. Also, the housing issue persist. The state
and magnitude of poverty affect the marginalized, the disadvantaged,
and the vulnerable sectors of society.
Social analysis looks into the structure of our society, including the
government, law, education, labor, church, and family. These structures
have to be analyzed and understand in order to address the roots of
our societies problems. Wit the aid of social analysis, we can ascertain
the key working structure in a given situation and move outside
personal considerations, it is therefore important to look into the
economic, political and cultural structure of the society.
The Models of Social Change
Understanding change may come from different perspectives. It is
important to appreciate these perspectives for three reasons:
1. To understand the responses taken by those in position of influence
and authority to a given situation.
2. To help us know our strengths and weaknesses as change agents.
3. To help us reflect and discern.
As identified by Ford (1987), there are three model of social change.
These are the traditional model, the class conflict model, and the
interest group model.
Traditional Structure of Patronage and Dependence
In this model, power is concentrated at the top. Both the leaders and
the followers compete for patronage and connections
This model preserves the status quo and continues the process of
exploitation and alteration of the people in the grass roots.
Class Conflict Model
The model portrays a lower class-higher class relationship. The lower
class is the oppressed, and the higher class is the oppressor
This model is from the Marxist perspective. It presents class conflict as
inevitable. The model seeks a classless society.
Interest Group Model
In this model, society is composed of a variety of groups and
organizations coming from the lower strata of the society, each with its
common interest and seeking to be heard and to influence policy
decisions and actions.
The interest group comes from the different sectors of the society, such
as the farmers, fisher folk, labor groups, women, youth, the
disadvantaged, indigenous people, and others.
The process of social change is complicated and long. It requires
systematic and personal change. Systematic change looks into
institutional system and economic, political, and sociocultural
structures.
Social Development as a Process of Social Change
Social development is a key in social change. This concept has a wide
array of descriptions as it is being used widely by social development
workers and advocates.
Social development is the process of planned and life-affirming social
change aimed toward a society where everyone is liberated and where
everyone achieves fullness of life.
Community Development as a Process of Social Change
Community development is defined as a process wherein community
members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to
common problems and pursue community well-being.
The following are the significant features of community development:
1. Builds community capacity
2. Builds community
3. Linked with community work and planning
4. Empowers individuals and groups
5. Strengthens the community
6. Strengthens the civil society
7. Builds active citizenship
8. Inculcate the principles of community action
9. Supports establishments of strong communities
Community development workers are aware that managing social
change is not a quick fix response to community issues. It is a process
that solicits participation, dialogue, reflection, and action.
There are three significant forms of action in community development
which was identified by Gilchrist and Taylor (2011)
a. Collective action – it is the process of finding the power of
combined voices and determination, mobilizing people, acting for
their mutual benefit, or championing the interest of those who
cannot stand up for themselves.
b. Informal education – it is learning that takes place predominantly
through direct involvement in community activities
c. Organizational development – help organizations be enabling the
members to achieve goals. The organization also has to be
accountable to its members and the wider community.