Development and Community: Definition of Community (Part 1 of 2)

For individuals to function to the best of their ability, they must be able to develop. There can be no undue burdens or barriers. Every individual's environment must consist of enablers that allow them to access opportunities and improve their current position in society. When there are structural impediments to a certain sect or cultural group, their ability to exercise personal freedoms is restricted and inequality results.

Social mobility has been defined as the "ability of the determined individual to climb the ladder of class distinctions-depends upon the economic and educational resources at the disposal of each individual as well as upon the barriers of privilege, discrimination, and exclusion he or she must face". (1) For an individual to truly have social mobility, he or she must have the resources not only to keep them safe in their current situation but also to survive if their current situation changes.

"The advance of the economy toward greater flexibility and decentralization can go hand in hand with a strengthening of individual initiatives and capabilities. Instead of trying to give people something close to tenure in their present jobs, we should seek to assure them the means with which to thrive in the midst of change". (2)

Paramount to ensuring social mobility is a thriving and supportive community. A community can be thought as a place of belonging.

"When the term community is used, the first notion that typically comes to mind is a place in which people know and care for one another...Communities speak to us in moral voices. They lay claims on their members. Indeed, they are the most important sustaining source of moral voices other than the inner self". (3)

An individual needs a community in order to protect his or her rights within the larger contexts of the city, state, and country in which he or she lives. The community is more in tune with the hopes of its residents and can clearly address their inhabitants' problems. Many would even argue that "free individuals require a community, which backs them up against encroachment by the state and sustains morality by drawing on the gently prodding of kin, friends, neighbors, and other community members, rather than building on government controls or fear of authorities". (4)

The concept of community has become more sophisticated due to the changing nature of business patterns and the fluidity of American culture. People work longer hours and move more often, making them more transient members of their residential neighborhoods. But people still look for community, and many get that feeling from non-traditional sources such as the workplace or another "third place". Ultimately,

"what we need now are communities that balance both diversity and unity. As John W. Gardner has noted: 'To prevent the wholeness from smothering diversity, there must be a philosophy of pluralism, an open climate for dissent, and an opportunity for subcommunities to retain their identity and share in the setting of larger group goals'". (6)

For sustainable change to take place in a neglected community, all players in society must band together. For barriers to empowerment to be removed, and enablers to be established in their place, a vast web of individuals, community-based organizations, government officials, and private industry must unite to enact real policy measures which bridge social capital and generate community competence. 

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Notes

1. West, Cornel and Roberto Unger. The Future of American Progressivism: An Initiative for Political and Economic Reform.  Boston, 1998, 25. 
2. West, Cornel and Roberto Unger. 25.
3. Etzioni, Amitai. The Spirit of Community.  Crown Publishers, New York 1993, 31.
4. Etzioni, Amitai. 15.
5. DeFilippis, James.  "The Myth of Social Capital in Community Development.”Housing Policy Debate.  Volume 12, Issue 4: 2001.  789.
6. Etzioni, Amitai. 122.

this page last updated
April 13, 2002