Community, Culture and Values Flashcards
Sense of community
- In 1974, psychologist Seymour Sarason introduced the concept of “psychological sense of community”
- He proposed that it should be the main focus of the psychological community claiming that a psychological sense of community “is one of the major bases of self definition”
MCMILLAN AND CHAVIS (1976)
• “Sense of community is a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members’ needs will be met through their commitment to be together.”
4 CRITERIA IN MCMILLAN AND CHAVIS
- Membership
- Influence
- Fulfilment of needs
- Shared emotional connection
MEMBERSHIP
- Provides a feeling of belonging
- Establishes boundaries that divide those who belong from those who don’t
- Often use dress rituals and language to indicate who is a member
- May have some form of initiation – seen the college movies where pranks are played
- Language differences can be in-group slang or professional jargon
- Can cause a feeling of inclusion/exclusion
- Boundaries can be important for neighbourhood communities sometimes they are obvious (gates and fences) sometimes they are more subtle, like gangs having graffiti on walls
- Provide safety-separating ‘us’ from ‘them’
MEMBERSHIP INCLUDES 5 ATTRIBUTES
- boundaries
- emotional safety
- a sense of belonging and identification
- personal investment
- a common symbol system
Boundaries
How do people become members and what are the boundaries keeping others out
Emotional safety
By building boundaries and including the right people, you can credit trust and a feeling of safety
A sense of belonging and identification
Members must feel like they fit in and that this is “their community”
Personal investment
If members contribute or make sacrifices to the community it enhances their sense of community
A common symbol system
sharing symbol like a sports team shirt or gang colours creates a sense of community
INFLUENCE
• Based on research of group cohesion
• McMillan and Chavis proposed that while people are more attracted to a community in which they have influence, community cohesiveness requires members to be prepared to conform
• Also speaks to the concept of giving first before asking for anything. The theory states that:
“People who acknowledge that others’ needs, values, and opinions matter to them are often the most influential group members, while those who always push to influence, try to dominate others, and ignore the wishes and opinions of others are often the least powerful members.”
• They cited research that makes sense of these apparent opposing forces
• Found that people who acknowledge others’ opinions and needs are often more influential than those who try to dominate others and ignore their wishes. E.g. dominant person in a group project.
INTEGRATION AND FULFILMENT OF NEEDS
- Membership of the group must be rewarding
- One of the rewards is status
- Group success brings members close together
- Groups need to be organised to work at their best
- Members need to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses
- Roles and tasks need to be assigned
- Members must make sure that crucial tasks are done and that they are not completed for resources or status
- Leaders who have tried to foster cooperation have found that a powerful way of achieving this is to make rewards dependant on outcomes by the group
- Employee and teachers have adopted this approach to improve group productivity
ARONSOME AND COLLEGES (1978)
- Showed that students in cooperative class rooms, who work together to achieve group goals and receive their marks on the basis of the class product, actually learn better than students in competitive or individualistic classrooms
- McMillan revised his and Chavis’ theory in 1996, he proposed another way individuals can have their needs met, which is by being a part of a group of people with shared values, who think and feel similarly to themselves with who they feel safe.
- E.g. sporting team, all have set positions to work their best at – given awards
SHARED EMOTIONAL CONNECTION
- Refers to the feeling that we might have of being connected to another person through a common emotional response to a shared activity or event-sharing history
- Forged not only from being together but also the quality and importance of this interaction
- These experiences form a long lasting, emotional connection. That’s why a community that goes through a crisis often comes out much stronger because they’ve now shared a difficult situation, forging a strong emotional bond amongst members.
IMPACT OF SIGNIFICANT EVENTS
- World events are large-scale events that affect more than an individual
- They are often sources of stress for individuals
- This s true whether it is negative, such as a hurricane, war, or fire, or whether it is positive like the Olympic games
