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43-499: Local development is a relatively young theory in social sciences based on the identification and use of the resources and endogenous potentialities of a community , neighbourhood, city, municipality or equivalent. The local development approach considers the endogenous potentialities of territories. Economic and non economic factors influence local development processes. Among the non economic factors, social, cultural, historical, institutional, and geographical aspects can be decisive in

86-600: A taxonomy that maps community relations, and recognizes that actual communities can be characterized by different kinds of relations at the same time: In these terms, communities can be nested and/or intersecting; one community can contain another—for example a location-based community may contain a number of ethnic communities . Both lists above can be used in a cross-cutting matrix in relation to each other. In general, virtual communities value knowledge and information as currency or social resource. What differentiates virtual communities from their physical counterparts

129-528: A common agenda. Community development practitioners must understand both how to work with individuals and how to affect communities' positions within the context of larger social institutions. Public administrators, in contrast, need to understand community development in the context of rural and urban development, housing and economic development, and community, organizational and business development. Formal accredited programs conducted by universities, as part of degree granting institutions, are often used to build

172-590: A community can seem like a sub-set of a social collectivity . In developmental views, a community can emerge out of a collectivity. The English-language word "community" derives from the Old French comuneté ( Modern French : communauté ), which comes from the Latin communitas "community", "public spirit" (from Latin communis , "common"). Human communities may have intent , belief , resources , preferences , needs , and risks in common, affecting

215-554: A comprehensive discussion of possible causes of polyarchy. In his book, Democracy and Its Critics , Dahl clarifies his view about democracy. No modern country meets the ideal of democracy, which is as a theoretical utopia. More specifically, Dahl argued that five criteria could be used for evaluating how democratic a process is: However, as in his earlier book Polyarchy , Dahl held that some countries approximated those ideals and could be classified as "polyarchies" inasmuch as they had "seven institutions, all of which must exist for

258-680: A democratic election started to realign with community interests. In ecology , a community is an assemblage of populations—potentially of different species—interacting with one another. Community ecology is the branch of ecology that studies interactions between and among species. It considers how such interactions, along with interactions between species and the abiotic environment, affect social structure and species richness, diversity and patterns of abundance. Species interact in three ways: competition , predation and mutualism : The two main types of ecological communities are major communities, which are self-sustaining and self-regulating (such as

301-550: A forest or a lake), and minor communities, which rely on other communities (like fungi decomposing a log) and are the building blocks of major communities. Moreover, we can establish other non-taxonomic subdivisions of biocenosis, such as guilds . The concept of "community" often has a positive semantic connotation, exploited rhetorically by populist politicians and by advertisers to promote feelings and associations of mutual well-being, happiness and togetherness —veering towards an almost-achievable utopian community . In contrast,

344-523: A form of democratic socialism . A similar theme recurred in his A Preface to Economic Democracy in 1985. Dahl's influential early books include A Preface to Democratic Theory (1956), Who Governs? (1961), and Pluralist Democracy in the United States (1967), which presented pluralistic explanations for political rule in the United States. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he was involved in an academic disagreement with C. Wright Mills over

387-538: A government to be classified as a polyarchy": In his book On Democracy , Dahl sets out five conditions that favor democratic institutions. He deems three of them essential and the remaining two solely favourable. Essential condition for democracy: Favourable conditions for democracy: In his book On Democracy , Dahl addressed the question "Why should we support democracy?" and argued that "democracy has at least ten advantages" relative to nondemocracies: In his later writing, Dahl examined democracy, in particular in

430-894: A knowledge base to drive curricula in public administration , sociology and community studies . The General Social Survey from the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago and the Saguaro Seminar at the Harvard Kennedy School are examples of national community development in the United States. The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in New York State offers core courses in community and economic development, and in areas ranging from non-profit development to US budgeting (federal to local, community funds). In

473-497: A number of problems: (1) they tend to give the impression that a particular community can be defined as just this kind or another; (2) they tend to conflate modern and customary community relations; (3) they tend to take sociological categories such as ethnicity or race as given, forgetting that different ethnically defined persons live in different kinds of communities—grounded, interest-based, diasporic, etc. In response to these problems, Paul James and his colleagues have developed

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516-431: A social community and spatial subdivisions of cities and other large settlements may have formed communities. Archaeologists typically use similarities in material culture —from house types to styles of pottery—to reconstruct communities in the past. This classification method relies on the assumption that people or households will share more similarities in the types and styles of their material goods with other members of

559-419: A social community than they will with outsiders. Early sociological studies identified communities as fringe groups at the behest of local power elites. Such early academic studies include Who Governs? by Robert Dahl as well as the papers by Floyd Hunter on Atlanta . At the turn of the 21st century the concept of community was rediscovered by academics, politicians, and activists. Politicians hoping for

602-515: A widely accessible power structure, often with the end goal of distributing power equally throughout the community. Community organizers generally seek to build groups that are open and democratic in governance. Such groups facilitate and encourage consensus decision-making with a focus on the general health of the community rather than a specific interest group. If communities are developed based on something they share in common, whether location or values, then one challenge for developing communities

645-407: Is faith-based community organizing , or Congregation-based Community Organizing ). Community building can use a wide variety of practices, ranging from simple events (e.g., potlucks , small book clubs ) to larger-scale efforts (e.g., mass festivals , construction projects that involve local participants rather than outside contractors). Community building that is geared toward citizen action

688-423: Is how to incorporate individuality and differences. Rebekah Nathan suggests in her book, My Freshman Year , we are drawn to developing communities totally based on sameness, despite stated commitments to diversity, such as those found on university websites. A number of ways to categorize types of community have been proposed. One such breakdown is as follows: The usual categorizations of community relations have

731-530: Is the extent and impact of "weak ties", which are the relationships acquaintances or strangers form to acquire information through online networks. Relationships among members in a virtual community tend to focus on information exchange about specific topics. A survey conducted by Pew Internet and The American Life Project in 2001 found those involved in entertainment, professional, and sports virtual-groups focused their activities on obtaining information. An epidemic of bullying and harassment has arisen from

774-525: Is usually termed "community organizing". In these cases, organized community groups seek accountability from elected officials and increased direct representation within decision-making bodies. Where good-faith negotiations fail, these constituency-led organizations seek to pressure the decision-makers through a variety of means, including picketing, boycotting , sit-ins, petitioning, and electoral politics. Community organizing can focus on more than just resolving specific issues. Organizing often means building

817-558: The Gemeinschaft – Gesellschaft dichotomy as a way to think about social ties. No group is exclusively one or the other. Gemeinschaft stress personal social interactions , and the roles, values, and beliefs based on such interactions. Gesellschaft stress indirect interactions, impersonal roles, formal values, and beliefs based on such interactions. In a seminal 1986 study, McMillan and Chavis identify four elements of "sense of community": A "sense of community index" (SCI)

860-488: The Asset Based Community Development Institute of Northwestern University . The institute makes available downloadable tools to assess community assets and make connections between non-profit groups and other organizations that can help in community building. The Institute focuses on helping communities develop by "mobilizing neighborhood assets" – building from the inside out rather than

903-456: The epidemiological term " community transmission " can have negative implications, and instead of a "criminal community" one often speaks of a " criminal underworld " or of the "criminal fraternity". In Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft (1887), German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies described two types of human association: Gemeinschaft (usually translated as "community") and Gesellschaft ("society" or "association"). Tönnies proposed

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946-433: The psychodynamic tradition, the most important period of socialization is between the ages of one and ten. But socialization also includes adults moving into a significantly different environment where they must learn a new set of behaviors. Socialization is influenced primarily by the family, through which children first learn community norms . Other important influences include schools, peer groups, people, mass media,

989-588: The workplace , and government. The degree to which the norms of a particular society or community are adopted determines one's willingness to engage with others. The norms of tolerance , reciprocity , and trust are important "habits of the heart", as de Tocqueville put it, in an individual's involvement in community. Community development is often linked with community work or community planning, and may involve stakeholders, foundations, governments, or contracted entities including non-government organisations (NGOs), universities or government agencies to progress

1032-454: The OCDE) and other of national character in different countries devoted to improve the conditions of life of local spaces by means of this approach of development. Among some authors whose work influences this approach can be found Manfred Max-Neef. His texts "The barefoot economy" and "Development to scale Human" are a good example of this. Community In terms of sociological categories,

1075-468: The United Kingdom, the University of Oxford has led in providing extensive research in the field through its Community Development Journal, used worldwide by sociologists and community development practitioners. At the intersection between community development and community building are a number of programs and organizations with community development tools. One example of this is the program of

1118-626: The United States, with a critical view. In How Democratic Is the American Constitution? (2001), Dahl argued that the US Constitution is much less democratic than it ought to be, given that its authors were operating from a position of "profound ignorance" about the future. However, he adds that there is little or nothing that can be done about this "short of some constitutional breakdown, which I neither foresee nor, certainly, wish for." In On Political Equality (2006), Dahl addresses

1161-434: The cogency, clarity, and veracity of his portrayal of some of the key characteristics of realizable-ideal democracy, as well as his descriptive analysis of the dynamics of modern pluralist-democracy, he is considered one of the greatest theorists of democracy in history. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Washington in 1936 and his Ph.D. from Yale in 1940. After receiving his Ph.D., Dahl worked in

1204-685: The exchange of information between strangers, especially among teenagers, in virtual communities. Despite attempts to implement anti-bullying policies, Sheri Bauman, professor of counselling at the University of Arizona, claims the "most effective strategies to prevent bullying" may cost companies revenue. Virtual Internet-mediated communities can interact with offline real-life activity, potentially forming strong and tight-knit groups such as QAnon . If you have trouble socializing here are 3 tips to help you: Robert Dahl Robert Alan Dahl ( / d ɑː l / ; December 17, 1915 – February 5, 2014)

1247-450: The existent endogenous resources. In this approach, the importance of social capital and the links of cooperation with external agents to capture human, monetary and technical resources contribute to the local development strategy. There exist many international institutions (Foundation Dag Hammarskjöld , FLACSO-Academic Headquarters Guatemala and Costa Rica, the Centre for Local Development of

1290-412: The feeling of love and belonging. The process of learning to adopt the behavior patterns of the community is called socialization . The most fertile time of socialization is usually the early stages of life, during which individuals develop the skills and knowledge and learn the roles necessary to function within their culture and social environment . For some psychologists, especially those in

1333-730: The government in Washington DC and then volunteered for a spell in the US army. He served in Europe during World War II, was the leader of a small reconnaissance platoon in an infantry regiment, and earned a Bronze Star . He led a platoon that took part in a major offensive in November 1944. After World War II, Dahl returned to Yale in 1946, where he was offered a temporary position teaching American government. The position became permanent, and Dahl remained at Yale his entire career, until his retirement in 1986. He

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1376-445: The identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness. Archaeological studies of social communities use the term "community" in two ways, mirroring usage in other areas. The first meaning is an informal definition of community as a place where people used to live. In this literal sense it is synonymous with the concept of an ancient settlement —whether a hamlet , village , town , or city . The second meaning resembles

1419-538: The knowledge and application of certain rules. He states that this process goes through four stages: In 1991, Peck remarked that building a sense of community is easy but maintaining this sense of community is difficult in the modern world. An interview with M. Scott Peck by Alan Atkisson. In Context #29, p. 26. The three basic types of community organizing are grassroots organizing, coalition building, and "institution-based community organizing", (also called "broad-based community organizing", an example of which

1462-467: The nature of politics in the United States . Mills held that America's governments are in the grasp of a unitary and demographically narrow power elite. Dahl responded that there are many different elites involved, who have to work both in contention and in compromise with one another. If this is not democracy in a populist sense, Dahl contended, it is at least polyarchy (or pluralism ). In perhaps his best known work, Who Governs? (1961), he examines

1505-439: The nature of decision making in actual institutions, such as American cities. He is the most important scholar associated with the pluralist approach to describing and understanding both city and national power structures. In addition to his work on the descriptive theory of democracy, he was long occupied with the formulation of the constituent elements of democracy considered as a theoretical but realizable ideal. By virtue of

1548-472: The outside in. In the disability field, community building was prevalent in the 1980s and 1990s with roots in John McKnight's approaches. In The Different Drum: Community-Making and Peace (1987) Scott Peck argues that the almost accidental sense of community that exists at times of crisis can be consciously built. Peck believes that conscious community building is a process of deliberate design based on

1591-410: The power structures (both formal and informal) in the city of New Haven, Connecticut , as a case study, and finds that it supports this view. From the late 1960s onwards, his conclusions were challenged by scholars such as G. William Domhoff and Charles E. Lindblom (a friend and colleague of Dahl). In Polyarchy , Dahl uses the term "polyarchy" to refer to actual cases of democracy and provides

1634-437: The process of local economic development . In this perspective, local economic development can be defined as a process of transformation of the local economy and society, oriented to surpass the difficulties and existent challenges. It seeks to improve the conditions of life of local population by means of actions concerted between the different local agents, social, public and private, towards an efficient and sustainable use of

1677-406: The social well-being of local, regional and, sometimes, national communities. More grassroots efforts, called community building or community organizing , seek to empower individuals and groups of people by providing them with the skills they need to effect change in their own communities. These skills often assist in building political power through the formation of large social groups working for

1720-436: The usage of the term in other social sciences : a community is a group of people living near one another who interact socially. Social interaction on a small scale can be difficult to identify with archaeological data. Most reconstructions of social communities by archaeologists rely on the principle that social interaction in the past was conditioned by physical distance. Therefore, a small village settlement likely constituted

1763-670: Was Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science from 1955 to 1964, and Sterling Professor from 1964 to 1986. Dahl was departmental chair from 1957 to 1962. Dahl served as president of the American Political Science Association in 1966/67. Dahl was married to Mary Bartlett until her passing in 1970, and then to Ann Sale, a Presbyterian. Over his career, Dahl received many prestigious awards and prizes. In his doctoral thesis in 1940, Dahl critiqued "corporate capitalism" and state socialism as both exemplifying undemocratic traits, arguing for economic democracy and

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1806-468: Was an American political theorist and Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University . He established the pluralist theory of democracy —in which political outcomes are enacted through competitive, if unequal, interest groups—and introduced " polyarchy " as a descriptor of actual democratic governance. An originator of "empirical theory" and known for advancing behavioralist characterizations of political power, Dahl's research focused on

1849-515: Was developed by Chavis and colleagues, and revised and adapted by others. Although originally designed to assess sense of community in neighborhoods, the index has been adapted for use in schools, the workplace, and a variety of types of communities. Studies conducted by the APPA indicate that young adults who feel a sense of belonging in a community, particularly small communities, develop fewer psychiatric and depressive disorders than those who do not have

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