Chapter Six The City As Community
Contents
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I. What Is a Community ( Definitions )
II. Social Functions of Community
III. Community as Type of Social Structure
IV. Three Historic Phases of Community Studies
V. Community Power and the Related Studies
VI. Community Stratification and the Related Studies
VII. Summary
What Is a Community?
œFactors of Community
Ø group of people
Ø geographical area (site)
Ø system of organization
Ø service system
Ø primary relationships
Ø a sense of belonging
Ø a shared identity
I. What Is a Community?
œ Definition of Community
Community is a geographically-tied unit of
social organization. Communities are the places in
which people live out their day-to-day lives and to
which they feel emotional attachment. In brief,
Community is a geographical group with some
common interests and emotional attachments.
I. What Is a Community?
œ For the most part, the term community has
geographical or spatial connotations, but it has also
been used to indicate similarity of interests among a
group of people who do not live in geographical
proximity to one another.
œ For example, “a community of scholars”
œ “sense of community”
II. Social Functions of Community
œ Process of socialization
œ Normative order and means for social control
œ Social stratification and differentiation
œ Means of communication
œ Forms of social institutions (economy, education, family, politics, religion and
the like)
III. Community as Type of Social Structure
œ The “Great Change” in community structure associated with urbanization
and industrialism
œ “Eclipse of Community”
œ “Failure of Community”
œ A transformation in the fabric of society
III. Community as Type of Social Structure
Ø Ferdinand Tonnies’ Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft
(Community and Society)
Ø Robert Redfield’s Folk-Urban Continuum
Ferdinand Tonnies:
Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft
œ Community and Society
œ Ideal types of extreme forms of community organization
œ Gemeinschaftis a type of social organization by which
people are bound closely together by kinship and tradition.
œ Gesellschaftis a type of social organization by which
people have weak social ties and considerable self-interest.
Tonnies:
Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft
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Ferdinand Tonnies Community
Association
? Emotion
? Reason
? Unity
? Individuality
? Custom
? Contract and
Law
? Loyalty to place
? Nonattachment to place
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Louis Wirth
Ruralism
Urbanism
? Primary group
? Secondary
Association
? All-round personality ? Segmental
roles
? Personal relationship ? Impersonal
relationships
? Integration
? Isolation
and disorder
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James Fulcher and John Scott, sociology, Oxford university press,
1999, p405
Ferdinand Tonnies:
Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft
œ The typology represents social organization from the
smaller group, kinship type relationships to those of the
money oriented, rationally oriented relationships of
bureaucracy and economic systems.
œ Toennies saw the development of modern urban society
as a shift from Gemeinschaft to Gesellschaft.
Robert Redfield: Folk-Urban Continuum
œ Redfield analyzed a relatively large regional center and
a tribal village.
œ Cultural disorganization: one form of social order broke
down and was replaced by another.
œ The basic trend is movement from the simple to the
more complex forms of organization.
Robert Redfield: Folk-Urban Continuum
œ Folk Society ( “Little Tradition” )
Ø mechanical solidarity - emphasis on ascribed statuses
Ø small-scale, isolated, self sufficient
Ø homogeneous-slow to change
Ø emphasis on the moral order-strong sense of group
solidarity holds the community together
Robert Redfield: Folk-Urban Continuum
œ Urban Society (“Great Tradition”)
Ø organic solidarity, achieved statuses
Ø large scale, not isolated
Ø Heterogeneous
Ø technical order dominant - arrangements holding people
together result from mutual usefulness or coercion (law)
IV. Three Historic Phases of Community Studies
œ (1)Normative-Meliorative Community studies
Ø The poor, their living conditions, and social problems.
Ø The seamy side of life in large cities.
Ø Moral judgments
Henry Mayhew
(1812-1887)
IV. Three Historic Phases of Community Studies
œ (2) Analytical Community studies
Ø An increase in studies describing and analyzing urban
life.
IV. Three Historic Phases of Community Studies
Ø Continuous research on the deviant aspects of
community life.
Ø For example, Harvey Zorbaugh’s (1929) The Gold Coast
and the Slum.
IV. Three Historic Phases of Community Studies
œ (3) Modern Community studies
Ø Publication of the Lynds studies of Middletown in 1929
marks the third shift.
IV. Three Historic Phases of Community Studies
Ø The focus shifted from mainly analytical studies of
community life to theoretically grounded, scientific analyses.
Ø Three categories:
a. Research on community structure and dynamics
b. Research on community as a variable
c. Research on selected aspects of community life
V. Community Power and the Related Studies
œ (1) What is power?
œ (2) Perspectives on community power
œ (3) What is community power structure?
œ (4) Types of power structure
œ (5) Studies of community power structure
(1) What is power?
œ Power & Authority
œ Max Weber
Ø Power is the ability to have one’s will effected even
against opposition.
Ø Power is the ability to act.
Ø Power is the capacity to control or influence others.
Ø Authority is the right to act.
Ø Three sources of authority
(1) What is power?
œ The differentiation between power and authority has long
been recognized and accepted by most sociologists and it
forms the basis for most sociological community power
studies.
(2) Perspectives on the community power
œ Elitist Model
a few persons make most of the decisions for the larger
groups.
œ Pluralist Model
no single-power structure; multiple centers of power.
œ Various sorts of mixtures
(3) What is community power structure?
œ The community power structure is the network of
influences among the individuals and organizations
involved in a given community's decision-making process.
œ Formal power structure
œ Informal power structure
(4) Types of power structure
œ Four Types of Power Structure
Ø Mass Participation: Wide-open system of equal access
to decision-making.
Ø Monolithic Power Structure: one small group of elites
holds most of the power in the community.
Ø Polylithic Power Structure: A system of two or more
“power cliques” , which share power in the community.
Ø Pluralistic Power Structure: A system with multiple
groups sharing power.
(5) Studies of community power structure
œ Floyd Hunter
œ Community Power Structure：A study of decision
makers(1953)
œ Reputational Approach: assumes that power is present
in all social relationships and that the power to affect
community decisions is a result of individuals’ reputations.
œ Elitist Model
(5) Studies of community power structure
œ Robert Dahl
œ Who Governs? :Democracy and power in an American
city (1961)
œ Decisional Approach: assumes that the power to make
decisions comes from strong participation in the decision
making process.
œ Pluralist Model
VI. Community Stratification and the Related Studies
œ (1) What is Social Stratification?
œ (2) Theoretical Approaches on Social
Stratification
œ (3) Studies of Stratification and Community
œ (4) Social Mobility
œ (5) Community Structure and Stratification
(1) What is social stratification?
œ The hierarchical system by which individuals are
organized into class or status groupings is known as Social
Stratification.
œ Social stratification is a system in which groups of
people are divided into layers according to their
relative power, property, and prestige.
œ Social stratification refers to the ranking of large groups
of people, rather than individuals.
(2) Theoretical Approaches
on Social Stratification
œ Two dominant theoretical approaches
Ø Functionalist Model
Social stratification system is an outcome of society’s
needs.
Ø Conflict Model
Social stratification system is resulting from the
distribution of power in society.
(3) Studies of Stratification
and Community
œ The Lynds, Middletown (1929, 1937)
Ø social status based on occupation
Ø six classes/two broad classes
œ W. Lloyd Warner, The Status System of A Modern
Community (1941)
Ø two dimensions to measure social status
Ø six classes
(4) Social Mobility
œ Definition: Upward or downward movement within a
stratification system.
œ Two forms of mobility:
Ø INTERGENERATIONAL mobility compares parents
levels to that of their children.
INTRAGENERATIONAL mobility plots career shifts
within a persons lifetime.
(4) Social Mobility
Ø Closed system:
u ascribed statuses
u lack of mobility; inflexible
u Caste
• begins to breakdown
with modernization
u Slavery
• Modern slavery (still exists, human rights violations)
Ø Open system:
u ownership and control of resources and type of work
u achievement (some ascription)
Ø
u flexible; social mobility is higher
(5) Community Structure and Stratification
œ Stratification is a very important component of
community structure;
œ Other aspects of community, such as the way in which
production is organized (industrial versus nonindustrial),
can have a major impact on community stratification;
œ Stratification is related to life-style, interaction patterns,
life chances, residential locations and the like.
œ Within any given stratification system, the rate of
change among statuses may be high, but extreme
dislocations are rare.
VII. Summary
œ Community
œ Typologies of community structure
œ Studies of community
Ø Early studies
Ø Modern studies
a. community power
b. community stratification
Three sources of authority
œ 1. Perceived personal qualities
( charismatic authority )
œ 2. Tradition
( traditional authority )
œ 3. Conscious decision
( legal-rational authority )
Formal power structure
œ The formal power structure consists of elected or
appointed officials who supervise and execute the will of
the community through the formal political structure of civic
organizations.
Formal power structure
œ Local area decision makers include:
Ø mayor or city manager
Ø city council
Ø county executive
Ø county council
Ø members of planning or zoning boards
Ø school boards
Ø chief of police or county sheriff
œ State-wide decision makers include:
Ø Governor
Ø state legislators
Ø heads of state agencies
Informal power structure
œ The informal power structure consists of those who
wield influence in an informal or social manner.
œ Publishers and editors of local newspapers
œ Radio and TV station general managers and news
directors
œ Executive director and PR director of chamber of
commerce
œ Business leaders and real estate developers
œ Leaders and spokespersons of community special
interest groups
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