2nd CESC
BAED-HUMSS2126 Community Engagement, Solidarity and Citizenship
This course focuses on the application of ideas and methods of the social sciences to understand,
investigate, and examine the challenges of contemporary community life. It focuses on communityaction initiatives such as community engagement, solidarity, and citizenship as guided by the core values
of human rights, social justice, empowerment and advocacy, gender equality, and participatory
development. It aims at enhancing students’ sense of shared identity and willingness to contribute to
the pursuit of the common good of the community. It enables students to integrate applied social
sciences into community-action initiatives.
3/13/2022
WEEK 1 - Concepts and Perspectives of Community
Community Dynamics
What is Community Dynamics?
Community – a group of People
Dynamics - Self-Motivated Person, Active Person, Energetic Person, known as “Dynamics for
Development of the Community”
So!!!!!!!!
Community-Dynamics is the process of change and development within communities.
Community Dynamics which strive to bring about positive social change through
community-based programming
Significance
Community Dynamics is here to work with community to think creatively and act
strategically so that community can achieve their goals.
At Community Dynamics, believes that, creative and sustainable programming that
works to raise the quality of living for those most vulnerable to poverty and exploitation.
What are the Dynamics in Community level?
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Integrative Forces
Disintegrative Forces
Participative group and groupism
Functions of sub groups
Minority groups
Gender and empowerment
Integrative Forces
Integrative Thinking is a field in Applied Mind Science which was originated by Graham Douglas
in 1986.
He describes Integrative Thinking as the process of integrating intuition, reason and imagination
in a human mind with a view to developing a holistic continuum of strategy, tactics, action,
review and evaluation for addressing a problem in any field.
A problem may be defined as the difference between what one has and what one wants.
Integrative Thinking as described may be learned by applying the SOARA (Satisfying, Optimum,
Achievable Results Ahead)
Disintegrative Forces
"disintegrative" processes are therefore seen as "positive," whereas people who fail to go
through positive disintegration may remain for their entire lives in a state of "primary
integration."
Participative group
"Participative group is known by many names including
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shared leadership,
Community empowerment,
Community involvement,
participative decision-making,
(Steinheider, B., Bayerl, P.S. & Wuestewald)
10 Groupism the tendency to think and act as members of a group
Is the concept which makes everyone to feel
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Empathy
Sympathy
we feeling
Goal achievement
Subgroup
A group formed of a subset of members drawn from a larger parent group.
Subgroups are not autonomous; though members of the parent group may choose to join a
subgroup rather than be assigned, membership in a subgroup is ultimately controlled by the
parent group and it's owner
Subgroup Subset of members drawn from a larger parent group
a user joins a group and is put into a smaller group (ex. committees, teams), which
might have access to resources that the larger group has
Functions Work towards goal achievement Motivate the members
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Organise meeting with the members
Organise meeting with the external agents
Liaisoning with government and others
Minority group
A minority is a sociological category within a demographic those who don’t hold the majority of
positions of social power in a society.
Gender and empowerment
Gender empowerment is conceived as a process by which women can overcome many of the
hurdles that they face such as education, work status, employment opportunities, health care,
social security, position in decision making by virtue of their gender.
Thus!!!!!!!!
Gender empowerment veritably implies empowerment of women to do away with
“Subordination” or “Discrimination” and “Injustice” done to them in male dominated
society.
LESSON 1:
The Importance of Understanding Community Dynamics and Community Action
“There is nothing permanent except change”
Learning Objectives:
Fundamental Queries:
important to study the community and its dynamics?
Learning Competencies:
importance of studying community dynamics and community action in relation to
applied social sciences and the student’s future career options.
the common good.
Introduction
Have you ever asked what your role is in the grand scheme that we call society? Do you ever feel
small to a point that you question your value to the social environment you are in? Have you been
curious to know how your current decisions would affect your personal future and future of your family
members or even the world around you? Look no further in exploring the depths of understanding of
this matter and peer into the very institutions that surround us and we ourselves are part of, our own
communities.
The Living Commune
The word community in its literal form is defined by two characteristics: location and social
identification. First, a community can be defined simply as a group of individuals bound within
specific geographic location. Is means that a group of people living in a specific area can already
be called a community. The second definition surmises that a community is an example of a
collective that identifies common traits, goals, or customs. It can be argued that communities
bind individuals into a collective whole.
A community is a living social entity and goes beyond the old categorized of space as its primary
definition. More than a space, a community is made up of people: you and I. Much like a living
organism, you may think of people as living cells that make up an organic being. People within
the community act in the same way and of same importance. Like cells, we need each other to
support life. Our society itself has life, has vibrancy, and every single one is as integral to support
this structure as everybody else. Just like an organic being, a community takes on different
periods of evolution as it continues to survive. The environment, where the community is in,
molds the collective in accordance to the demands of survival. While the composition of the
community is by default created by the personalities therein, the environment, on the other
hand, shapes it to its most optimal social composition and form. This synergy between the self,
community, and the environment seems to be organic: yet in practice, this is the challenge that
confronts all communities in general. The main obstacle is to compromise all these actors,
trivialities, and circumstances into an effective social machinery composed of living parts.
The Basic of a Community
When we think of a community, we think of how people come together to form a singular
faction. We see it as a structure that is made up of individuals bound by something abstract and
unforeseen. It is not as simple as such, as the community is bound because of self-help. The
concept of self-help is about how individuals seeks personal development without the help of
others. However. Self – help defines a community once each individual wants and needs
intersect, therefore justifying a need to unify. It is assumed that people are bound to seek selfhelp in their own lives, and in their journey, find common avenues for cooperation and
partnership among others and therefore lay the foundations for capacity- building.
However, not everyone sees it as such due to the varying sense of community ownership that
its members may possess. Ownership, in this sense, is the level of commitment and
accountability that an individual has for the community. This can be summed up by the level of
involvement the community and its members hold in the most basic operational structures of
the commune. Some of these structures can be governmental or non- governmental, and formal
or informal. These social organizations bind individuals and groups toward specific goals,
concerns and issues. Problems within communities are shared just as resources and
opportunities. We must never forget we are all stakeholders and are bound by the same fate of
the commune. Ownership, some may argue, is a choice but in reality, ownership is a necessity
for the members of the community if they aspire to improve their current situations.
Through community participation, individuals can provide their own contributions through acts
of volunteerism in projects and other communal initiatives. More so, participation is not only
focused on being part of an ongoing project but an individual should also be an active member
by taking part in the managerial and organizational development of the community, which
includes the conceptualization, planning , operationalization, and review of initiatives. Existent
communal models of direct participation include town halls, focus group discussion, forums, and
through informal channels which can include everyday affairs. An active community is one of the
most important facets of healthy community because it characteristically directs issue discourse
into tangible and structured dilemmas that can be solved and operationalized via pragmatic and
sustainable solutions created by the combined efforts, ideas, expertise and experience of the
group.
While participation is key, inclusion is one aspect of the community that is integral in binding
the collective into a whole. As a form of social assembly, the personalities within a community
are different and unique. In respect to culture, race, religion, and other identifiable social
identities, one person is unique as to the other. Such backgrounds, histories, mores, and
customs vary and yet should be integrated into the local communal social fabric. Moreover,
inclusion echoes the need for the community to be compromising and tolerant of these
differences. A community should always consider not only the needs of the majority but more
critically, the needs of the minority that are often neglected or overlooked. This can be solved by
using more objective instruments of inquiry and wider view that reality exists outside the
confines of the majority. Inclusion is all about conciliation that reaches beyond norms of
collective understanding wherein the goals is to reach social equity among its members.
Highlighting inclusively are access and equity. These two are the goals that commune must
strive for to create a better society. Access and Equity imply the ease in which various
individuals and group can attain the basic necessities and resources. They push for a just
allocation of goods and opportunities that is without discrimination and prejudice toward
people. Significantly, they provide power and social protection among its citizens through the
continued improvement of its structures under political, economic, sociocultural, technological,
legal and environmental aspects.
The Community as a Movement
A community is more than just a collective. It acts much like a living entity that takes on life.
Living within the imaginations of its members, a community also embodies a perspective,
identity, strand, and, much like a social movement. The main differences between both is social
movements its exits primarily of a cause the manifest either as a reaction to an event or as
preexisting popular rhetoric among the community members, while a community is bound not
just by one issue or narrative but on plethora of compromises that are commonly accepted and
continually reinforced. To put it simply, a social movement is more issue-specific and may exist
primarily for its own ecosystem. To look deeper in its dynamics, let us focus on its important
ideals and how it comes to fruition.
Through issues and concerns that are shared among its members, advocacies are formed by the
community and its leaders. To improve and garner support, communities try to garner support
from other individuals or groups which are aligned with their worldview. As compared to social
movements, communities are made up of various advocacy clusters that try to supplement the
ongoing efforts of the government. Advocacies include multitudes of topics where people are
compelled to push for value-specific agendas that are shared through their supporters.
Formations are created with the organic networking of actors that later on find commonalities
and avenues for cooperation and partnerships. Underpinning these effort is the spirit of
collaboration where groups and individuals from various walks of life come together to form
linkages that are important for mobilization and value creation. The creation of these networks
is also both formal and informal since there is really no limit to where collaboration can happen
or manifest. Partnership can take form between the individuals or groups of various
backgrounds that share a common identification, but at the same time, contribute on different
levels to solve problems and overcome obstacles. Embracing this kind of diversity is critical in
building networks the last and work under various circumstances and challenges.
Standing on the foundation of advocacies and networking is the hope for social action. At the
end of the day, the community hopes to address the issues of the status quo through the
combined efforts of actors. Planning, conceptualization, operationalization, and implementation
of action will not be possible without the political will of actors toward meeting general
compromise to effect social change. The community is a movement that cannot be dismissed as
external to the realities that we hold our own. We are, in fact, the community; our personal
worldviews and realities are directly derived from the collective with which we identify
ourselves and in sharing a common identity, we also hare the same.
WEEK 2 - Definition of Community
LESSON 1:
Social Science Perspective
“A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm”
- Henrik Ibsen
Learning Objectives:
imagination
distinguish the various types of sociological perspectives
and its
development in the society
Fundamental Queries:
perspective about the idea of a community in various social sciences?
foundations?
Learning Competencies:
perspective (e.g.,sciences,
institutions, civil society, and local/grassroots level.)
Introduction
The social sciences are regarded simply as the study of the people and societies. Throughout
history, social sciences concentrated on the actors that shaped and dedicated the course of our
civilization. A study in social sciences demands a deeper understandings of people’s behaviour s and
processes in relation to the scheme of societal order. Different branches of the field correspond to a
specific value of human processes in varied degrees of scope alongside their inherent limitations. A
more holistic view is needed for us to study this immense topic.
Social science - is un umbrella term for the various fields of study which examine social relations and
human society.
Basically, from a social science perspective, a community is described as a group of people in a
particular are interacting together.
Anthropology- this field examines various aspects of humans, such as their biology, behavior, culture
and social interactions.
It may also study how people adapt their ways of living to different environments, e.g
determining ways to help a community solve health-related concerns.
This can be addressed by understanding the situation through interacting with the people in the
community, connecting its history of people, such that their needs are satisfied.
Anthropological Perspective
Anthropology is a study that deals with the origin of man and society. Its theories range from
traditional, modern to post-modern and as a discipline many of its concepts are borrowed from
biology, psychology, sociology, economics, ecology and others. Over time, the discipline covers
several million years, from the first proto-human ancestors to the present. Likewise, as a study it
covers the widest range of societies, from small hunter-gatherer bands to modern societies.
Paleolithic Age ( Old Stone Age) – Hunter- Gathers
The Old Stone Age (Paleolithic Era) -from the beginning
of human existence until around 12,000 years ago
Why do we call this time in history the Stone Age?
During this time humans used stone to make tools and
stone was used many times as part of the actual tool.
Tools are objects that make our lives easier. A
computer or smart phone are examples of modern-day
tools. Paleolithic is a word that comes from the two
Greek words palaios, meaning old, and lithos, meaning
stone.
Mesolithic Age ( Middle Stone Age) – Horticultural and agricultural
Mesolithic, also called Middle Stone Age, ancient cultural
stage that existed between the Paleolithic (Old Stone Age),
with its chipped stone tools, and the Neolithic (New Stone
Age), with its polished stone tools. Most often used to
describe archaeological assemblages from the Eastern
Hemisphere, the Mesolithic is broadly analogous to the
Archaic culture of the Western Hemisphere. Mesolithic
material culture is characterized by greater innovation and
diversity than is found in the Paleolithic. Among the new
forms of chipped stone tools were microliths, very small
stone tools intended for mounting together on a shaft to
produce a serrated edge. Polished stone was another
innovation that occurred in some Mesolithic assemblages.
Neolithic Age – Agrarian
The Neolithic (/ˌniːoʊˈlɪθɪk/ (About this
soundlisten),[1] also known as the "New Stone Age"),
the final division of the Stone Age, began about
12,000 years ago when the first developments of
farming appeared in the Epipalaeolithic Near East,
and later in other parts of the world. The division
lasted until the transitional period of the Chalcolithic
from about 6,500 years ago (4500 BC), marked by the
development of metallurgy, leading up to the Bronze
Age and Iron Age. In Northern Europe, the Neolithic lasted until about 1700 BC, while in China it
extended until 1200 BC. Other parts of the world (including the New World) remained broadly in
the Neolithic stage of development until European contact.
The Neolithic comprises a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes,
including the use of wild and domestic crops and of domesticated animal.
The term Neolithic derives from the Greek νέος néos, "new" and λίθος líthos, "stone", literally
meaning "New Stone Age". The term was coined by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of
the three-age system
Biological Theory of Evolution
Charles Darwin shattered the long held belief of the creation of man as depicted in the bible. His
Theory of Evolution advances the idea that the existence of man, and for that matter any specie,
undergoes a process of natural evolution. Unlike the account in the Genesis wherein man
actually is taken from the image and likeness of God, Darwin believed that man actually is
genetically related to the apes and monkeys. Natural selection is nothing short of nature playing
lottery, in which species in order to survive must adapt to the changes of the environment
otherwise perish. His theory posits the idea that the world is a harsh environment wherein the
weak loses and the strongest and the fittest survives.
Gregor Mendel, a monk, supported this theory with his own theory on heredity from his own
observation and propagation of plants and flowers. He discovered that traits are passed by the
parent plants to their offspring—and such traits manifest depending whether the gene traits are
dominant or recessive. With the advancement of science, the discovery of genes further
supports this theory. This is explained for instance why some are diabetic mainly because their
parents have been diabetic as well, even if they do not like sweets that much. Some people are
predisposed to certain sickness mainly because that sickness runs within the family.
The Theory of Social Evolution
On this theory, evolution is not limited to species. This theory advances the idea that evolution
also happens in societies. Like all species, change occurs in societies from one period of time to
another which transforms the original culture. To this end Montesquieu said that societies
normally undergo three stages of prevailing culture: 1) hunting or savagery, 2) barbarism, 3)
civilization. He also asserted that all societies undergo the same stages.
Edward Tylor likewise supported this idea. He said that some traces of ancient cultural existence
manifest even until the present time. There is for him a process of cultural evolution, wherein
societies evolved from the simple to the complex. He also noted similarities among societies
that led them find the same solutions independently. Cultural diffusion, on the other hand, is
where one culture borrows from one another as a result of the contact between the two.
Technology, for Lewis Morgan, is the root cause of the progressive evolution. With the invention
and advancement of technology, it also spelt and continuously to do so, the change in culture.
For example, while fifteen years ago cellphones were considered a luxury, such view is no longer
valid as many would consider such gadget of communication a necessity. In fact, if a person
does not know how to operate such gadget (or even the computer or the internet) he is
considered as someone who is technologically Jurassic in orientation. The same could be said in
terms of the effects brought about by fire, wheel, printing press, powder, and lately internet.
As a theory, however, it has fallen from favor for the 20th century. Mostly, the critique against
the theory is that it fails to explain why human society is not in uniform, and that it lacks the
ethnographic data as evidence.
Theory of Diffusionism and Acculturation
Diffusion is the process by which cultural traits are transferred to another culture through
interaction. Such interaction is possible through trade, war, migration, and others. In other
words, this is a spreading of culture from the center to the peripheries. Nonetheless, culture
exchange is never a one way street. When one culture borrows, it is but normal that it also lends
some of its cultural traits to another culture. This theory advances the idea that there were
limited/few cultural centers-- it could just even be one culture,--from which cultural traits
diffused. Thus, unlike social evolutionism which thinks that people innovate independently from
one another, the theory of diffusion was more common and logical explanation for cultural
change and spread. This is so since originality is rare, rather copying is the norm. Franz Boas,
while not discounting the possibility of innovation, considered innovation more as a result of
diffusion after all culture is mostly of foreign origin that are adopted to the cultural context of
the community. This he referred to as diffusion and modification.
Acculturation, on the other hand, is brought about by a dominant culture, which results to an
increased similarity between two cultures. This is type of change of culture is often reciprocal
and asymmetrical. This results to the absorption of the other culture. Diffusion and
acculturation are interrelated. The difference lies that in diffusion it involves elements of the
culture while for acculturation involves the whole culture.
Historicism
This theory believes that there is no universal meaning of culture. Rather, culture must be
interpreted according to its unique and particular context and perspective. Several views
likewise are embedded in historicism. One is that culture is superoganic which means that
culture is separate with the individual, and that separate methodology is required in
understanding a particular culture. Second is the view that culture is relative. It means that each
culture is distinct, thus, it must not be judged using the criteria of another culture. For this view,
it holds that culture has to be interpreted using the view of the original culture in order to fully
grasp the importance and beauty of the practices in a particular culture. Third is the view is
closely associated with individual personality. Culture is like an individual that possesses its own
quirks, with more or less consistent patterns of thoughts and behavior. Such culture is but
reflection of the emotional and characteristics of the individuals that make up the community.
As such, culture is the ultimate expression of the personality of a particular society ala societal
psychological average.
Functionalism
Similar with the discussion on sociological functionalism, adherents to this view think that
society is like a living society composed of several parts and organs. Members of the society are
the different cogs that make up the entirety of the society, each with its own purpose and
function.
There are two existing views of functionalism. The first is bio-cultural or psychological
functionalism. An individual has needs which the societal institutions addresses, such as in the
aspects of education, economics, social control, and political organizations. Absent these
instituted societal devices, an individual would be lost as to how to properly address his needs.
The second view is the structuralist-functionalist which focuses more on social structure.
Society is conceived as a system of relationships maintaining itself through cybernetic feedback,
while institutions are orderly sets of relationships whose function is to maintain the society as a
system. Individuals are dispensable in this view since they are merely treated as occupants of
social roles. Social phenomena have to be constructed on a macro or social level.
Cultural Materialism
For this theory, production and reproduction dominate and determine the sectors of culture.
Organizational aspects that exist in society are for the benefits of enhancing the productive
capabilities of the society, lest they would not exist. Thus, law, government, and kinship are
mere social constructs that serve the purpose of production. Social construct means that people
agree that these organizational aspects, norms, and practices should exist for it serves the
purpose of creating things which are desired by the society. While this view liberally borrows
from the Marxist perspective of production as the material base of society, this view is devoid of
class conflict. For this view, cultural materialism exists as only one feature of the society.
Cognitive Anthropology
Cognitive anthropology regards culture of cognitive organization expressed through material
phenomena. Hence, unlike cultural materialism, this view looks more on the relationship
between human thought and human culture. Cognitive anthropologists study on how people
understand and organize the material objects, events, and experiences the people they study
perceive their world. Its chief aim is to present the logical system of thought of other people,
according to criteria which can be discovered and replicated. Such logical rules exist on the ideas
that exist on the minds. As such, the emphasis is on the rules, not the behavior. While it cannot
predict human behavior, it delineates behavior deemed as acceptable and not acceptable per
rules of the society in a given time and situation. It hopes that by understanding a particular
culture through a sound theoretical explanation, it could create a cross-cultural comparison
which could become a general theory of all culture.
Structuralism
This view is based on Claude Lévi-Strauss' view that people think about the world in terms of
binary opposites, for example thin and fat, black and white, sunrise and sunset, birth and death,
and that every culture can be understood in terms of these opposites. It proposed that there are
hidden realities beneath all cultural expression. Structuralisms hope to understand the
underlying meaning involved in all human though as expressed in cultural acts. Also, this view
emphasizes that elements of culture must be understood in terms of their relationship to the
entire system.
Symbolic and Interpretative Technology
This theory views culture as a symbolic system that arises primarily from human interpretations
of the world. Such interpretations form a shared cultural system of meaning. It studies symbols
and the processes by which human assign meaning to these symbols to address questions
pertaining to human existence and social life. It views culture as independent system of meaning
which people deciphers through symbols and other rituals.
The Sociological Perspective
Sociology is broadly defined as the scientific study of social interaction/behavior and social
organization. As an academic discipline, it helps in general enlightenment of social behavior and society,
challenges popular myths (such as women as the weaker sex) and identifies social problems & designs
solutions Sociology can be further divided into two subcategories. One is Microsociology which is the
detailed study of what people say, do, and think moment by moment as they go about their daily lives.
Second is Macrosociology which focuses upon large-scale and long-term social processes of
organizations, institutions, and broad social patterns.
In traditional study of sociology, the focus of the study falls within these topics:
1. Social Strafication - s a kind of social differentiation whereby members of society are grouped
into socioeconomic strata, based upon their occupation and income, wealth and social status, or
derived power (social and political). As such, stratification is the relative social position of
persons within a social group, category, geographic region, or social unit.
2. Social Class - also called class, a group of people within a society who possess the same
socioeconomic status. Besides being important in social theory, the concept of class as a
collection of individuals sharing similar economic circumstances has been widely used in
censuses and in studies of social mobility.
3. Socia mobility - is the movement of individuals, families, households, or other categories of
people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's
current social location within a given society.
4. Religion - a social-cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, worldviews,
texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that relates humanity to
supernatural, transcendental, or spiritual elements. However, there is no scholarly consensus
over what precisely constitutes a religion.
5. Sexuality – studying people also demands a more personal approach in identifying subjects.
Sexuality is one of the topics that identify people and groups through their sexual norms,
orientation, interest, and behavior.
6. Deviance – when hear the word society, we often associate it with the idea of conformity. On
the contrary, once we hear the word deviance or deviant, we often have feeling of unease. In
sociology, studying deviance is rooted on the interaction of society with a certain social anomaly
such as deviant act or norm – defying stunt. To become a deviant, it must be against a present
rule oragreed-upon norm. Sociology studies the interaction of deviants to emphasize the
dynamics within social system.
New Levels of Reality
The Sociological Perspective is a distinctive point of view at the core of the discipline of
Sociology that encourages people to examine aspects of the social environment in ways that
delve beneath the surface. The Sociological perspective aims to examine human behavior not in
isolation but in placing it in the larger social context. In a sense, by looking beyond the outer
appearances of the social world, people likewise encounter new levels of reality often ignored.
Utilizing such view, this is like seeing the general in the particular which helps us recognize the
general patterns in the behavior of particular people. Another view is seeing the strange in the
particular wherein people come to experience the variations that exist in society such as
deviance and others. This is also helpful in seeing individuality in social context, such as social
forces are at work in society to influence most personal actions.
The benefits of sociological perspectives are that through sociological perspective, it helps
people critically assess commonsense ideas as applicable in their daily lives. It also reveals the
opportunities and constraints in people’s lives and in the process empowers for active
participants in society by identifying social forces and understanding their consequences. More
importantly it facilitates a critical assessment of people’s ways of life especially in globally
integrated village. In sum, the sociological view allows a wholistic view of the underlying forces
or factors that mold the operation and dynamics of society. By using social perspective, it
facilitates knowledge of the different facets and dynamics of society and social life, as well as in
influence the policy makers craft decisions pertaining to pressing social behaviors issues.
There are two underlying goals of sociological perspectives. One is to identify the prevailing
patterns and influences on social behavior. Second is to provide the explanation for such
patterns. The essence of the sociological imagination is the ability to see private experiences and
personal difficulties as entwined with the structural arrangements of society and the prevailing
time.
The Development of Sociology
Auguste Comte: The Founder of Sociology
Auguste Comte is commonly credited as being the founder of sociology. He coined the term
sociology. He emphasized that the study of society must be scientific, and he urged sociologists
to employ systematic observation, experimentation, and comparative historical analysis as their
methods. He divided the study of society into social statics and social dynamics. He saw
Sociology as the product of a three-stage historical development: a) Theological stage (religious:
responding to the supernatural); b) Metaphysical stage (natural rather than supernatural);
Scientific stage (explicable science). Comte favored positivism – which is a way of understanding
that is based on science
Harriet Martineau: Feminist and Methodologist
Harriet Martineau wrote the first book on social research methods and was among the first to
do systematic, scientifically based, social research. Her comparative analysis of slavery and the
position of women in the Western world paved the way for feminist scholarship and the further
pursuit of gender equality.
Herbert Spencer and Social Darwinism.
Herbert Spencer depicted society as a system, a whole made up of interrelated parts. He also set
forth an evolutionary theory of historical development. Social Darwinism is Spencer's application
of evolutionary notions and the concept of survival of the fittest to the social world. It also
maintains that inequality is a social reality which is desirable. Equality in fact would only upset
the societies.
Karl Marx: The Role of Class Conflict.
Karl Marx focused his search for the basic principles of history on the economic environments in
which societies develop. He believed that society is divided into those who own the means of
producing wealth and those who do not, giving rise to class conflict. Dialectical materialism is
Marx's theory that development depends on the clash of contradictions and the creation of
new, more advanced structures out of these clashes. He espoused the idea that a perfect society
is where everyone is equal and where the working class has prevailed over the elite ruling class.
Émile Durkheim: Social Integration and Social Facts.
Émile Durkheim was especially concerned with social solidarity, distinguishing between
mechanical and organic solidarity. He contended that the distinctive subject matter of sociology
should be the study of social facts.
Max Weber: Subjectivity and Social Organization
Max Weber said that a critical aspect of the sociological enterprise is the study of the intentions,
values, beliefs, and attitudes that underlie people's behavior. He used the word Verstehen in
describing his approach and contributed his notions of the ideal type and a value-free sociology.
He is also important in his idea of the bureaucracy in governments.
American Sociology
In the United States, sociology and the modern university system arose together. The first
department of sociology was established at the University of Chicago in 1893, and Chicago
served as a "social laboratory" at the beginning of the century. Midcentury sociologists crafted
survey techniques and refined models of society. "New breed" sociologists in the 1960s and
1970s refined Marxism and established new research approaches and perspectives.
Contemporary Sociology
Contemporary movements in sociology include critical theory, feminism, and postmodern social
theory.
Theoretical Perspectives
Contemporary sociologists acknowledge three general theoretical perspectives, or ways of
looking at how various social phenomena are related to one another. These are the
functionalist, the conflict, and the symbolic interactionist perspectives.
The Functionalist Perspective.
The structural-functional-or, more simply, functionalist-perspective sees society as a system.
Functionalists identify the structural characteristics and functions and dysfunctions of
institutions, and distinguish between manifest functions and latent functions. Functionalists also
typically assume that most members of a society share a consensus regarding their core beliefs
and values. This is a framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose
parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. It emphasizes the importance of: a)
Social Structure (any relatively stable pattern of social behavior); b) Social Functions (the
consequences of any social pattern for the operation of society as a whole).
However, its vision of society as stable and orderly ignores the inequalities of social class, race,
ethnicity and gender that generate tension and conflict. The above led to the development of
the Social-Conflict approach which sees society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict
and change.
The Conflict Perspective
It is a framework for building theory that sees society as an arena of inequality that generates
conflict and change. This perspective helps sociologists to investigate how factors such as race,
gender, ethnicity, class and age are linked to unequal distribution of money, power, education
and social prestige. Sociologists who espouse this perspective are W. E. B. Du Bois, and Karl
Marx.
It is applied in the analysis of ongoing conflicts between dominant and disadvantaged categories
of people: rich and poor, men and women, employers and employees. The conflict approach
draws much of its inspiration from the work of Karl Marx and argues that the structure of
society and the nature of social relationships are the result of past and ongoing conflicts. For
Marx, class conflict has been the raging conflict since the start of civilization. His dream was to
eradicate class and create a classless society.
Nonetheless, some critique this perspective in the sense that it ignores the influence of shared
values and interdependence in promoting unity. Also it is argued that it lacks scientific
objectivity and it takes society in broad strokes while losing sight of the individual. Nonetheless,
this perspective is rather influential since it could not be denied that conflict is an ever present
reality, no organization or society exist without it.
The Symbolic- Interaction Perspective
Symbolic interactionists contend that society is possible because human beings have the ability
to communicate with one another by means of symbols. They say that we act toward people,
objects, and events on the basis of the meanings we impart to them. Consequently, people
experience the world as constructed reality. It can be said that this perspective is on Micro-level
orientation. It is a framework for building theory that sees society as the product of the
everyday interactions of individuals.
Its Basic Assumptions are that: a) Human beings live in a world of symbols and attach meaning
to virtually everything; b) Reality is how people define their surroundings, their duties towards
others, and even their own identities. However, by concentrating on the individual, it loses sight
of the influence of culture and social factors (class, gender, race etc). As symbols are important
part of non-verbal human communication, it often includes gestures, postures, facial
expressions, and others. Some examples of the symbols are described below.
Symbols
Clenched
Salute
Meaning Conveyed
Fist Defiance
Respect
Moving Head Sideward
L sign using Fingers
Rejection or No
Loser or Laban Sign
This perspective assumes that gradual change in social norm is due to acceptance of new
symbols. Symbols change as time change. Meanings that are often associated to symbols evolve
depending on time and prevailing social norms. For example while wearing pink is always
associated with being effeminate for example, there is now the other view that real men should
not be afraid to wear pink, that in fact it is acceptable for men to explore fashion
options/accessories/designs previously considered as exclusive province of women and not lose
their being macho . In a sense, there is a redefinition of some symbols when people begin
questioning long held beliefs.
Glossary:
In traditional study of sociology, the focus of the study falls within these topics:
1. Social Strafication - s a kind of social differentiation whereby members of society are grouped
into socioeconomic strata, based upon their occupation and income, wealth and social status, or
derived power (social and political). As such, stratification is the relative social position of
persons within a social group, category, geographic region, or social unit.
2. Social Class - also called class, a group of people within a society who possess the same
socioeconomic status. Besides being important in social theory, the concept of class as a
collection of individuals sharing similar economic circumstances has been widely used in
censuses and in studies of social mobility.
3. Socia mobility - is the movement of individuals, families, households, or other categories of
people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's
current social location within a given society.
4. Religion - a social-cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, worldviews,
texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that relates humanity to
supernatural, transcendental, or spiritual elements. However, there is no scholarly consensus
over what precisely constitutes a religion.
5. Sexuality – studying people also demands a more personal approach in identifying subjects.
Sexuality is one of the topics that identify people and groups through their sexual norms,
orientation, interest, and behavior.
6. Deviance – when hear the word society, we often associate it with the idea of conformity. On
the contrary, once we hear the word deviance or deviant, we often have feeling of unease. In
sociology, studying deviance is rooted on the interaction of society with a certain social anomaly
such as deviant act or norm – defying stunt. To become a deviant, it must be against a present
rule oragreed-upon norm. Sociology studies the interaction of deviants to emphasize the
dynamics within social system.
4/3/2022
WEEK 3 - Definition of Community
LESSON 2:
Institutional Perspective
“Without community service, we would not have a strong quality of life. It’s important to the person
who serves, as well as the recipient. It’s the way in which we ourselves grow and develop”
-Dorothy HeightLearning Objectives:
economic, religious, educational, and family perspective.
Fundamental Queries:
various perspective about the idea of a community in various social intitutions?
Learning Competencies:
perspectives.
Introduction
Institutions are the core establishment that bind people toward a specific advocacy or goal.
When people are left to their own devices, their inherent power is limited so they need to come
together and form factions and groups that share a common purpose. The five core institutions
are the pillars of society. While working as a unitary collective, these pillars, in one way or the
other, overlap. The citizens are bound by these institutions that have been significant in the
formation of norms, mores, and rules we abide by everyday.
What are Institutions?
Institutions are grand social structures that are made up by individuals which, when viewed as a
whole, exhibit pattern of behaviour that create conventions and norms in our society. These
patterns of behaviour then establish the different facets of our daily lives. Such structures not
only help mold our social behaviours as people, but also guide us in our future choices.
Institutions also set patterns of behaviour by motivating and restricting conduct by set of rules
and regulations. This simply means that our actions are continually being subjected to this
dynamic of restraint and motivation, and thereby creating a semblance of order and control and
the formation of hierarchy and roles.
These social structures are considered as social creations whose meaning and importance
depend on its members. Structures may seem to be too robust for it to change but this is not
the case. The very institutions that we have right now are in constant flux and changes occur
everyday. Our societies’ transactions, from the individuals to group collectives and even states,
all contribute to this grand narrative of institutional structures. Each institution has its own
definitive attribute. Social institutions are, in itself, a developing network of system and
functions.
Government Institutions
A social contract is simply an agreement between a master and a subirdinate under prescribed
rules of conduct and rights. It stem from the assumption that humans are born it a state of
nature which is a condition devoid of social orpolotical links. A person is then considered under
a state of anarchy until he or she gains grounded understanding of reasoning and self – interest.
A governement is born from this social agreement among the governed and byt virtue of
compliance and reinforcement, the state gains legitimacy though its processess.
We are considered as “global citizens” in world that is more connected than ever in human
history. This may have our perspective on individual identity grander; yet, it has to be
established that all the freedoms, duties, and privilides are granted by th government.
The government, as an institution, grants its citizens with the liberties and rights. In essence, the
government has the power to lead and governits citizens within a confined territory. Guided its
laws and constitutions, the government can create sweeping policies and laws that can alter
from the simplest factors as changing traffic routes, to all-people are often misguided by the
assumption that the government does not need the support of the people because of its vast
resources and monopoly on power. If the government and its agencies have these
characteristics, it is just like other structures that are man – made, thus, it exists in a fragile
state. State power and its legitimacy come from the will of the people that is governs. Its
contract to govern its population is constantly being challenged contested, an affirmed
throughout its effective period to rule. True to other governments who have embraced
democracy, power is bestowed to the people in recalibrating the brand of politics they
experience.
The citizens have the obligations to check the power of the government and counteract any
misuse therof. Our duty to our country is to work toward improving its current state and our
fellow men through active participation and vigilance.
Economic Institutions
Definitions of economic institutions
and conventions that structure social interactions’ (Hodgson 2001 p.295) ‘A social
institution is a regularity in social behaviour that is agreed to by all members of society,
specifies behaviour in specific recurrent situations, and is either self-policed or policed
by some external authority.’ (Schotter 1981, quoted in Langlois 1986 p.11)
ehaviour
that structure repeated human interaction.’ (North 1989) ‘Institutions are ‘repetitive
patterns of interaction through which society undertakes certain functions.’ (King 1976)
ectively valued
purposes; or in narrow sense of , a set of rules to facilitate co-ordination via allowing
expectations to form.’ (Nabli & Nugent 1989)
The term “Economic Institutions” refers to two things:
1. Specific agencies or foundations, both government and private, devoted to collecting or
studying economic data, or commissioned with the job of supplying a good or service that is
important to the economy of a country. The Internal Revenue Service (the IRS—the government
tax-collection agency), the U.S. Federal Reserve (the government producer of money), the
National Bureau of Economic Research (a private research agency) are all examples of economic
institutions.
2. Well-established arrangements and structures that are part of the culture or society, e.g.,
competitive markets, the banking system, kids’ allowances, customary tipping, and a system of
property rights are examples of economic institutions.
Religious Institution
Religious institutions are the visible and organized manifestations of practices and beliefs in
particular social and historical contexts. Like human emotions and attitudes, religious beliefs and
practices project outward onto the social and historical plan. They create identities and
representations, and determine attitudes, emotions, and behaviour. These manifestations and
outward projections originate from beliefs and practices, but they are also limited by historical
contexts. Geographical, social, and political considerations modify attitudes and practices.
Religious institutions, then, take shape in relation to both religious impulses and contextual
configurations. The following entry suggests some of the enduring and changing features of
religious institutions in Islam in broad historical strokes.
Religious beliefs and practices have been noticeably expressed in key institutions constructed in
uniquely different social and historical contexts. The caliphate as a universal political and social
order was the key institution developed in the early period of Islam. This was followed by more
clearly religious institutions like the school of law (madhhab) and Sufi order (tariqa). The modern
period has witnessed the emergence of various forms of religious states together with the
independent religious association in secular contexts
Educational Institutions
Education takes up a quarter of our whole lives our whole lives development from infancy to
adulthood incubates within the ivory towers of the educational institution. Our initial impression
of the community stems from our experiences in or very own schools. It is where we learn
respect for authority, the need for compliance, and even the price we have to pay for
complacency and deviance from set standards and rules. We spend more time in schools than in
our own homes. The school becomes our second home where I make our first communal
affiliations.
Basic education paves the way for individuals to be functional in our society. Generally, the task
of the school system is to arm us with the needed skills and knowledge in relation with the
demand of our environment. Students are expected to learn within the given system designed
to stimulate the conditions outside it. Think about it, all your lives until this very point, you were
expected to aim for that top spot and follow the rules. However, did it ever occur to you that
what the school organization deems as value and mores end up hollow and alien because they
lacked the connection to your communities? This dynamic, instead, has separated us from the
realities of life. We are misguided into believing that what is real is inside the school and we no
obligation outside. The bigger challenge than learning numbers and our AbC’s is bridging tha gap
between what we learn in school and what we need to learn outside of it. Citizens should not
just to be observes of what is happening beyond the four walls of the school; instead, they
should be craftsmen who can contribute to the community. As students, you have to make use
of what is provided and available to you. The knowledge, skills and values you acquire are tools
you will need to chart you future.
Family Institutions
Our own families are considered as the building blocks of our society. The origin of the family
goes back to prehistory and is the factor that bound early settlements. The formation of an
organic union among kin perpetuated the emergence of tribes and communities. The very
definition of what constituents a family varies or depends on which epistemological tradition we
are going to use. For Karl Marx and Friedrich Engle’s, the foundations on which the family is
created can be traced back to economic traditions whereby the structure and roles of each
member were derived from the resources available to the household. Later on, the family and
how it was structured is now understood as more of a social design that is due to the complex
functions of each member that come together to form the foundation of a relationship. This
structural functionalist view is now widely accepted in the study of communities. It is now used
to draw patterns of behaviour within institutions and social groups. At the centre of every
society is the family, and it is where the community and our society draw strength from.
WEEK 4 - Definition of Community
LESSON 3:
Civil Society Perspective
“The greatest problem for the human species, the solution of which nature compels him to seek, is that
of attaining a civil society which can administer justice universally”
-Immanuel KantLearning Objectives:
munities
Fundamental Queries:
Learning Competencies:
using various perspectives.( e.g., social sciences,
institutions, civil society, and local/grassroots level)
Introduction
When we think about the civil society, we think about people and groups, including the
fundamental belief structures that bind them together toward a shared goal. Civil society is
commonly referred to as the “ third sector”, with the government and private sectors as the
other two. The importance of civil society will be explored in this lesson, which seeks to advance
the reader’s understanding and appreciation of movements and the importance of mobilization
to effect positive and sustainable change.
Introduction to Civil Society
Civil Society is broadly understood as the combination of organizations, establishments, and
individuals that operate outside the influence of the governmental institutions. The civil society
in the Philippines context is all about the spirit of community service. Communal spirit is shared
by Filipinos through proactive participation and where volunteerism can be found among many
of its social traditions. These contribute to the values of charity and altruism for the welfare of
others and from which many of civil society organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and
foundations pattern their values and mission.
Civil society embodies the aggregate dynamics of actors that compose the society, state and
zeitgeist of a particular era. More often, we neglect the basic fact that our own civil and the
multitudes of interrelationships and discourses shape the very idea of communal structure
identity and idealized forms of participation and affairs. Analysing civil society would demand us
to gaze toward the formations that spring up from the continuous evolution of our societies'
needs and wants. With our current understanding of our community, can you think of some
problems in which civil society groups have intervened in or can contribute to? Let us discuss
this further by acknowledging essential characteristics of the civil society.
Manifestations of Civil Society Groups
The emergence of civil society groups is well received by development practitioners in varied
forms. Such groups are formed based on the customs and norms of the prevailing society.
Groups that are formed under these have individuals who can freely associate with not just one
but as many as he or she likes. Since people have the liberty to do such, the groups act like
leverage for particular individuals to be with like-minded citizens. Think of these groups as an
intermediary of the citizens in their relationship with their government and the private sector.
An individual alone will not have the same lobbying power as when he or she is with a group
that has more social capital as an enabler. This combination of networks and relationships
promotes clout in order to carry out the group's advocacies and goals.
Diversity is the fitting word to describe the world of civil society groups. Many of these groups
advocate the concerns or needs of various institutions. Each organization embodies an identity
that is parallel to its specific goal or principal advocacy. These groups are not just economic or
political; many of them form out of cultural, historical, and religious significance. The structure
of how civil society groups are oriented varies from one group to the other. A group can be nonprofit or for profit,formal or informal.The difference between groups is not just about their
source of income but also the network and advocacy theyadhere to.
Role of Society Organizations
The role of the civil society organization (CSO) is a very essential part of our liberal
society. CSOs are composed of various actors, such as other groups, organizations, of
institutions that come together to attain a particular goal that is vitally for the greater
good of society. The common idea about CSOs is that they operate outside the control
of the state and government but work toward the fulfilment of the same ends. When
thinking lets about the role in which people, organizations, and the state come together,
forming the structures and functions that make up the fixture of our society, we have to
look into the gray areas between these relationships to explore the importance of CSOs
in the social milieu.
State power may be seen by some as absolute. People under the power of the state are
subject to its whims and decisions. CSOs are the entity that somehow balances this kind
of power. Think of a counterweight on a scale, where balance can only be attained when
there is an equal weight opposite to it. If the counterweight is lighter, then imbalance
would occur, indicating a wrong reading. The object being measured will be political
input and the counterweight will be how society would engage the state. In this analogy,
the balance between the two actors will result a better reading or output. This
relationship however is dependent on how the institutional capacity of the CSO engages
the government in different forms. Engagement in terms of policy is dependent on the
political context.
Power is the most essential thing to study in these terms because the strength of social
groups only relies on how their environment allows power to flourish. Other political
structures and cultures tend to stifle groups by restricting the rights of their members
such as the right to assemble and to free speech. The absence of these rights may cause
the groups to lose ground and be disbanded. It is therefore very critical for organizations
to check the power of institutions, not only the state but also other groups so as to
balance the relationship between these very influential groups.
Remember that regarding the implementation of projects and in terms of how
representation is achieved across all classes and groups, the state can only do so much.
A liberal democratic political system acknowledges this complexity and thus is more
pluralistic than other forms. One can argue that it is only in this system that such groups
exist, since in other forms of government where power is centralized, representation
can only done by the elected officials. A very good representation of civil society groups
in the Philippines is the party-list representation in the House of Representatives,
therefore engaging the state directly. The party-list groups come from different sectors
of the society, such aswomen, youth, farmers, and senior citizens. Based on Philippine
law, religious institutions are not allowed representation due to the separation of
church and state.
Nongovernment Organizations
As an intermediary, groups are structured and organized with a set hierarchy and organized are
legitimized by an agreed-upon set of codes, norms, and rules for their members. At
nongovernmental organization is by far a clear representation of now civil society groups, once
they achieve a semblance of identity, order, and social capital, can be a force in terms of
lobbying and promotion of their interest.
NGOs which operate on the fringes of the political system are in a very advantageous position.
This kind of positioning provides them the leeway and opportunity to look at bigger picture in
both government and its people. It is like having the ability to see both sides of the relationship
while gaining the trust of both institutions. Gaining this kind access, NGOs dictate many of
society's agendas by having the inputs from interest groups and individuals and distilling these
to a formal advocacy. The characteristics of an NGO the following:
1. Organized
2. voluntary
3. Needs – oriented
NGOs are structured and have a clear distinction of roles among their members. NGOs can vary
from individuals to other social groups and they can have a local or international scope. The
formation of these organizational structures may differ from one organization to the other but
they all assume formal titles and designations. Whether the hierarchy is lateral or vertical,
power is still organized and distributed in a more systematic way as compared to other civil
society groups. This promotes the stability of the NGO and the survival of the organization amid
constant changes and shifts. Having set rules,standards, and norms sets NGOs apart from other
societal groups.
NGOs are formed by individuals who are willing to contribute to the cause of the group. People
who volunteer in these organizations may come from different backgrounds, classes, and
cultures. With their varied backgrounds, civil society groups tap into these networks to further
expand their reach and support from the populace. NGOs are needs-based and their goals
revolve around a specific societal need. The formation of these formal groups shows the need
for other social assemblies to stand alongside the government to provide basic services to the
underprivileged. NGOs tend to reinforce the role of government by enhancing initiatives that
are put in place. Moreover, NGO initiatives promote the values and societal norms that liberal
democracies espouse.
Social Movements
Comparing social movements with nongovernmental organizations, we can see glaring
differences as well as similarities in their roles. Nongovernment organizations are more formal,
whereas social movements on the flipside are informal. If social movements have bigger
membership, NGOs are less cohesive and less identifiable physically.
Social movements are, by definition, groups that exist for a sole purpose or issue and tend to
fizzle out once it is attained. These movements are grand and sweeping in its scale, their impact
is mostly short-lived and fragile. Social movements exist through the sheer will of their members
in spreading their concerns in various platforms, such as through flash gatherings and rallies.
High mobility is another core strength of social movements. NGOs play within the rules and
regulations set by the state and reinforce structures, whereas social movements are actually on
the other end of the spectrum as they seek to challenge the status quo by proposing a
substitute, altering current trends, or totally fighting against conventions to set a new standard.
The strength of social movements relies on how society perceives the norm they propose to
alter or the idea they want shattered. Social movements have a more direct impact to society
than NGOs, but the impact is quite polarizing because of the progressive nature of the ideas
they seek to advance. Their progressive ideas tend to test the limitations of the state and formal
conventions. While there is a need for the advancement of social thought, this initiative can be
very perilous for its leaders and supporters, such as the antidiscrimination campaigns in the
United States by the Afro-American community in the 1950s that turned violent and caused
arrests. Most notably among those arrested were Rosa Parks who became the symbol of
resistance against bus segregation. Her resistance against the segregation law sparked public
debate on racial discrimination, highlighting how laws and other structures were against the
community. Such idea created a movement that shook the foundations of the American society.
Another notable social movement was the suffragettes in the United Kingdom during the late
nineteenth century. The suffragettes were a group of women who were part of organizations
that advocated for equal rights and fought for women's right to vote and be represented in
politics.
Social movements should embody the following characteristics:
1. Informal
2. Issue-based
3. Progressive
Social movements represent the collective disdain of individuals and groups against a prevailing
system or idea and are considered by many as more radical than other civil society groups. Their
ways are more confrontational than NGOs because of the emotion- driven narratives of
movements that appeal to people. While NGOs play by the rules to promote change and
reinforce social welfare, movements coerce other institutions via more aggressive means, from
pickets and rallies to civil disobedience, to show their dissent.
Social movements are having its heyday in interconnected societies nowadays and these
movements are more apparent than ever and many have already evolves a formal organizations
backed by major institutions and individuals. Their advocacies range across all facets of society,
including family, education, politics, economics, and religion, Examples of these movements in
the present societal fabric are the LGBT (Lesbian,Bisexual, and Transgender) rights and the
Occupy movement (economic).
Interest Groups
There are civil society groups that exist primarily to push for policy agendas nothing more. These
are the interest groups, which may be composed of multiple civil society groups that share a
common agenda. Interest groups are actually the by-product of the interconnections across
societal actors. As in our analogy in survival, it is best; multiple actors to band together to
achieve a set task. Coalitions are formed from the concerns, and as such, have a bigger scope
and social capital than if they were to push their agenda in separate groups. They invite formal
groups to join them and also welcome the support of social movements because of their
importance in building critical mass to push public agenda toward their favor.
Local and International Organizations
Alongside the community, there are institutions and organizations that are formed by
concerned citizens, associations, and even states. Let us expand our view on the civil society
organizations and nongovernmental organizations by comparing their characteristics.
Local
Government Organization
It is state agency that is directly appointed by the
government to carry outs its duties for a specified
goal. It is considered to be permanent as long as
the state deems it is necessary.
Government organizations are led by either an
appointed personnel or a career official from
their own rank. These are funded by public funds.
Central to their agenda is to deliver to the public.
(example: Department of Social Welfare and
Development)
Nongovernmental Organizations
Individuals under a democracy have the right to
assembly and one such result of this freedom is
the formation of associations and
groups.(Example: nongovernmental organizations
or NGs).
NGOs exists outside the control of the state and
mostly have a specific concern or problem. They
strive to solve society’s problems by engaging
them from the bottom up, thus making their
projects more rooted to the community than
other organizations. NGOs support their
operations through donations and contributions
from the public. ( Example: Gawad Kalinga)
International
International Organizations
Going beyond local governance, international
organizations are institutional that are broader
than the NGOs and government organizations.
They cover a wide array of issues including global
concerns such as poverty, malnutrition, and
environment.
They have international membership and their
coverage also goes beyond state borders or
global.
International organizations solicit its operational
budget from its member states and group.(
Example: United Nations)
International Nongovernment organizations
Just like international organizations, the scope of
international nongovernment organizations
covers global concerns and their operations go
beyond states. However, they do not have the
support of other state actor; instead, they are
reinforced by other groups, philanthropists, and
pressure groups that share their own sentiments
and advocacies.
While their operational are global, just like their
local counterparts, their advocacies are more
soecific, direct, and issue- based. ( Example:
Greenpeace)
WEEK 6
Elements and Typologies of the Community
LESSON 1
Societal Structure
"A vibrant civil society can challenge those in power by documenting corruption or uncovering activities
like the murder of political enemies. In democracies, this function is mostly performed by the media,
NGOs, or opposition parties."
- Evgeny MorozovLearning Objectives:
s within the community ecosystem.
Fundamental Queries:
we now know at
present?
Learning Competencies:
Introduction
Social status is all about the dynamic of individual identity relative to its environment. This
interaction between the self and the community equates to individual's stature in said setting.
A role is a set of defined and expected behaviour or norms that is ascribed to certain social
status. We all have our roles in our communities. We are perceived by others around us as more
than just another pile of flesh and bone but as an individual that has and reinforced or even
altered by how we play our roles. One individual may have several statuses depending on the
community or location he or she is in; thus, the individual has the constant choice to reinforce
his or her role to suit or break the pattern as he or she is in; thus, the individual has pleases.
However, this choice whether to pursue, reinforce, or completely alter one's status defines the
individual in that community. If a person acts against the will or laws of a collective, he or she
risks losing the benefits, rights, and networks that the community grants to its members.
Have you ever thought about your current status? What are your roles in today's social milieu?
What is your purpose in the grander scheme of things in five or ten years? Review your answers
in the last exercises to see where you stand right now and how you perceive your future status
while taking time to reflect on the value you will bring to the community.
Theoretical Perspectives
Functionalism
According to French sociologist Emile Durkheim, there is a glaring difference how we look at
individuals and collectives. There is also conceptual difference between looking into individuals
and studying groups of people or communities. Durkheim establishes that what is true to an
individual may not be used as a generalization in describing the society he or she is in. In the
same light, one cannot generalize that the characteristics of the society as a whole will also be
true to its member. Instead, there is what he calls a collective consciousness that exists within
these groups of people. This can be seen in customs and beliefs that emanate with each
member. These recognized patterns of behavior are an indication of social integration among
members of the group. The communal behavior that exists within these groups compounds and
works together as a harmonized entity that embodies the perspective of functionalism. For a
functionalist, society is like a machine that has individual parts where each part has functions
and roles that then contribute to the bigger picture of society. Each part both directly and
indirectly influences the total function of the machine, depending on how they play their part in
the grander scheme of things.
Conflict Theory
This perspective was created by Karl Marx, the famous author of Das Kapital and one of the
fathers of communism. Central to Marx's analysis of our society is how he sees that almost
everything starts with economics. Marx proposes that there is a class conflict from the haves
and have-nots. In his writings, he called out the struggle of the proletariat or the working class
from the bourgeoisie or the owners of trade or means of production. The "working class" is the
workers that toil to earn their wages. Marx uses the term for industrial workers which, during
his time, were the only means for an individual to earn within the capitalist structure. Marx
considers the bourgeoisie as the primary enemy of the people due to the exploitation that is
inherent in the system.
Marx points out several arguments that emphasize his view of the class struggle through various
aspects of alienation against the workers. There is alienation when the workers are taken out
from their ownership and the means of production. In other words, the workers are taken away
from the value of their work, the purpose of their toil, and their selves and the society around
them.
Examples:
1. Alienation from production - A worker simply does not directly gain from the good or
service produced.
2. Alienation from process - A worker does not control his or her time nor his or her way
of doing things
3. Alienation from others - A worker is judged based on the performance of others
which creates unwarranted competition from his or her peers
4. Alienation from the self - A worker is seen as just another worker in the factory line
This type of relation between the upper class and the lower class creates an antagonistic
relationship, or between a thesis and an anti-thesis. There is synthesis between the two if it
results from the compromise that may arise from the conflict. This synthesis gives rise to
another layer of society that will maintain its importance until another discontent arises and
contends with the status quo once again. This ongoing conflict in either sweeping change
throughout the organization or community, or a disastrous rift that may no longer be mended
until such time a new model or synthesis rises. This highlight my seemingly fickle stability
proposed by the status quo; change will be inevitable as the goes by. This social volatility mostly
reinforces the idea that there will always be a challenger to the established norm. There are only
two things that are constant in a kind of environment we are in and these are conflict and
change
Symbolic Interactionism
A society and its core characteristics are, in itself, a product of the ongoing consensus held by
the members of the commune. Symbolic interactionism takes itself away from the other
theories and perspectives as it does not look into primary social institution as the main variable
of study but rather looks into individuals, their histories, and the perspectives. According to
twentieth-century American philosopher George Herbs Mead, individuals see things differently
and their view depends on their own meaning derived from their experiences, interaction from
people, and the learnings they gain from the amalgamated experiences through a course of
time.
Mead's theory of symbolic interactionism can be summed up in three main points:
1. Meaning can be different from each person depending on his or her history,
knowledge, and ongoing experience.
2. The meaning, in itself, can change and will inevitably change.
3. Action or reaction may be different depending on how the person sees the meaning.
Essentially, symbolic interactionism concentrates on the individual and the interations that
create the meanings that are shared, reinforced, and debunked constantly by people. No
meaning, in itself, is safe by any means. A word may actually be different from one person to the
next since each person has a different set of beliefs and worldviews that contribute to his or her
current understanding of the various meanings around him or he.
However, it is through shared meanings and agreed-upon conventions that people can interact
and agree on basic concepts and significances. Interaction and communication are the basic
premises of symbolic interactionism, giving us a better understanding of the role of critical
people in the grand design of our society. This perspective also posits that power is defined by
one's roles and status in society which, in itself, are also determined by the interactions that are
created by people.
Understanding people, not just through the collective but also toward individual interactions,
shows a more complex narrative of people under a commune. The people are the integral
creators of meaning that alter the social fabric. This thought goes against the regular convention
that the people under a particular institution are merely effects and not causes for the kind of
world they have right now. Accountability in this perspective is given to the people, not the
institutions. Individuals are not merely victims of their environment but are actually enablers
and reinforcers of the status quo. Think about it fora while: Are you the cause or the effect of
your surroundings? Are you merely the recipient or the creator of meaning?
Social Structures
Society is composed of various intermingling structures that continually make interactions, thus
creating meanings that center on people. The structures created make up a set of values that
stem from the collective consciousness of individuals. This goes to show that society in itself is a
social construction or an idea that we have conjured up as a community and believe to be true,
thus creating a pattern which we agree upon and reinforce daily. A social structure therefore
pertains to the interrelation of behaviors, roles, and statuses which constitute a stable network
of social interactions and relations.
Our discussion of communities has taken us from the macro to the micro perspectives and it is
now high time for us to dig deeper into what are the various structures that affect our very own
communities in the status quo.
Political Structures
Politics has already been established as one of the main cogs that have influence over
institutions. Politics is about power, governance, administration, and decision-making. It is
somewhat the rope that binds all communities and societies together. A political structure is
defined not just by the government, but also by groups, other institutions, pressure groups,
social movements, and people as parts of the political landscape. The interactions between the
political system and other actors result in policy recommendations and adjustments that have
direct implications in our lives. Looking into it on state-level analysis, our communities are
ascribed by the laws that are enacted by the legislative body. Take for example our taxes. Think
about the last thing you bought and its receipt. It will include the value-added tax (VAT) which is
the added cost that the government collects after your purchase. The tax rate is continually
being studied and debated by our elected officials, economic advisers, and private relevant with
the recent economic shifts and conditions of our country. Since we all to buy goods, the cost
limits our capacity to buy. If the tax rate is increased, our buying power will be decreased.
The aforementioned example is merely the tip of the iceberg if we were to, about political
power in the current society. Our current political system is just part political structure that we
are talking about. Our government directly affects us and our communities through sweeping
policies that, in turn, reshape our patterns of behaviour. A major example of how the state
alters this dynamic is through the power it has over international relations and diplomacy,
economics, national security, and local governance. In our democratic society where our leaders
are the representatives of the people, " government gathers the sentiments of its constituents,
elevates them to a policy, standardizes them throughout the system. The power the
government comes from direct participation in politics through the power of the vote. This is
why when we talk about the source of legitimacy to rule, we are actually referring to the voters
who elects our government leaders.
Of course, policies are not made arbitrarily and, in theory, must go through the scrutiny of
groups and other decision-making bodies. We, as a society, have the power to go against such
policies if we were to uphold or create certain social movements. Without the public to check,
political power can easily be abused. Remember that a weak society results in a strong
government and results further in an archaic system of an oppressive regime that trounces on
the rights of its very own constituents.
On the macro level, we can see the relationship between the state and us, its citizens. To fully
see the depth of power of the state, we have to study our own community and may the system
that runs it. We have to study the power of the local government units, since they are the
distillation of state power toward the communities. We don't normally see the power of our
LGUs and regard them as passive about their work, contribution, and impact on our lives.
In the Philippines, our local government units are clustered by the barangay system. LGUs are
headed by community leaders who are elected for a three-year term. The local political system
of the Philippines traces its roots to the balangays, which is a translation of "sailboat" in the
Malay language. Early settlers in the Philippines were mostly from or in neighboring islands,
given the archipelagic characteristic of the Philippines. These early social groups were mostly
small communes with members ranging from 50 to 100 families. Each balangay was headed by
their tribal chief or the datu. Their association was by virtue of kinship or blood relations. These
early barangays mostly lived near bodies of water sink most of their means of living revolved
around trade and fishing.
During the Spanish occupation, the barangay structure was streamlined by consolidating smaller
groups and units to bigger clusters of towns called the reduccion. The former datu later on
became the cabeza de barangay as part of the ruling upper class or the principalia. Moving
through history, nothing much has changed inasmuch as how the Philippines structured its local
government units, except slight changes in names or positions through the American and
Japanese occupations that roughly had the same positions and hierarchy and slight
modifications on overall duty and title.
Here is some basic information that you have to remember on the barangay according to the
Local Government Code of the Philippines.
CHAPTER 1. ROLE AND CREATION OF THE BARANGAY
SECTION 384. Role of the Barangay
As the basic political unit, the barangay serves as the primary planning and implementing unit of
government policies, plans, programs, projects, and activities in the community, and as a forum
wherein the collective views of the people may be expressed, crystallized and considered, and
where disputes may be amicably settled.
SECTION 385. Manner of Creation
A barangay may be created, divided, merged, abolished, or its boundary substantially altered, by
law or by an ordinance of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan or Sangguniang Panlungsod,subject to
approval by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite to be conducted by the COMELEC in the
local government unit or units directly affected within such period of time as may be
determined by the law or ordinance creating said Barangay. In the case of the creation of
Barangays by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, the recommendation of the Sangguniang Bayan
concerned shall be necessary.
SECTION 386. Requisites for Creation
a. A barangay may be created out of a contiguous territory which has a population of at least
two thousand (2,000) inhabitants as certified by the National Statistics Office except in cities and
municipalities within Metro Manila and other metropolitan political subdivisions or in highly
urbanized cities where such territory shall have a certified population of at least five thousand
(5,000) inhabitants: Provided, that the creation thereof shall not reduce the population of the
original barangay or barangays to less than the minimum requirement prescribed herein. To
enhance the delivery of basic services in the indigenous cultural communities, barangays may be
created in such communities by an Act of Congress, notwithstanding the above requirement.
b. The territorial jurisdiction of the new Barangay shall be property identified by my and bounds
or by more or less permanent natural boundaries. The territory need met the wills of the
contiguous if it comprises two (2) or more islands.
c. The governor or city mayor may prepare a consolidation plan for Barangays, based on the
criteria prescribed in this Section, within his territorial jurisdiction. The plan shall be submitted
to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan or Sangguniang Panlungsod concerned for appropriate action.
In the case of municipalities within the Metropolitan Manila area and other metropolitan
political subdivisions, the Barangay consolidation plan shall be prepared and approved by the
Sangguniang Bayan concerned.
CHAPTER 2. Barangay Officials and Offices
SECTION 387. Chief Officials and Offices
a. There shall be in each barangay a Punong Barangay, seven (7) Sangguniang Barangay
members, the Sangguniang Kabataan chairman, a Barangay Secretary, and a Barangay treasurer.
b.There shall also be in every barangay a Lupong Tagapamayapa. The Sanggunian Barangay may
form community brigades and create such other positions or offices as may be deemed
necessary to carry out the purposes of the barangay government in accordance with the needs
of public service, subject to the budgetary limitations on personal services prescribed under Title
Five, Book II of this Code.
SECTION 388. Persons in Authority
For purposes of the Revised Penal Code, the Punong Barangay, Sangguniang Barangay members,
and members of the Lupong Tagapamayapa in each barangay shall be deemed as persons in
authority in their jurisdictions, while other barangay officials and members who may be
designated by law or ordinance and charged with the maintenance of public order, protection
and security of life and property, or the maintenance of a desirable and balanced environment,
and any barangay member who comes to the aid of persons in authority, shall be deemed
agents of persons in authority.
After reading the above excerpts, we get to understand that the barangay as we know it is
composed of various arms that come together to manage the commune. The nucleus of the
political system at the local government is a self-governing unit that emulates the basic
characteristics of a state. The barangay also shares commonalities " terms of function as it also
has administrative authority and power within its geography jurisdiction. It also has checks and
balances to prevent any actions that may go against the wills of the people. Acting as the most
basic political unit, the barangay is in the best position to reach out and serve the people
because of the proximity and accessibility that it can give to the populace. Moreover, the
barangay has the power to quickly resolve any local issue and concern as it is also empowered
by law and legitimized by the electoral system.
The barangay is the first tier where people can air out their concerns regarding security,
infrastructure, and policies. The barangay is looked upon as platform where people can come
together and contribute to the various projects and services for the community. The barangay
and its leaders need the participation of the people to effectively manifest its goals and improve
on the delivery of services to their constituents.
Economic Structures
Societies run on production and consumption. The economic system of modern communities is
the market economy. Here, the market is free to produce what to make, how to make it, and
who is it for. The current economic system we have is laissez-faire (French word meaning "allow
to do") which does not have any central group or institution that can determine the means of
production and control the market as a whole. Here, we have to apply the concept of the
invisible hand; with the assumption that we are operating under the idea of scarcity and thus,
supply and demand are the determinants of value and cost. Contrasting this idea of a free
market is a planned or command market where the state or government determines the means
of production.
A free market economy also exists based on the idea of competition. Much like the survival of
the fittest proposed in evolutionary biology, only those that are determined important and of
value are the ones that can be given the chance to grow, make a profit, and expand, as
consumers choose which one to buy through the act of buying.
To learn more of economic structures, it is a necessity to get to know the five various types of
markets.
Perfect Competition
Perfect competition is an open market that has an indefinite number of buyer sand sellers.
Because there are so many actors in this market sphere, it will be hard for anyone to take hold
of the market let alone control it by altering price or supply. During this perfect state of
competition, buyers can choose which is best to suit their interest by freely determining which
one to buy. Essentially, the products or services that are not competitive in terms of value and
cost will be phased out of competition, whereas only the ones that the market deems the best
or cost-efficient relative to its value will survive and continue to thrive.
Monopoly
Contrasting from perfect competition, pure monopoly is a kind of market where one individual
or company has the capability to produce a much-needed good or service. In this market, the
source of goods or services is only from a single source, thus, consumers have no other choice
but to avail them from the single seller. For many, a monopoly is a clear indicator of a
mishandled market because it cannot protect the consumers from seller's set price who exploit
the consumers by raising their prices and therefore lowering accessibility other buyers. The
barriers to entry or the access to compete in a monopoly are overly protected by state policy, an
act which is contrary to the liberal ideas of the free market. There are instances, however, when
a temporary monopoly occurs because of the capacity of the market to advance and innovate
where all other market participants are challenge to keep up with advances.
Oligopoly
An oligopoly, fundamentally, is a market where only a few are able to produce certain goods or
services. This sets an unfair advantage since the limited number of producers can easily
manipulate supply and prices for their own interests. If the government is not able to step in
and regulate the actions of these producers, then they can easily have the power to fix the
markets benefitting their profit motive.
Monopolistic Competition
Treading between a monopoly and a perfect competition is monopolistic competition. If we
were to simplify this seemingly confusing market type, we can look at it as a state when there
are also an infinite number of sellers but each one is properly differentiated from other
competitors in the sphere. Think of it as when you are buying candies, they are essentially the
same but different in one way or the other. This differentiation is what sets a candy apart from
the rest, and therefore, the seller may charge a little more or a little less depending on the
offered value addition.
Monopsony
We can also determine a market type depending on the number of buyers the particular market
has. Fundamentally, we are looking into the number of producers in the market dynamic, but in
this type, we are looking into the condition where there is only one buyer and where there is an
infinite number of producers. A monopsony is such case. Since there are no other buyers, the
single consumer may control the price and let the producers compete for pricing. You may think
of this when there is a public bidding of a government project. Each producer of the good or
service can vouch their most competitive price to the government, but at the end of the day, the
bargaining chip is with the government and it holds the power to lower the price of the good
until it matches a seller's set price.
Sociocultural Structures
We have been talking about communities in the sociological standpoint for the past few lessons
and from what we know, sociocultural structures are composed of various institutions,
assemblies, and actors. The interactions generated in between these social variables provide the
syntheses from multitudes of discourses that create the patterns of social norms. To engage and
see these patterns, we can look into specific behavioural syntheses that are results of these
interactions.
Political Trends
The Philippines has experienced numerous political shifts that have altered the way we view
power, authority, and the government. From our rich political history, we have gone through
several power struggles which, at present, have left scars that are as fresh as they were before.
Needless to say, we, as a society, hope that the mistakes done in the past would not be
forgotten and thus be corrected as we go along and create a better future for the next
generation. Thus, many of our institutions vouch for a free and liberal society that espouses
human rights, individual freedom, and free-market competition. History, in the standpoint of
sociology, is one of the major influences of our future actions. Learning from the shadows of the
past, our people have recognized that a government without the vigilance of the people creates
tyrants and cronies that can monopolize power and oppress its citizens. Today, the primary
institutions, such as religious, education, and the economic sectors, all combine to counter any
tyrannical propensity that may lead us back to the kind of regime we had under Martial Law.
Civil society organizations and people's organizations are particularly at the forefront in raising
social concerns to the government. Specifically, they are the entities that coordinate community
groups that the government fails to reach. Even if the government seems to have the assets and
networks to efficiently govern and aid the whole population, it remains to be seen that a state
can take on the monumental task of solving all of these social concerns. Inevitably, there will be
priorities to be set and some policies to be halted temporarily, or in some instances,
permanently. Political shifts, such as regime changes, make it hard to bear positive impact
because for reforms to ultimately reach its maturity, the government needs time to recalibrate
and may even commit mistakes in its actions. Since every regime has varying interpretations on
social issues, continuity of reforms is at risk and more often than not, solutions end up trapped
in bureaucratic limbo. The Philippines has a strong civil society presence, yet past and present
regimes have you reach full potential of the government in engaging nongovernment actors in a
more direct and synergistic way. Coordination is the key to governance and the state should not
seen as a panacea for all of society's ills but instead as a partner for societal progress,
Cultural Trends
After the Cold War, globalization was in as the free market started taking over the world. People
and governments opened up for the international community. This result in political and cultural
interactions and exchanges of goods and knowledge among states. This paved the way for the
appreciation of other ways of life coming from outside the state. If you look around stores in
shopping malls, you can see foreign clothing brand competing with local brands. You may
identify cultural influences from the style, cut, form of the article of clothing on display. Not only
clothing or food, foreign movies, TV shows, and music are very popular in the country, and even
most of our so-called Original Pilipino Music (OPM) songs have foreign influences. Especially
now with the Internet, in just a matter of seconds, people from all over the world can have
access to music, movies and TV shows from other cultural backgrounds.
There are advantages however of these cultural exchanges. Too much patronization of foreign
brands would mean fewer sales for our local products. Because of "colonial mentality," we give
undue bias toward foreign culture and we consider our own to be inferior. To avoid this, the
government should support our local manufacturers in making their products competitive in the
global market and the people should learn to patronize their own.
There is a call for us to also explore our native culture and appreciate our heritage. We have to
know who we are and have a genuine appreciation of our own identity as Filipinos.
Economic Trends
The Philippine economy is regarded as one of the most resilient in Asia. With a stable monetary
and fiscal policy, the Philippines has set one of the best examples of a developing market
economy. Despite the relatively volatile economic condition which is often affected by political
instability, the Philippine market was able to withstand multitudes provides of challenges, from
the Asian financial crisis during the 1990s to the market crashes, credit crunch, and housing
bubbles of its biggest economic partner, the United States, in the 2000s. The Philippine
economy has conservatively protected itself despite the temptation to borrow, overreach, and
end up with a fiscal deficit, avoiding the scenario where the government does not have funds to
cover its operations or go into austerity measures to survive.
The current global trend is to open up the markets and let everyone in. The Philippines,
however, still remains as one of the few developing countries that limit foreign ownership of
firms and real properties. The 1987 Constitution only allows 40% ownership of property by
foreigners and foreign ownership and management of mass media is prohibited. Despite
maintaining this conservative view, multinational companies have outsourced their operations
with their offshore offices in the Philippines, creating thousands of jobs for our local workers.
Examples of such trends are the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry and electronics
manufacturing which have undeniably bolstered our local economy by providing employment
opportunities to many Filipinos.
Despite the available jobs brought by multinational companies, there remains a significant gap
in terms of job accessibility and job matching. Our population has varied skills that are still
untapped. Most of the available jobs today do not fully realize the potentials of the citizens.
Unemployment rates may be dropping at a gradual pace, but underemployment remains a
problem. Underemployment is the condition where a worker takes on a career or job that is not
suited for his or her qualifications. Another problem is inclusivity. Since most available jobs
require college degrees, a big portion of our citizens who are not college graduates are
marginalized.
The government has acted on international demand for labor and has since shifted its policy on
education and skill standardization by harnessing government institutions and adjusting
educational paradigm.
The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) is the primary example of
how the state can intercede and solve problems on unemployment. TESDA's main goal is to
provide and oversee vocational skills development, with the aim of providing jobs for workers
both here and abroad. Our labor force is one of the primary contributors to our gross domestic
product (GDP) and according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the total remittances from
overseas workers in 2015 reached $25.6 billion, which amounts to 9.8% of our gross national
product and 8.3% of our gross national income. Supporting this shift is the modification of our
educational system toward the K-12 model by the Department of Education to coincide with
international standards. In fact, the Philippines is the last country in Asia to shift to the K-12
system. This transition provides better opportunities for students to find jobs abroad because of
compatibility, while encouraging students to engage in technical and vocational work.
The stability of this economic growth conversely is an unstable one. Because base of growth is
from foreign firms, local industries are prone to demand swings in global market, aside from
political interests of their home countries. This may have consequences with the tendency of
market pull out of foreign firms in our country. A market that relies on foreign investments
needs to build on its local base by encouraging entrepreneurship. Local firms should be
encouraged to also provide work and opportunity to our people. With a vibrant entrepreneurial
culture, our country can develop product and services that can be competitive in the global
market, resulting in a more secure and organic source of income and development for our
nation.
Technological Structures
In the current fast-paced society, we need to advance critical thought and innovation as one of
the most important governance initiatives. Research has been undervalued in the Philippines for
too long to a point that many of our latest discoveries and innovations were overlooked and
ended up underdeveloped or underutilized. This is largely because the support for our inventors
and scientists are relatively hard to come by. Even the incentive for the development of local
technologies are mostly given by private companies and are not state-sponsored. Because
research is not in the priority of our government, the development of local products has left
local industries to survive on their own.
One good example of our government taking the initiative to enhance local product and services
is the One Town, One Product (OTOP) project launched by the Department of Trade and
Industry in 2004 during the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Each town was
projected to have one product that can be enhanced to provide raw materials for businesses.
This is only a single case, but in reality, we need more of this pioneering project to enhance the
quality of our products and jumpstart a more localize approach to market development.
ONE TOWN, ONE PRODUCT (OTOP) PHILIPPINES
(Department of Trade and Industry, n.d.)
The One Town, One Product (OTOP-Philippines) is a priority program of the government to promote
entrepreneurship and create jobs. Through OTOP, local chief executives of each city and municipality
take the lead in identifying, developing, and promoting a specific product or service, which has a
competitive advantage. OTOP-Philippines supports micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to
manufacture, offer, and market distinctive products or services through the use of indigenous raw
materials and local skills and talents work.
Features
OTOP-Philippines offers a comprehensive assistance package through a convergence of services
from local government units (LGUs), national government agencies (NGAs), and the private sector. This
includes Business Counseling, Appropriate Technologies, Skills and Entrepreneurial Training, Marketing,
and Product Designs and Development.
Environmental Structures
Our communities have been at risk due to the most recent calamities brought about by climate
change and atrocious urban management. Various institutions should spearhead concerted effort to
protect the environment and mitigate the effects of natural calamities and disasters. We have to
remember that the environment is everybody's concern and it is the responsibility of each member of
the community. In light of the most recent floods such as typhoon Ondoy in 2009 and Yolanda in 2013,
there was much debate as to the cause of these disasters and there was finger-pointing by the officials.
After what happened, government institutions and communities were pressured to devise measures
and plans to lower the risk of devastation.
Some international organizations such as the United Nations, having seen the vulnerability of
our country to calamities, have already taken steps in helping our country.
DISASTER RISK REDUCTION (DRR)
(United Nations Children's Fund, n.d.)
Issue
The Philippines is highly exposed to natural hazards because it lies along the Pacific Typhoon Belt
and is within the Pacific Ring of Fire. This is compounded by uncontrolled settlement in hazard-prone
areas, high poverty rate, failure to implement building codes and construction standards, and
degradation of forests and coastal resources, among others.
The brunt of these natural hazards is felt by 27.6 million Filipinos who are among the poorest
and marginalized. They are often trapped in a seemingly never-ending cycle of disaster, displacement,
and rebuilding.
For a country like the Philippines, a proactive risk management approach is imperative. More
than 40% of Filipinos (37 million) are under 18. Children are the most affected in any disaster;by this
alone, their participation in DRR is essential.
Action
UNICEF has undertaken a study on children's vulnerabilities to climate change and disaster
impacts. It will establish models of child-centered disaster risk management (DRM) for eventual
replication by local government units (LGUs), as a basis for integrating DRR in their local development
plans. Aside from bridging the gap between community-based activity" and public policy, UNICEF will
also facilitate the partnership of nongovernment organization with LGUs to adopt child-sensitive and
child-centered DRR and climate change adaptation(CCA) plans and programs.
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) will be tapped to serve as catalysts, mobilizers, and
organizers of child-centered DRR in communities and government. They will help build the capacities of
local NGOs and partner with LGUs and national agencies to develop child centered DRM programs and
integrate them into local development and emergency plans.
Impact
The DRR objective is consistent with the equity focus of UNICEF. Priority will be given to hazardprone areas, which are also usually the most economically impoverished and deprived. Disasters
contribute to a vicious cycle of poverty, preventing children from exercising their rights, and families and
communities from realizing their development potential. DRR helps in directing activities where they are
needed most. The modelling approach for community. based and child-centered DRR and integration of
DRR in LGU development plans will be done in areas that are most exposed to climatological, geological,
and other hazards.
The most vulnerable to the effects of calamities are the people in the communities that are
displaced and taken away from their livelihoods. Environmental issues are global but as a community, we
can pitch in by participating in community efforts, from cleaning the canals to joining trainings for
emergency aid. When we think about how we can resolve the recurrent issues, we have a solid
community that is responsive and ready to help. This is more important than any stellar plan without
anyone supporting or enabling it. Operationalization is key and the partnership between the people, local
government units, and in this example, the international organizations can help solve the problems we
face in today's ever-changing environment.
WEEK 7
Elements and Typologies Community
LESSON 2:
Societal Dynamics and Process
“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the
ocean does not become dirty”
-Mahatma GandhiLearning Objectives:
Fundamental Queries:
communities?
Learning Competencies:
Introduction
People make dynamic exchanges and interactions that give life and vibrancy to our
communities. Processes operationalize these exchanges into new ideas and solutions to be applied in
satisfying our pressing needs and wants. Knowing how these exchanges manifest and the types of social
mechanisms inherent in exchanges is vital in understanding how norms are formed and the various
functions of communities in terms of its structures.
Social Exchange and Rational Choice Theory
Society cannot exist without interaction among its members. People, by nature, are social
beings that are interdependent with each other. Individuals seek to exchange ideas and socialize
with their kin or members of the community. Establishing social networks is one of the most
important activities that are necessary for communities to grow. All social beings, while unique
to each other, are influenced by one particular motivation and this is self-interest. Self-interest
is driven by our evolutionary tendencies to survive.
Individuals, as rational beings, go through a cost-benefit review to see which choice will be best
suited for their goals or interests. While perceptions of benefit and value may vary among
individuals, at the end of the day, each person will always choose what best serves his or her
interest.
Here are corollary assumptions under social exchanges:
1. People weigh incentives and trade-offs (reward or punishment).
2. People are utility maximizers and thus rewarding actions will be reinforced.
3. People and choices are interrelated and interdependent.
4. All interactions are within the bounds of social norms and expectations.
Since people will choose what is best for them, they also base their fundamental choices on the
subject of incentives. From the choices presented, people will end up choosing the most optimal
among the choices.
Because people are social, all choices are interconnected and dependent on the environment
they are in. These choices are made through the interaction of all the aggregate choices of
individuals, organizations, and institutions.
Individual actions can either be motivated or dissuaded, depending on the exchange between
the choices at hand. We can easily see how we conduct this process of choosing each time we
are faced with two or more options. This theory on rational choices also applies to collectives
because they are composed of rational individuals that may have influence on the behavior and
norms within the organization. In Rational Choice Theory, we have the following basic tenets:
1. Completeness - Choices are not equal in terms of value to the individual, therefore,
these options can be sorted depending on relative value or importance.
2. Transitivity - Choices or variables are interrelated to each other and follows the
Example:
a. X is related to Y and Y is related to Z = X is related to Z.
b. X > Y and Y > Z = Z cannot be greater than X.
Following the assumptions above, we can say that choices are ordered in such a way that an
individual's choice follows a relation that affects the final choice or determined outcome.
Preferences, however, can differ from strong, weak, to indifferent, among available choices. The
differences are determined based on the potential on being an alternative to the most optimum
choice. The Rational Choice Theory also has other assumptions that will shed more light on the
motivations that influence the behavior of an individual or a group in a shared environment.
People, however, cannot have absolute knowledge over the choices due to lack of information
or information asymmetry. Their actions may be influenced by other actors' choices due to
bounded rationality that can easily influence choice and behavior. Therefore, people and
groups may have a logical way in looking at things but because of the limitations, their best
choice may not necessarily be the most optimum for the group. Sometimes, the choice made
may be a concession with the available information and time.
These limitations may conflict with the assumptions under Rational Choice Theory. Remember,
however, that laws may sometimes not apply to different contexts because of the different
variables that are present in the equation. This is why there are questions regarding this theory
since the assumptions may not necessarily be true in all scenarios and that rationality may, in
fact, be subjective in each choice.
Competition and Conflict
Once you graduate and apply for your university of choice, then you are in competition. From
the number of graduates each year, there are only a limited number of slots available per
college and university. A test will be done to validate the quality of the students and from the
pool, only a select few will advance to become their students.
In a competition, there are various actors that vie for limited number of opportunities present,
or in some instances, only one can be selected. Society, in the same way, has the same finite
opportunities that only few can deserve. In real life, we are in constant competition not only
against our peers, but also against the very institutions we are in. We fight to survive the
competition in our own way, resulting in conflicts.
Unlike in competition where the main aim is to reach the goal, conflict aims to defeat the other
in more ways than the norm suggests. Conflict is more deliberate, and more violent coercive
tactics may be employed by the actor. Competition may be done in a more amicable way, but
once it becomes more personal or is escalated, then the relationship among actors becomes
confrontational and more violent. Many think that competition and conflict represent the dark
side of social behavior, but in contrary, they are critical and vital in the promotion of change and
reevaluation of norms. Through competition and conflict, we can study about how collectives
test the boundaries of their dynamic and solidarity as one unit operating under a particular
environment.
Cooperation and Accommodation
The other side of the spectrum is cooperation and accommodation. Each time you play team
sports or games that require you to be with other players for a shared goal then cooperation is
needed to achieve the task. Cooperation happens when people come together and pitch in to
achieve a common task or goal. This union is essential for groups to achieve goals that are
almost impossible to achieve when done by just one actor.
Between conflict and cooperation, there is what we call the state of accommodation. Similar to
a compromise, it represents neutrality in social interactions whereby the individual merely
ascribes to an agreement to keep the status quo.
Cooperation and accommodation have different effects on a community. Cooperation, on one
hand, provides the necessary communal spirit that motivates people to contribute and
volunteer. The support coming from individuals enhances the community's chances of survival.
Proactive participation provides the support mechanisms for the collective. Accommodation, on
the other hand, may cause the community to be complacent regarding stands on issues and
concerns. The lack of participation may result in more social maladies, such as despondency or
apathy, which will render the community inefficient in the long run.
Social Change
Society is ever-changing. It is never static since the people that make up the society are, in
nature, continually changing in terms of their interactions on a certain milieu. Social change
refers to the fluctuations or deviations in the order of society. Changes that affect its
institutions, norms, or cultures are all variables that can affect social change. Factors affecting
social change are the structures and institutions that all contribute to the ongoing calibration of
norms in our society. Examples of these critical structures are politics, economics, culture,
technology, and the environment. Changes in these structures will drastically alter the way of
life of communities and other actors.
Perspectives of social change:
1. Evolutionary Theory - explains that society follows an evolutionary development from
a simple commune and then moves toward more complex systems
2. Conflict Theory - explains that conflict between the holders of power and the
disenfranchised are the drivers of social change and conflict is a necessary characteristic
in social relations.
3. Functionalist Theory - explains that the set roles and statuses hold social balance and
therefore, any change in the scheme will have repercussions on the functions of other
roles and statuses
Community Structure, Process, and Dynamics
Community structure is represented by the social hierarchies that are inherent to each
collective. The various social statuses and roles all are part of the social system we are all in. All
members of the community, from doctors, lawyers, firemen to the students, live by these
statuses and roles. We evaluate our choices and actions relative to others around us or by
weighing the consequences or rewards that such actions may bring once done. Our individual
choices will have direct and indirect effects to the overall community narrative. The community
process in itself is never linear but a complex web of interactions that both correlate and cause
variable change to the status quo.
For community dynamics, the actors are the individuals, civil society groups, pressure groups,
and movements who all contribute to the communities in the creation of meaning. In the
interface of these actors, we create networks that provide cohesion and order to our social
environment. Different kinds of interactions, however, can either help or jeopardize the
harmony in the society through cooperation, conflict, or by simply accommodating current
norms.
Communities exist primarily on the wills of its members. We are the ones that create the value
and meaning. The way we see our communities will determine its effect not only to us, but also
to many others. Our own personal perspectives and surroundings are interrelated and never
isolated, and they come together to form a worldview that we believe is true. The very process
of rational behavior is anchored on our capacity to understand and evaluate the multitudes of
causalities with different choices. However, when we do not fully understand ourselves and
what we are capable of, we resort to being the apathetic victim to the big, bad society we have
constructed for ourselves.
The most important element for effecting change is the community. Together, we are the
answer to the problems at hand. With the community, our personal choice to be proactive, to
volunteer and take part in movements, organizations, and projects will be the critical elements
for social change. It is high time to realize that change does not exist outside of us but within us
and our community. Empowered by the very act of choosing, we have the power to initiate. It is
time to move from the stands and be part of the solution, to shed off indifference, and move
toward building a better community. We are all creators, builders, and architects of our future.
Let us all unite and take charge; change is upon us and it starts with our choice.
WEEK 8
Elements and Typologies Community
LESSON 3:
Societal Typologies
“We must become bigger than we have been: more are courageous, greater in spirit, larger in outlook.
We must become members of a new race, overcoming petty prejudice, owing our ultimate allegiance
not to nations but to our fellow men within the human community”
- Haile Selassie
Learning Objectives:
communities are categorized.
Fundamental Queries:
How are communities delineated?
Learning Competencies:
Introduction
In order to classify communities, we need to go back to the basics, such as demography,
geography, and social paradigms. In this lesson, we will sink deeper into our analysis as we compare and
contrast the types of communities. We will zero in on how we classify actors of the community by
focusing on their core characteristics while we analyse their relational dynamics.
Rural, Suburban, and Urban Communities
The area we live is another classification of communities. Scholars see the value of looking into
the different geographic locations of where human settlements are, to categorize communities
by virtue of population, space, and accessibility.
URBAN
 Urban communities are
settlements that are highly
congested because of the dense
population that can reach,
million within a limited space.
 Due to the volume of people,
buildings and economic centers,
schools, and leisure areas very
near factories, office spaces,
and markets.
 Some people are living in highrise buildings because of the
limited available space in the
area.
SUBURBAN
 Suburban communities are
areas that tread between urban
and rural communities. These
settlements are located in the
outskirts of urban areas and are
less dense than urban areas or
are composed of medium-sized
population.
 Suburban areas are mostly
filled with houses, subdivisions,
and private estates rather than
factories and shops
 Access to schools and markets
are farther than in urban areas.
The buildings are low-to midrise and people live in houses
with large living spaces and
usually with yards.
RURAL
 Rural communities are located
in the countryside. The houses
are far from each other and the
density of people living here is
the least from the three.
 Because there are less people,
access to markets and schools
are far and requires a long drive
or different forms of transport.
 Livelihoods are mostly from
farming and livestock raising.
For an area to be classified as urban, it has to first fulfil the requirements such as high number of
inhabitants, the type of industry, and use of land. There are different positive and negative
aspects for each type. The problems and challenges are also unique for each community type as
seen in some examples below.
URBAN
 Pollution
 High cost of living
 High crime rate
SUBURBAN
 Limited economic activity
RURAL
 Lack of access to basic services
 Underdeveloped markets
Formal and Informal Sectors
When we think of formal and informal as words, we conjure up pictures of order and conformity
for “ formal “, which contrasts with the backdrop of near anarchy for “informal”. But the words
actually classify more than conformity or lack of it. In the study of community development,
these two are categorizations of sectors that embody assemblages sharing common economic
traits.
FORMAL SECTOR
This sector is composed of establishments,
business, and other enterprises that are legal
based on their compliance to government
requirements such as license. Because they have
successfully attained all requirements, they
alongside their workers, and customers, are
continually being supervised and protected by
the government and its policies. In exchange,
they follow the regulations and also are taxed by
the state.
Private Businesses
 Multinational Corporations
 Corporate Firms
 Listed/traded companies
INFORMAL SECTOR
Those who are part of the informal sector lack of
the requirements and license from the
government. Because they fail to register, they
tend to disregard the regulations and policies put
up by the government, thus , they are not also
taxed in their income and real properties. Since
they are not supervised, their workers and
customers, in the case of business establishment,
are also not protected, thus limiting their
bargaining rights once they make a demand. This
sector is often described by economists as the
shadow economy because it exits behind state
supervision.
EXAMPLES OF ACTOR
Underground Economy
 Fish ball vendors
 Freelance workers
 Street vendors
WEEK 9
Community Action
LESSON 1:
Mapping the Community
“If at first, the idea is not absurd, then there will be no hope for it”
-Albert Einstein
Learning Objectives:
Fundamental Queries:
ssues that are being addressed in community development?
Learning Competencies:
te to community development through solidarity
Introduction
Studying the community demands more than basic knowledge of concepts. Scholars should be
more adept about the relationships of real-world variables and how they fit into the concepts they have
learned.
Community development is interdisciplinary; it needs more than just a linear knowledge of
meaning but a holistic understanding of real-world problems, grounded solutions, and boundless ideas
for inspired action.
Engagement – Planning – Implementation – Development – Sustainability
Resilient – Accountable – Vigilant – Adaptable – Progressive
Virtues: Resilient, Vigilant, Progressive, Adaptable, and Accountable
Five- point initiative: Engagement, Planning, Implementation, Development, and Sustainability.
Overview
a. Community Engagement – refers to the process of working collaboratively with and through groups
of people affiliated by geographic proximity; special interest, or similar situations to address issues
affecting the well being of those people.
b. Solidarity – refers to the idea of unity or feeling of agreement among individuals with common
interest.
c. Citizenship- characterizes the relationship between a citizen and a political community. This is
indicated by citizen’s involvement in state affairs, with respect to its economic and social processes,
institutions, laws, rights, and responsibilities.
A community embodies a personality derived from its members. The virtues that people embody
cascade to the community as a whole. To be part of the community, one has to imbibe critical virtues for
him or her to effectively facilitate change and social development. Like what we have discussed, we
create meaning and we are enablers of progress. Everything starts with us and we take our community
with us as we pursue our personal goals. It is our duty to be part of the change we seek. It is our
obligation to serve our fellow men and such obligation starts with our intention to be part of a
movement. The figure above represents the virtues and initiatives that ideally are the blueprints of a
holistic development paradigm. It includes an end-to-end mapping of community processes from
planning to sustainability. Juxtaposing these with the virtues, we can draw a more concise, efficient, and
effective development map for the community.
Resilient Communities
Droughts, floods, heat waves, earthquakes, forest fires, and tsunamis are just a few of the
challenges from Mother Nature that our communities face. Corruption, red tape, crime,
terrorism, and human rights abuses, on the other hand, are some of the problems that are manmade and are a result of greed, dishonesty, and man's insatiable appetite for power. Despite
these challenges, we strive to survive and continue with our daily lives. Just like a living
organism, communities are attacked by threats that endanger the whole system. And just like
the natural ability of the organism to react, anticipate, and recuperate against attacks, the
communities can also fight off these threats. Finally, just like the organism, the community
develops and evolves to learn and block such threats in the future.
Resiliency is the ability of the community to get back on its feet after a calamity and continue
with its existence. The virtue of resiliency is our inherent drive to survive and live our lives to its
full potential. Filipinos are renowned for this resiliency, having withstood the strongest typhoon
ever recorded in human history and floods that would have incapacitated cities for months. The
Filipino community has been as resilient as the bamboo plant withstanding gusts of wind.
Nowadays' challenges, both man-made and otherwise, are interrelated along with our choices
and our social dynamic as a whole.
Resiliency is still not enough for us to ensure the survivability of our own commune. More than
surmounting the odds, we need to learn and recalibrate our structures, beliefs, and patterns of
behaviour to prepare ourselves for the upcoming challenges ahead. Our history, more than any
theory or law, brings us the awareness that our resiliency in the past provides us the roadmap to
success.
For our communities to be resilient, social cohesion is essential. Every member of the
community should be bound by communal spirit and duty to serve more than the self but the
other.
Vigilant Communities
We are accustomed to the everyday grind in our community. However, we have been so blind
about getting to know our own communities. Let us be honest, most of us know more about the
most recent fashion trends than the barangay ordinances or even the national issues affecting
the barangay. We fall flat on our duty to observe and appreciate the very systems that govern
our lives. We only have limited knowledge about the state of our community and even the
issues concerning our fellow men and women because we fail to appreciate and understand
how things really are around us. Without such knowledge and appreciation, we are
disconnected and apathetic to the calls of our society. Our community needs us and we can do
our part by being informed and being vigilant to our current situation.
Vigilance is more than just being awake and alert to avoid dangers of problems. In community
development, vigilance is the sustained assessment of not just threats or danger but of
progressive ideas and solutions. It is not merely guarding the gates of the status quo but is also
challenging the norms that are needed to be changed, altered, or developed further. The
problem about the old notion of vigilance is that it is trapped by the meaning of compliance. By
doing so, we end up with a community that merely upholds the dogma of the past. A
community should sustain a watchful eye on the missteps and shortcomings of the current
social model. In this definition, vigilance takes on a more progressive base.
The community and its members should be relentless in redefining the status quo in order to
create discourses and ground breaking solutions. This is not to say that we should completely
leave our customs and long-held traditions behind. We only have to reassess who we really are
and where our communities are at present. Without acknowledging our present situation with a
more objective eye, we, as a community, will be left with an illusion that we create for
ourselves. Since we are all creators of meaning, the very standards held by our society cannot be
just blamed on one person or a group, but on all of us. The progress or the lack thereof of our
community is driven by our choices. These are not life-changing or fate-altering choices; these
are the simple choices that we make every day, from falling in line, throwing our trash, to
reading the news that affects us and our communities.
Progressive Communities
What can you say about the status quo? Right now, can you think about three adjectives to
describe the communities we live in? A lot of those words that come from your thoughts are
negative. If so, despite having this kind of mindset, why do you think that many of our fellow
citizens choose to remain complacent and inactive? Many have debated on this and just by
looking at posts on social media, you will notice multitudes of debates on various ideas.
Change is inevitable in our communal lives. Realities of the present will only continue with the
reinforcement of behavior from actors within it. However, some change will not be beneficial to
the stakeholders, just as not all movements are needed and essential to community
development.
Going back to the virtue of vigilance, we learned that assessing the current situation is essential
for community growth. Since without self-evaluation, we are stuck with the status quo and we
fail to acknowledge spaces for improvement.
Progress demands forward thinking. Foresight is an important virtue for communities to
develop, especially in this age when societies need forward mobilization to keep up with the
dynamic shifts in institutions and structures. To be progressive means to challenge and have
new ways of thinking. Contrasting this with the virtue of vigilance, progress is about action not
reassessment. To be progressive is to act on ideas; it is to change the status quo by anticipating
future trends. Vigilant communities strive to avert and solve recurring problems, while
progressive communities strive to avert future problems by creating innovative schemes and
ideas that will further enhance and keep up with changes in its environment. This kind of
thinking demands innovative ways of thinking.
Innovative solutions come from progressive ideas. Taking risks in advancing current thought is
the only way for us to test new assumptions and find solutions that will matter not only today
but also in the future. A community, to be progressive, will not only include the leadership but
also tap the combined knowledge and experience of its own members. Synergy is important for
ideas to flourish and take root. Ideas that are arbitrarily made without the consultation of the
community will be hollow and will not connect to their target beneficiaries. This is to say that
social capital is important; people are important and the relationship of leaders to their
constituents is critical in advancing critical thought.
Change will only create impact with the support of the people. Any progressive or
groundbreaking initiative needs the participation of groups and individuals. Together, we need
to continuously challenge and critique the present, for this is the only way that we can advance
as a community.
Adaptive Communities
Organisms have survived thousands of years of evolution because of their adaptive behaviors.
To be adaptive is not about sitting through a thousand years and wait for the environment to
take its course; it is about, as any virtue, being able to face challenges and obstacles and making
a choice.
There will be challenges and problems, but the success of the community will always be hinged
on the will of its people to adapt, go beyond their confines, and conquer all threats to the
community. While innovation is needed for progress, ingenuity and inventiveness are vital for
the community to be adaptive to its surroundings. Compared with progress, adaptability deals
more with the present condition and what is readily available to mitigate or solve the problem.
Progress, on the other hand, is long-term as it is targeted to a forward-thinking mindset that
anticipates future events and repercussions.
Adaptability challenges the community to be creative and finds new ways of planning,
implementing, and sustaining growth. This virtue supports all basic principles of community
development as it is the enabler for concepts to take and it opens up to unorthodox ways of
solving our society's most pressing issues and concerns. The present context calls on adaptability
on all sectors and all aspects of life. From the top of the governance hierarchy down to the
members of the community, adaptability should be echoed and internalized by all actors. The
ability to change course and act quickly on problems are the results of the nature and openness
to adaptive calibrations of behavior, policy, and other norms.
The challenge for some communities is how to deal with the change caused by adaptations.
Some argue that changing the old ways will be detrimental and conservatism would be best to
protect the identity of the group or integrity of the process. This may be true in some contexts;
it still calls for us to accept deliberate changes aimed at solving the very root of the problem.
While it is not bad to be conservative, such as in the case of protecting our culture and history,
any organization or collective should be ready to adapt according to the needs of its
surroundings. Without accepting change, communities will not thrive in their new environment,
or in extreme cases, they will risk their own survival in the bigger narrative of society.
We learned in biology through the concept of evolution that the natural progression of nature is
change. The only way for us to survive is to constantly seek, prepare, and change depending on
the demands of our environment, in the same manner as our communities need to be vigilant,
progressive, and adaptable to the current social milieu.
Accountable Communities
Community development is reflective, meaning, all we input as people in the community will be
reflected back to us. In the same manner as the old saying "trash in, trash out," we hold the
choice in what we input and accept to be real. We have been driving the point that communities
are everyone's concern. In reality, however, not all of us can see that they are responsible for
and accountable to the things that are happening at present. Remember again that we are
creators of meaning and with that power, we have a responsibility that goes along with this
potential. Our duty as creators is to be accountable for our actions and to take our obligation to
review ourselves.
Accountable communities that are objective and reasonable have a clearer picture of their
existence. Having a better understanding of their status quo will also help them in envisioning a
future through careful planning, execution, and review of their initiatives and projects. Actually,
in community development, what is often overlooked is the review of targets and goals after
projects are carried out. A review of a stakeholders impact and accounting for mobilized funds
are just few of the important matters where the virtue of accountability is most important.
From planning to execution and review, accountability should be present in every process to
ensure the integrity of the project. Ethics should always be a priorty of any kind of social process
along with accountability to safeguard the stakeholders from corrupt practices. Accountability is
more than writing the right data or encoding the right sum.
Accountability is an ideal of ownership. To own one's identity, for example, is a kind of
ownership and thus, we are accountable for our own actions. In the same manner, we have to
take ownership over everything in our community because it is part of our lives and we are
subject to its fluxes and changes.
Once we accept this reality of ownership, we become aware that what we see is within us and
empowers us to make conscious decisions and efforts to alter the wrongs that we see at the
present time. We can all start by reviewing ourselves and being accountable for our simplest
actions. Then, we can be more resilient, vigilant, progressive, adaptive, and accountable to
ourselves and our communities.
Five-Point Community Initiatives
The figure on page 2 not only represents the virtues but also the processes that a community
undergoes to fulfill its ideas to reality. Capacity-building measures are not a simple one-step
process. If you notice inside the figure, surrounding the virtues are the community initiatives.
This implies that the initiatives must embody the five virtues for the community to optimize its
potential social impact. While the initiatives may seem linear, it is highly contextual or is
dependent on the status of the issue or concern to be addressed.
Note that not all problems start from the same plane. Some concerns have varied needs to be
addressed by first diagnosing the context before curing the malady or social problem at hand.
There will be problems that have had prior progress that must be implemented or developed;
while there may be other issues that still need to be incubated through engagement and
planning. The difference between issues therefore may vary from case to case and may start off
not from zero but from a point that only needs to be recalibrated or changed. Knowing the
difference between social concerns is important for the community to determine its course of
action.
Change will always be constant in our lives in the community. This is why on the said figure,
community initiatives move around the virtues at certain points. By using this cyclical model, we
can judge whether our initiatives to engage, plan, implement develop, or sustain have the right
virtues to effect sustainable growth and development in the community impact. After reaching a
point of consistent results, programs still need to be constantly monitored and evaluated by the
stakeholders of the community. Some adjustments may be made in anticipation of future events
and issues that bring us back to another engagement; thus, the cycle begins anew.
Engagement
Community engagement is all about connecting to the community and its people. Methods such
as key informant interviews, focus group discussions, or surveys can contribute to our
engagement with the community. Knowing the current pulse of the community can help
community leaders determine the pressing problems that need to be addressed. This method is
important especially for community researchers who are alien to the community that he or she
is studying. As a researcher, you have to be objective and impartial to your subject community.
You should be without bias and look at the variables detached from any prejudice. You can
employ participatory observations to aid you in this regard. Field researchers spend ample time
to immerse themselves in their subject community. Immersion in the subject of research is a
very effective way in overcoming bias and ethnocentrism or the strong preference of one's norm
over the other that sullies the integrity of the research result.
Planning
Planning is the next step in realizing ideas from a blueprint. It needs not only the people who are
directly affected but also experts, industry leaders, and scholars who can contribute their
knowledge and experience to the planning. This is the stage where, normally, communities hold
rounds of discussions and meetings with community members along with external consultants.
In these meetings, the community leaders have a rundown on all possible options and gather
inputs for possible innovations and breakthroughs that are vital in advancing solutions without
disenfranchising some stakeholders.
Implementation
After setting up plans and choosing among the viable options, implementation is the next point
of emphasis. Advancing a program from paper to procedure is a monumental task for
community leaders. In operationalizing a plan, the critical processes are resource mobilization
and accounting. When we say "resource," these are not all about financial resources alone but
also people and networks. Without the public support, social initiatives will fail and not gain
substantial traction since the idea would not gain momentum and spread to a larger audience.
Financial resources should always be supported by documents to prove that funds are spent on
priorities. Transparency should be present in all processes and community leaders should take
the lead in being open or accessible to information. The public, at the same time, should play
their part by keeping a keen eye and be watchful on every transaction, participate in meetings,
and volunteer in activities.
Development
Development needs foresight and progressive thinking. A project's life will not plateau after
implementation. The community should strive to develop programs or projects that last by
enhancing their processes. It should aspire for the improvement of the project using current
tools and methods for their continuous implementation, in accordance with the shifting
demands of people and the situation. Projects must adapt to constantly changing variables.
Sustainability
Finally, sustainability is the goal that each program aspires to reach. In reaching this level in the
cycle, the program should have passed the rigorous standards of the public. Achieving that level
of consensus from society is hard, given the diversity of needs and standards within the
community. Sustainability can be pursued even without full oversight, provided that it does not
effect negative impact on members of a minority or a set of priorities such as the environment.
For this to happen, systems should be in place and institutions should be partners of the
community in running a project or advocacy.