Community, Social Sciences, Paleolithic Age

Community & Engagement

• A community is a group of people, linked by social ties, sharing common perspectives, and engaging in joint action within a geographical location or setting.
• The word "Community" comes from the Latin word "Communis," meaning common, public, and shared.

Social Sciences Perspectives

• Anthropology is the study of human beings, their ancestors, physical characteristics, environment, social relations, and culture through time and space.

Paleolithic Age / Old Stone Age

• Approximately 2.5 million years ago
• Characterized by hunter-gatherer societies.
• People crafted tools from rocks and other available materials mainly for cutting and chopping.
• Known as the 'Oldowan Stone Tool Industry', this period marked early craftsmanship.
• The 'Archeulean tradition' saw improved, robust, and symmetrical tools showing early forms of communal behavior.
• Foraging was one of the earliest forms of social stratification.

Mesolithic Age / Middle Stone Age

• Approximately 9,600 BCE
• Development of horticulture and agriculture involving cultivation of crops and plants for consumption or gardening.
• People cultivated more sustainable food sources forming agricultural societies.
• The human diet consisted of nuts, plants, fish, and other animals.
• Humans found a way to provide food for themselves, starting communal settlements.
• Hunting was mainly a task for males.

Neolithic Age / New Stone Age

• Approximately 10,000 BC
• Period of agrarian societies.
• Herding was added to agriculture as a main source of food; it involves bringing animals together into a group, maintaining the group, and moving them from place to place.
• Humans evolved culturally, ushering civilizations like Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and the Indus Valley.
• Humans developed tools using sturdier materials like metals.

Sociological Perspective

• Sociology analyzes the history, evolution, structure, and functions of societies.
• Social stratification involves scientists identifying individuals or groups as cohorts among common experiences such as work, wealth, or wage, split into lower, middle, and upper classes.
• Social class is the direct classification of people according to material wealth, relative social value, or other traits.
• Social mobility studies how individuals or groups move across classifications and stratifications.
• Religion classifies people or groups using core religious beliefs and practices as an identifiable social characteristic.
• Sexuality identifies people or groups through their sexual norms, orientation, interest, and behavior.
• Deviance in sociology studies the interaction of society with a social anomaly such as a deviant act or norm-defying stunt.

Political Perspective

• Political science views communities as composed of citizens guided under one constitution or government.
• Individuals are considered constituents, identified by citizenship proven by a birth certificate or passport.
• Individuals are granted various rights and privileges, such as the right to vote, and are expected to comply with the nation's laws.
• A nation is composed of individuals sharing a common background like language, history, or religion.
• A state is a political entity with four characteristics:
  • Population: the people sharing a geographical space
  • Territory: physical area under jurisdiction
  • Sovereignty: authority for self-governance
  • Government: individuals administering the functions of the state

Classification of Communities

• Rural areas are known as the countryside, farmland, or agricultural land with low population density.
• Urban areas are cities or towns with a high density of human population.
• Local-Global refers to spatialized networks of social relations.
• The difference between global and local communities is that the global focus connects globally, and the local focuses on connecting locally.
• Physical space refers to unlimited three-dimensional expanses with material objects.
• Virtual social space refers to nonphysical spaces created by technology.

Three Types of Communities

• Geographical or Neighborhood Community: Based on physical boundaries, it's popular with groups occupying different physical spaces with traits like religion or economic status.
• Community of Interest or Solidarity: Incorporates social movements, connected at local and international levels, formally or informally.
• International Community: Individuals voluntarily come together to support each other, sharing the same interests and identifying geographically.
• Awareness helps researchers and agents of change focus and deepen their analysis.

Forms of Community Action

• Engagement: Involves interaction, sharing, and relationships.
• It can be defined as the partnership between two parties with reciprocal relations.
• Community Engagement (ASEAN University Network (AUN)) includes Active collaboration, improving community life, and aligning with the campus mission.
• Citizenship denotes membership in a political society.
• Citizens have rights and are accorded protection inside and outside of their territory.

Social Situations

• Economic issues show a high poverty incidence from fluctuation in the economy affecting income improvement.
• Ecological issues consist of logging, slash and burn, and land degradation increased by human care.
• Political issues are present because the country is still far from a stable, strong, and functioning democracy.
• Social issues consist of providing people access to education and health services.
• Racial conflict occurred between the white planter and the black slave population. Also, the discrimination of the black labor force in the industrial economy occurred.
• Marginalization shows how structural employment is heavily concentrated among non-whites.

Models of Social Change

• Traditional structure of patronage and dependence where power is concentrated at the top, leaders and followers compete for patronage. This model preserved the status quo.
• Class Conflict Model portrays the lower class as the oppressed, and the higher class is the oppressor. This model is Marxist and conflict is inevitable.
• Interest Group Model shows that society is composed of different groups seeking to influence policy decisions.
• Groups come from different sectors of society, such as farmers, fisherman's groups and indigenous people.