Elements & Typologies of Community

Elements of Community

• Structure: Involves social status and roles within a community.
• Dynamics and Processes: Focus on how communities function and evolve over time.

Theoretical Perspectives

• Functionalism: Emphasizes collective consciousness and social integration as foundations of societal stability.
• Conflict Theory: Highlights class conflict, particularly between the proletariat (working class) and the bourgeoisie (owners of production).
• Symbolic Interactionism: Recognizes that individuals derive meanings from experiences, interactions, and traditions, which can be shared or challenged.

Social Structure

• Pertains to the interrelations of behaviors, roles, and statuses that form a stable network of social interactions and relationships.
• Political Structure: Involves institutions including government, pressure groups, and social movements.

Economic Structure

• Society's functioning relies on production and consumption dynamics.
• Concepts of laissez-faire economics advocate minimal government intervention in markets with supply and demand dictating value and cost.
• Types of Markets: Includes perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly, monopolistic competition, and monopsony.

Sociocultural Structure

• Influences of political trends such as human rights and free-market competition.
• Tracks cultural trends and globalization effects, e.g., the influence of K-Pop.
• Economic trends include business process outsourcing (BPO), the K12 education system, and ISO standards.

Technological Structures

• Focuses on research and innovations aimed at enhancing products and local market development.

Environmental Structures

• Centers on disaster risk reduction (DRR) practices in communities.

Societal Dynamics & Processes

• Social Change: Evolution of societal norms and institutions, which influences community dynamics.
• Cooperation & Conflict: Examines how collectives work together or clash in pursuit of goals.
• Rational Choice Theory: Suggests that individuals evaluate incentives, trade-offs, and their interactions are shaped by social norms.

Competition and Cooperation

• Competition: Collective groups push the boundaries of solidarity and social orders.
• Cooperation and Accommodation: Cooperation entails collaboration towards common goals, while accommodation involves maintaining status quo through agreement.

Perspectives on Social Change

• Evolutionary Theory: Suggests gradual change over time.
• Conflict Theory: Focuses on struggles that drive change.
• Functionalist Theory: Views change as necessary for social stability.

Societal Typologies

• Urban Communities: Highly populated areas with dense structures, including high-rise buildings, close proximity to economic centers, schools, and market facilities.
• Suburban Communities: Intermediate density areas located on urban peripheries with residential spaces, less access to markets, and larger living conditions compared to urban environments.
• Rural Communities: Sparse settlements in the countryside with the least population density, requiring longer travel distances for access to markets and educational institutions.