The document discusses the concept of community from sociological perspectives. It explores different theories of community, including viewing community as a symbolic boundary that distinguishes insiders from outsiders, and the role of symbols and place in defining communities. Theories from sociologists like Durkheim, Weber, and Oldenburg are summarized in regards to how they viewed the modern loss of community and importance of place. The document also discusses how the internet may be transforming notions of community by allowing for new types of belonging beyond physical places and hierarchies.

1. Bowling and Being Alone in the Community: Thinking about Community Social Scientifically What is community? The sociological perspective and Symbols Some Theories/Explanations

2. Robert Putnam has been described as one of the most influential social scientists in the world today. The ideas in Bowling Alone seems to have struck a chord with many concerned with the state of social and public life. Tonight Dr. Guadalupe, Dr. Pierce, and I explore community, identity, and agency from our different disciplinary perspectives. Bowling Alone in the Community

3. Exercise in Thinking about Community Take two minutes to write down all the words or images that you think of when someone says the word "Community.“ What do you see? What should appear? What do you imagine? What does it feel like? What should it feel like?

4. Thinking about Community Where do you live? What is a community? What kind of community do you live in? Would you describe your community as urban or rural? What kind of physical features are found in your community? Are you proud of your community? How does your community compare to others? What do you know about your community's past? How does your community celebrate the past? Characteristics Comparisons

5. Take two minutes to write down all the words or images that you think of when someone says the word “Internet.“ What do you see? What should appear? What do you imagine? What does it feel like? What should it feel like? Exercise 2: Internet

6. What are the common characteristics that you believe represent use of the Internet? What do you use? Why do you use it/them? Internet Characteristics

7. Community Development & Change Who are the leaders of your community? How do you think people have changed the way your community looks over the years? What are some of the things people have done to improve your community? How might you contribute to your community?

8. There has been a lot of discussion by social scientists about what community is, but we can ask: who defines community? Should the people who belong (or might belong) to a community decide what it is and whether they are in or out? Or is it social scientists and professionals who really decide who is part of a community? Who defines community?

9. What is community? People use the word when talking about their neighbors, their friends, entire racial groups, international politics, national identity groups, you name it. It's an everyday word. But have we have stopped to think about what community really is and what it means to us – as members of the community – personally? Community is a word

10. '"Community" is one of those words…bandied around in ordinary, everyday speech, apparently readily intelligible to speaker and listener, which… however, causes immense difficulty'(Cohen, 1985: 11) Difficulty in Defining It

11. When we think about communities most people think about a particular place, a geographical location for the community, such as the Dayton Community or the University of Dayton Community. The geographical community can be a town, a suburb, or even a small section of a suburb. There might be a few communities in the same town. There are other times when a town might be only part of a community, such as when he community involves the rural areas outside town, or two towns are closely linked. The Centrality of Place

12. Do you think community is a thing? a system? a process? By system I mean an interconnected set of parts which are capable of acting as a whole. By process I mean that it has an observable operation or action. We can ask: is community a thing which exists apart from us? Or is it something that we are part of? Or is it something that we do together? What is a community?

14. Community implies those inside are similar to each other and different from others. It creates a bond between some people and excludes others. Attachment Involvement Commitment Belief Thus community implies and creates a boundary between us and them, inside a group and outside a group. We are connected

15. This boundary is marked in symbolic ways. There are many types of symbol which mark the boundaries of community - flags, badges, colors, dances, languages and more. The point is that we are creating distinctions Symbols and Boundaries

16. Symbols (including symbolic words) always carry a range of meanings whose differences can be glossed over. So, it is possible to share the symbols without sharing the meanings. What does it mean to be an American? The use of symbols is important

17. ‘Community’ is one such boundary marking symbol. As a symbol it is held in common by all the members, but its meaning might vary with each member’s unique understanding of it. According to Cohen, people construct community symbolically, making community a resource and a repository of meaning, and a point of reference for their social identity. Community as Boundary

18. These enquiries into the fate of collective social forms played an integral role in defining some of the key debates of sociological inquiry as a whole - captured, for example, in the theoretical and conceptual 'dualisms' between 'individual' and 'society', 'structure' and 'agency', and 'freedom' and 'constraint'. Why Theory Matters

19. Rationalization Interpretations of actors Organization and Community Max Weber explored the emergence of a 'disenchanted' modern world in which older forms of authority and moral direction increasingly gave way to a more rationalized and individualistic existence (Weber, 1930). Max Weber and Community

20. Division of Labor in Society Mechanical vs. Organic Social Solidarity The modern 'loss of community' was enshrined in FerdnandTönnies (1957) celebrated distinction between pre-modern Gemeinshaft (community) and modern Gesellschaft (society), and in Emile Durkheim's (1964) famous distinction between 'mechanical' and 'organic' solidarity. Emile Durkheim and Community

21. The Great Good Place – Place is Key Where do we make solidarity? Where do we establish boundaries? How do we symbolically establish community? Oldenberg and Community

22. Putnam and Community Where is community established and reinforced? What happens when community fails? In 1975 the average American entertained friends at home 15 times per year; the equivalent figure (1998) is now less than half that. Virtually all leisure activities that involve doing something with someone else, from playing volleyball to playing chamber music, are declining.

23. …is social interaction share feeling build social identity pool collective intelligence interpret collectively act reciprocally According to Nancy Baym Internet and Community

24. Has the Internet transformed what it means to be in a community? Communities are created more rapidly and successfully now than ever before, with consequences not just for their own experience, but for everyone involved in the activity. But what if you cannot participate? Online, people are making a new kind of belonging that transcends place and shakes up long-standing balances of power. Or does it? Internet and Community

25. “Downloading of music, movies, games and programs is only one side of the story as well. On the other hand there is communities, blogs, websites with loads of information, free information of high and low (THE lowest) quality everywhere, all the time and it's increasing by the minute. It goes hand in hand with the downloading of music, movies, programs and games. It's stressful, highpaced, superficial and at times very rewarding. It's a world of culture under ongoing change at a level so basic that it probably will have replaced the old system completely in a couple of years. 4 years, counting from last Thursday, is our guess.” - Hybris Records blog Nature & Pace of Interaction Online

26. How do YOU build community here at UD? How do YOU participate in activities? Attachment? Involvement? Commitment? Belief? What do you think?

27. Thank you for listening…