Sociology and Community: Defining Community, Health, and Development

This sociology essay provides an overview of the concept of community, beginning with its traditional definition and tracing its evolution through various historical periods. It examines the changing nature of community, particularly in the context of online communities, and analyzes how the rise of the internet has altered traditional characteristics such as territory, shared goals, and social responsibilities. The essay further explores public health and development issues within communities, identifying key determinants like economic inequality, social connectedness, education, and cultural factors. It also addresses geographical influences and the role of mass media. The author concludes by emphasizing the importance of identifying root causes to effectively address community problems and promote health and development.

RUNNING HEAD: SOCIOLOGY AND COMMUNITY
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Community in Sociology:
In traditional term, community is defined as the group of people living in a common
location and having a more or less regular interaction. The term community is also used in some
context to refer to a group that has been organised revolving around common values, sharing a
social cohesiveness within a particular geographical boundary (Wiesenfeld, E. 1996). The origin
of the word Community is from the old French word, comuneté which again has the origin in
Latin Communitas. The concept of community, like many other concepts under the purview of
social science, does not fall in a cohesive package. Though, widely used, it is often misused and
put in the sense of an organisation. Community is a social construct and a model that cannot be
touched or seen and has no definite shape or size.
Rather than saying it just as a construct, researchers are on the view that the concept of
community is essentially a sociological construct. The traditional definition of community from
sociological point of view is that “it is a set of interactions, human behaviours, that has meaning
and expectations between its members. It is not just an action but actions based on the
expectations, values, beliefs and meaning between individuals.”
Changing Concepts of Community:
The meaning of the term community has been an evolving one, because of the changing
nature of human and concepts over ages. In the medieval time, the word “communidad” became
synonymous to community. The term became the earliest version of the democratic sovereignty.
The total population in the democratic sovereign was considered as the community of people.

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However, the term communidas eventually came to be synonymous to the concept of te rebellion
and the assembly revolt after the Revolt of the Comuneors (Ugland, K. I., & Gray, J. S. 2008).
However, the Encyclopaedia of Diderot and d’Alembert revived the original meaning of
the term community where it defined the term as “union of Individual exercising the same art or
occupation under certain common rules, forming a political body”. This connotation also bears a
prominent hint on the local sovereignty that is supported by a sense of shared ownership.
In the 1840’s, Cabet referred to his egalitarian colonies as the “Communities”, and thus
brings in an idea of the social system that is based on the theme of “communism”. Thus, the
definition of communities at that point of time was “movements with little or no interests in
creating phalansteries or Cooperative colonies.”
From the beginning of the 1930’s, Weber and Tonnies took the term community and
analysed it in the light of sociology. Their derivation of the definition of the term community
which came to be known as “Gemeinschaft” This definition understand community as a group
that has been united by means of personal interpersonal relationships where the interacting
individuals have a recognition and knowledge about others and a sense of belongingness is
present regarding the collective and personal rights.
The US world community, however, mingled the idea of this sociological and territorial
concept of community with an ideological one. The tension that has arose as a result of the
difference in the political and religious values among the young state and the controversy in the
definition of powers among the centre and the federal governments, gave birth to the concept of
“Community Standards.” The idea cultivated the ideology of association between the residential

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space and the acceptance of the set of particular rules. Thus, in the global sense, the meaning and
essence of community became vast that arouses an emotional concern.
The essence of this primary group type of community is changing in current stage
because of urbanisation, changes in mode of communication and information technologies.
Individuals are no longer oriented within the primary group only and are transcending into larger
outer world. thus, the traditional characteristics like locality and sentiment are changing
drastically and the concept has been elastic one and no more confined in the geographical area.
Online Community:
An online community is defined as the group of people who shares a common interest
and uses the mode of internet like websites, instant messaging, social media or emails for
communicating and pursuing the interest over time. This is essentially a virtual community
where the interaction is done online through internet. Thus, though different from the social
community in approach, online community is definitely a type of community where common
interests are shared. The only difference in the online community is that, the individuals interact
over internet. However, the concept of online community has affected the key characteristics of
traditional community in the following manners:
1. The concept of territory changed: the traditional concept of community in sociological aspects
is that it must have a particular concept of territory. Ideally, community has to occupy some
geographical area and this locality is considered to be the physical basis of community.
However, the online community has disrupted this idea of geographical locality. The use of
internet and the interaction through those mediums are blurring the line of locality. The shared
geographical bounds are no more a characteristic of this virtual community.

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2. Sharing of common goals- though the online community share the common interests, they do
not necessarily have common goals. Moreover, the resources of the community do not always
remain with the community because of the geographical indefinites.
3. Abiding by the rules- the rules in the traditional community are more formal and there are
various social responsibilities. The concept of online community affects the idea of traditional
community, as it is more casual in nature and is devoid of any strict social responsibilities.
4. The absence of strong group feeling- the traditional idea of community is characterised by the
strong sense of group feeling. This is primarily because of the physical cohesiveness. In the
online community, the distance and the unrevealing of the actual personal self have countered
the group feeling among the communities.
5. The cultural similarity: the traditional construct of community bears the idea of the cultural
similarity. The online community has been global and hence the differences in the culture have
been inevitable.
Public Health and Development as a Problem issue in community:
Since the basis of community is individuals, it is an inevitable thing that it will
have some problems just as individuals have. Any community must aim at analysing these
problems and try to resolve it. The main problems of the community are the waste problems,
hygiene and health issues, domestic violence, drug usage, ethnic conflicts, hunger, job lacks and
others (Fernback, J. 2007). These are present in any community. However, these become an
issue when these occur frequently and last for a long duration. The analysis of these problems is
a means of paying careful attention to the problems before the members could search for a

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solution of the same. the first step involves the identification of the problems and then the
reflection on it would foster the possible solution plans for improvement. An issue in the
community should be effectively analysed for:
1. Better identification of the issue or the problem
2. To understand the actual cause of the problem
3. To identify and develop the best solution steps.
Community Health Problem:
The health of a community is the art of the maintenance as well as protection of the
health of the members in a community. It is also the scientific way of improvement of the health
of the same through sustained and organised effort. The health issue is one of the most essential
and rising concern in the community where we live in because of the urban living culture and the
exposure to environmental pollution as well as economic factors.
Main factors affecting the health and development problems:
The main social factors that are the key determinants in the issues regarding health
problems are social exclusion, income inequality, and personal efficacy, educational and cultural
factors. The diversity in a community includes the gender, cultural and economical diversities of
the members of the community. the following are the social, geographical and economic
determinants of the health issues in the community:
1. Economic Inequality: the economic equality has a great role to play in the determination of
death cause and death rates in a community. If the community is economically stable and have a
uniform development in the economy, the deaths generally do not occur as a result of infectious

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disease like dysentery, malaria, tuberculosis, flu etc., but are more likely from the chronic
disease like cancer, diabetes, heart issues and others. In our community at New York, the life
expectancy of the citizens are less than that of the less affluent countries like Japan or Canada
because of the economic gap between the different segments of the society (Coleman, K. J., &
Gonzalez, E. C. 2001).
2. Social Connectedness: various researchers are of the opinion that the extent of social
connectedness is an important issue in the health problems. Great community participations have
a chance of better health.
3. Differences in the vulnerability: the communities of New York are characterised by an
enormous number of poverty and homelessness. This category of population is highly exposed to
the uncertainties, stress and mental issues. They are often unable to take a daily care of their
health or cannot afford medical treatments that increase the chances of chronic illness.
4. Education: The higher standards of education do not only ensure better employment but also
signifies an enriched hygiene sense and health structure. It has been noted that the tendency of
poor hygiene sense is prevalent in the rural areas of the communities. This is also an essential
factor in the determination of the group goals.
5. Cultural Factors: the different gender roles in the varying communities lead to the variations in
the opportunities among men and women that lead to the differences in nutrition, health and life
opportunities as well. Food preferences are one of the main profound causes of the differences in
the health issues. The people in the community are mainly the working section and are dependent
on the junk and fast foods. Thus the tendency of high cholesterol, obesity is rising in the
community.

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6. Influence of Mass Media: the mass media, television in particular, is an effective tool in
sending powerful messages about the health and development of community. In U.S., around
1950’s the smoking was portrayed in the magazines, televisions, and other Medias as something
to be glamorous. However, at present, there had been a ban on the promotion of cigarette
smoking and no ads are projected in the TV. The anti smoking message in the society has been a
great influence on the community regarding the smoking. A study reveals that fewer than 25% of
adults in the U.S. smokes.
Geographical condition: Location has a great influence on the health issues and problems of the
community. Moreover, it is also a determinant factor whether the people in the community
would get the proper service or not. In the communities, if U.S. access to the medical care as
well as other required amenities depend on the proper availability of the convenient
transportations.
Conclusion:
If any problem in the community is needed to solve or ruled out, the proper identification
of the root cause is essential for that. the proper addressing of the cause would lead to a more
possible accurate solutions. The community must look deeper into the people or population that
are directly associated or affected with the problem and deal with the developmental issue. It is
also essential for the individuals as well as the whole community to have a deeper look into the
legislators, policy makers and other services that can effectively affect the developments in the
health conditions. Members of the groups can also be asked to change or internalise certain
habits for the benefit of the community.

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