According to Merriam-Webster, community is defined as “a group of people who live in the same area (such as city, town, or neighborhood), but community is deeper than simply living in the same area. Five years ago, I moved to a new area of the city. I was skeptical of how people would adjust and react to a new family being in the neighborhood. Within a week of moving in, I have met all of the neighbors, exchanging telephone numbers, and developing a sense of community. There are four elements that comprise the sense of community: membership, influence, integration and fulfillment of needs, and shared emotional connections (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). With the four components, a community can be successfully developed.
Membership is the first and most important component. This element depicts and can determine who belongs and who does not belong. Furthermore, understanding one’s membership within the community brings a sense of emotional support, belonging, and desire to advance the community (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). For example, when I first moved to my new neighborhood, every lawn in the area had signs that protested against putting a rehabilitation home in the area. The community, as a whole, believed this would bring negative situations to the area, therefore, everyone banded together against this cause. Everyone influenced one another within the community, which is another element of community. Although there is not one specific individual that holds power within the community, influence can determine whether one’s presence doesn’t make a difference and therefore, does not feel as though they are a part of the community (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). This leads to fulfilling needs and integration. Needs and integration supports the idea of sharing values within the community, sharing goods and resources. As previously mentioned, my community shares many similar values. This is important in developing a sense of community and makes it easy to live in the same neighborhood. I know living in my neighborhood, no one would respond positively to a loud, non peaceful family. Therefore, such a family would not feel the sense of community. Lastly, emotional connection refers to sharing bonds with others within the community and can be a result of a spiritual bond, or through shared experiences, rituals, or celebrations (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). Although I am of different faith from my neighbors, we share a spiritual connection. During Christmas, I receive gifts from them and during my holiday they receive gifts from me. It is important to have mutual understandings that will develop into a greater bond with community members.
References:
Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2014). Community. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/community
Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., and Coutts, L. M. (Eds.) (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN 978-1412976381
The four aspects of community that include membership, influence, integration and fulfillment of needs, and shared emotional connection (Gruman, 2016) arguably don’t apply to sports for several reasons, despite checking off the aforementioned characteristics on an objective scale. Membership refers to the recognized value in the sense of belonging which comes with being a member, but feelings of isolation and not conforming to the strict norms in sports may lead to lacking feelings of belonging. Studies have found that among high school and college athletes ages 18-25, 15-21% of them suffer from depression, nearly double the rate of American adults (Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, 2019). Athlete performance is also highly correlated with feelings of depression, possibly leaving fears of possible membership termination. Because the core identity of the group relies on individual capabilities, participants are always tasked with succeeding, making membership both non-inclusive of its own participants and conditional. Furthermore, integration in sports teams, which requires shared values and satisfying each other’s needs, was clearly violated during Colin Kaepernick’s attempt in fighting for his rights.
Instead of showing support, sharing resources, or strengthening his voice, roughly 28 percent of fans opposed his protest (GamblersPick , 2020), but more importantly, fellow NFL players expressed explicit opposition to his behavior (Streeter, 2020). With a lack of shared emotional connection or advocacy, the group lacks cohesiveness and shouldn’t be considered a community, as their bonds are too vulnerable to external factors and don’t possess the necessary components. .
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. (2019). Depression statistics – depression and bipolar support alliance. Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance; Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. https://www.dbsalliance.org/education/depression/statistics/
Gruman, J., Schneider, F., Coutts, L. (2016). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems.
GamblersPick . (2020). NFL Fans on BLM. Gamblerspick.com . https://www.gamblerspick.com/blog/nfl-fans-on-blm-r105/
Streeter, K. (2020, June 5). Kneeling, fiercely debated in the N.F.L., resonates in protests. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/sports/football/george-floyd-kaepernick-kneeling-nfl-protests.html
I agree that respect for diversity needs to start in the schools. This is extremely important for kids to understand that just because people are different, it doesn’t give us or anyone the right to treat them any different. I think that as a young person’s life becomes more advanced with the things available to them; they begin to feel entitled and even snobby. This mindset will transfer to them judging their neighbor and feeling better than the other.
For the young person that does feel different and isolated, it will hinder their learning ability while at school. I agree with your statement that everyone should have a fair chance to succeed and this mindset hinders that persons ability. If we can teach the kids that everyone is equal, this will help facilitate a positive attitude towards others and kids will be less inclined to judge. Hopefully it will encourage acceptance of others.