Community and Society.Our coexistence among other individuals is so complex that there is an area of knowledge dedicated to studying and understanding it: the social sciences. One of the most complicated “objects” on which sociology is concerned is society, which is defined by its diversity and dynamics in the relationships of the subjects that constitute it. When we say that a society is defined by its diversity and dynamics, we establish that the individuals that constitute it, you and most of those who live in your network of direct and indirect coexistence, sharing a set of normative rules and specific values that serve to mediate the relationship process between these subjects and the possible conflicts that will invariably arise, we establish that a society is constituted in an impersonal way among those who integrate it and that, with exceptions, will privilege their individual wills.
However, it would not be correct to say that a society is constituted only by individuals without any kind of personal connection, either by affinity or by necessity. We all end up becoming part of groups that have closer contact with our daily reality, with whom we share interests, objectives and similarities of ideas and conditions, whether economic or social. We call these groups communities .
What characterizes communities?
In its ideal model (closed definition of what an object would be, without taking into account the possible interferences of the infinite variables that could transform the object in one way or another), the community is defined by Robert Redfield as being:
- A group distinctfrom other human groups, being “visible where a community begins and where it ends”;
- Small, to the point that its limits are always within reach of the vision of those who integrate it;
- Self-sufficient, “so that it meets all needs and offers the necessary activities for the people who are part of it.” Regardless of those outside.
Although Redfield’s definitions refer to the forms taken by mainly agrarian communities, which still survive today to some extent, and those prior to our post-industrial revolution modernity , it is possible to trace a reference to our modern coexistence and the forms that a community takes in our reality.
Don’t stop now … There’s more after the publicity;)
Community and modernity
It is then not only a body or an object, but also an ideological construction that is based on the individual need for security, comfort, familiarity and a sense of belonging, that we are part of something greater than our individuality, the delimitation of “ We ” (the familiar) and the “ others ” (the stranger). At this point, the author Zygmund Bauman clarifies to us: “belonging to a community means to deny part of our individuality in the name of a structure set up to satisfy our needs for intimacy and the construction of an“ identity ”.”
As a closed circle, the community tends to keep what is strange outside
The construction of a border between the familiar, the “ inside ”, and the strange, “ the outside”, Is the essence that underlies a community. Therefore, there must be policing by the members of this community, so that “strange” ideas do not enter their environment and threaten the structure built around family ideas. This phenomenon is observable in some sectarian religious groups that seek to separate and differentiate themselves by pursuing an ideal of “purity” that involves the establishment of behaviors and the practice of activities that are directly related to their religious beliefs. In this way, the community establishes itself within the common will in the search to differentiate itself from what is considered profane by its belief, which is directly related to what is considered sacred.
