Community Organization

IT ALL BEGINS!!!!!

I am so excited about this semester’s opportunities lined up for you! Our guests on January 19, 2012 were so engaging and their ideas and expectations are in synch with what I hope for the course! For the many, many students who did not show up today….well   Try and get the information that you need through your classmates. A lot of things were discussed that impact your future success for the course.

This semester, we will be involved in voter registration. So, we will not be working with the Mississippi Center for Justice. Again, if you missed class, you need to get with a student who did and find out what you need to do. See you on the 24th of January. Be sure to have read the first few blogs at that point. I am still awaiting many comments. Furthermore, a pop quiz may be in your future…

NEWS (2/01/12)

Please review the two articles we discussed in class (get them from your peers if you don’t have them). Also, make sure you understand the Introduction and Definition of Community and Other Things blogs. Start looking at the bibliographies and get those resources that might be applicable to the project. I will carefully go over Definition of Community and some new material about progressive change models (not in the blog–don’t worry wont be on next pop quiz). Review your past courses about research methods in the social science. Remember the tenets of science-empirical, tentative, etc.

Observations of the 2/2/12 Meeting

I so glad I decided to visit the students at their planning meeting! I saw all the elements of what I have been talking about emerging in the discussion and planning for getting out the vote. One thing, I did note, and need to emphasize to students is that you need to keep what you are doing in perspective. Although all of what we are doing is very important, this opportunity is a learning event. So, you will get frustrated, your ideas and plans will get shot down, people wont do what you want them to do. That is what real community organization is all about. We need to have less of the nay-saying and more positive alternatives being offered. We need to help each other learn. We need to realize that if we treat what we are doing the same way we do those activities we enjoy (a give and take) then the whole experience is better. It is way too early to get ideological. Be flexible, listen to each other. Help the leaders–a leader is only as good as the people who follow him or her. Above all have FUN! I will let you devote class time on Tuesday for the project. Be prepared, though, to get back to the readings plus what I gave you at the meeting. I am proud of you!

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ARE YOU MISSING THIS POP QUIZ? HERE IT IS:

The Definition of Community and Other Things Pop Quiz

What is the sociological equivalent for the term beloved community?

What is the difference between generalized and particularistic trust?

What is the difference between bonding and bridging social capital?

What is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic faith?

Using Uslaner’s article, fill in the blank: Greater levels of fundamentalism leads to ______ of civic engagement. Why?

What is the approach one uses when they rely on theories to guide their research?

People living within a specific area, sharing common ties, and interacting with each other is known as

This type of community is similar to Mayberry, and is similar to Emile Durkheim’s concept of mechanical solidarity.

The Greek word for local, particular, and ancestor oriented communities is:

Who, in 1955, reviewed the literature on communities and found 94 separate definitions