Community analysis and praxis : toward a grounded civil society / Josefina Figueira-McDonough.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Figueira-McDonough, Josefina.

Contributor:

Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Community development.

Community organization.

Social service.

Urban poor--Services for.

Urban poor.

Social justice.

Physical Description:

xvii, 217 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : Brunner-Routledge, [2001]

Contents:

Evolving Definitions and Theories of Communities xii

The Influence of Communities on Behavior and the Influence of Economic, Political, and Urban Restructuring on Localities xii

What Have We Learned from Experience and How Does This Fit With the Proposed Approach? xiv

Grounding Civil Society in the Community xv

1 Community Construction and Social Change: In Search of a Working Definition 1

The Rural-Urban Divide 2

Gemeinschaft: The "Natural" Community 2

The Persistence of the Gemeinschaft Ideology 4

Alternative Conceptions of Community 5

Personal Communities as Pseudo-Gemeinschaft 5

Community as Society: Response to the Growth of Dependence and Centralization 6

Revisiting the Residential Community and Defining "Communalism" 8

Is Place of Residence Indifferent in Contemporary Society? 9

Adding Dimensions to the Territorial Community 9

Territorial Community as a Multidimensional Variable: "Communalism" 10

Implications for Theory and Practice 12

Theoretical Implications 13

Practice Implications 14

2 Dimensions of Communalism: A Structural Framework 17

Dimensions Salient to Gemeinschaft Theories: The Power of the Informal Organization 17

Exchange 18

Attachment 20

The Role of Local Organizations in the Structure of Territorial Communalism 21

Exchange 23

Attachment 24

The Growth of Interdependence and the Embedded Community 24

Informal External Bridges 25

Formal External Bridges 25

An Analytic Framework for the Structure of Territorial Communities 26

The Population Component of the Analytic Framework 28

Poverty 29

Mobility 30

Ethnicity 30

Density and Crowding 31

The Relationship Between Population and the Organizational Dimensions 32

Poverty, Formal Organizations, and External Bridges 33

Mobility, External Bridges, and Informal Networks 34

A Population-Organization Typology 35

3 Heuristic Applications of the Population-Organization Framework 39

Community Types and the Prediction of Delinquent Rates 40

Implications of Community Analysis of Social Problems for Intervention 45

An Example of the Development and Expansion of the Multivariate Framework 48

Gender Differences: Mechanisms, Normative Changes, and Demographic Structure 49

The Salience of Informal Controls in the Reproduction of Gender Differences 49

The Spread of Normative Gender Equality 50

The Structural Consequences of Sex Ratio 51

Integration of Gender Differentiation Dimensions in the Community Model 53

Types of Control and Permeability of Boundaries 53

Types of Female Delinquency in Low Sex Ratio Communities 55

4 Focusing on Community as the Unit of Analysis: Varieties of Research 61

Part 1 Research Parameters 61

Neighborhood Operationalization 61

The Place of Community in Theories of the Underclass 63

Multifactor Structural Explanations 65

The Dependent Variables: Deviant Behaviors of Young People 66

Part 2 Community Research on Obstacles to the Social Integration of Youth 67

School Dropout 68

Ethnographic Studies 68

Longitudinal Surveys Linked to Communities of Residence 68

Communities as Units of Analysis 69

Multiple Methods of Studying Communities 71

Teenage Motherhood 74

Ethnographic Studies 75

Surveys and Community Information 75

Community Units of Analysis and Health Statistics 77

Focus Groups 77

Juvenile Delinquency 79

Dropping out and the Delinquency Connection 80

Community Context and Organizational Measures 81

Distinct Contextual Paths to Delinquent Behavior 82

Longitudinal Studies 83

Summary of the Evidence 85

Part 3 Praxis Implications of Research Design, Measurement, and Findings 86

5 The Growing Impact of Environment: Community as Dependent Variable 91

Economic Restructuring 93

Political Restructuring 96

Urban Restructuring 98

Localism in the Global Context 100

Within-City Polarization 100

Local Conundrums: Political Autonomy and Economic Dependence 103

The Communitarian Perspective 105

Progressive Proposals: Defensive and Creative Strategies 106

Defensive Strategies 107

Creating Civil Society 107

Politics of the New Localism 110

An Example of Local Initiative 111

6 Knowledge from Praxis 115

Public Programs Targeting Inner-City Communities 116

Urban Renewal and Concern for Substandard Housing in the Inner City 116

The Federal/Locality Link 118

Attracting Businesses to Poor Communities 121

Integrating Economic and Social Development 124

Limits and Contributions of Public Programs 125

From the Ground Up 127

Community Development 127

The Push Toward Synergy: Private, Local, and Government Partnerships 131

The Expanded Community Development Model 131

Reviving Coordination Among Human Service Organizations 132

All Together: Government, Foundations, Private Businesses, and Local Residents 132

Multicommunity Cooperation 134

Contributions of the Grassroots Approach to Community Practice 135

7 Professional Models of Community Organization 137

Tradition and Early Concepts of Community Organization 137

The Period of Typologies and Systemic Representations of Intervention 138

Organizations, Grassroots, and Linkages in Social Work Strategies 144

Building an Interorganizational Field (Formal Organizations) 144

Informal Grassroots Networks 146

Linking Formal and Informal Organizations 150

The Growing Centrality of Community Economic Development 153

The Receding Role of Community Political Power 156

8 In Search of the New Civil Society 161

The Meanings of Civil Society 162

The Resilience of the Rule of the Market 163

Local Communities and the Prospects of Democratic Reconstruction 165

The Two Dimensions of Social Capital 167

Bridges of Political Power 168

An Invisible, Resilient Grassroots Force: Women and Collective Activism 171

The Multicultural Context of Civil Society 174.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-202) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

1583910190

OCLC:

45917234