Childhood and Adolescence

The beginnings of our sense of self and our understanding of how we connect with others lie in the period between birth and adulthood. A large amount of scholarship has gone into trying to understand childhood and adolescence, much of it related to the interactions within families or between young people and other children, teachers, coaches, and people of different ages. As Katherine MacTavish, author of the Encyclopedia of Community's “Children” entry, writes: “In the 1980s and 1990s, researchers in the United States devoted increasing attention to understanding how the community, or more immediately the neighborhood, shapes the daily lives and developmental outcomes of children.” The following are lists of publications and organizations that address children and adolescents, the bonds they form, and their interactions with the communities around them.

Community Economics

• Being for or against business is antithetical to creating self-reliant communities. It's better to sort out which kinds of businesses are the best partners for community self-reliance, and which kinds are the worst. For environmentalists, labor organizers, and other progressive activists in the United States, this means [Page 1499]moving beyond crude tirades against corporations. For those Americans who are uncritically probusiness, this means carefully asking which kinds of businesses can best serve the interests of their community.

As Michael Shuman—one of the editors of the Encyclopedia of Community and author of the encyclopedia's “Community Ownership” entry, among others—explains, viewing economics from a community perspective requires a different mindset. It also calls for some different resources than those traditionally used in the study of economics. The following are lists of publications and organizations that focus on the impact of economics from the daily lives of individuals to the systems that link the entire global community.

Community Health

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or [Page 1501]infirmity,” states the preamble to the 1948 constitution of the World Health Organization. It is in the best interests of any society to ensure that its members are provided with the right tools and information to live healthy lives. From hospitals caring for premature babies to facilities housing the elderly, many different institutions within a community play a role in promoting and sustaining “physical, mental, and social well-being.” The following publications and organizations provide a comprehensive range of consumer, academic, and professional resources on health information and services.

Community Organizing and Activism

According to William H. Friedland and Michael Rotkin, coauthors of the Encyclopedia of Community's “Community Organizing” entry, grassroots organizing is a “growing phenomenon” in both industrialized and developing nations throughout the world. From the smallest rural communities to the border-crossing expanse of the Internet, people come together to advocate or implement changes. The following publications and organizations are concerned with providing the public with the information and resources necessary to take a stand and organize on behalf of their communities.

Community Planning and Development

As a town grows, both in population and in area, a number of people become responsible for measuring and directing its growth. There are ecological, economic, and other social concerns to keep in mind, and poor planning now can result in serious problems years later. This is why many scholars and policymakers are looking at what makes community development that is practical, beneficial, and sustainable. Such development “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” according to United Nations Commission on Environment and Development (in the 1987 Brundtland Report). The following publications and organizations are concerned with understanding and ensuring appropriate and well-advised development of communities around the world.

Community Studies

“The systematic study of communities,” writes William H. Friedland, author of the Encyclopedia of Community's “Community Studies” entry, “had its origins with the massive shift from rural-agrarian societies to urbanindustrial, large-scale societies.” As an academic discipline, community studies is fairly new. Even sociology, the field with which the subject is often aligned, only formally dates back to the nineteenth century. The publications and organizations below are representative of the types of research that have been conducted, as well as organizations and academic centers currently involved in the field of community studies.

Conflict and Justice

Whether it consists of two neighbors fighting over the building of a fence or nations fighting over a large strip of land, conflict has always played a role in shaping communities. Much effort on the part of governments and citizens has gone into resolving conflicts and suppressing crime, violence, and other forms of deviance. The publications and organizations listed below focus on conflicts within and between communities.

Connection to Place

One of the basic questions about community is whether physical location—and face-to-face contact—matter. Many people, including historians as well as landscape planners and environmental activists, believe that connection to place is essential. Much discussion about community and social capital is related to cultivating local knowledge, local identify, and a sense of home. The following publications and organizations examine the importance of a strong connection to one's home region, as well as detailing ways in which this connection can be strengthened.

Global and International

This section features publications and organizations about issues that transcend political boundaries. Some are universals—such as death—that affect communities around the world; others, such as festivals, are institutions that can be found in any number of different countries; and still others, such as colonialism, are processes that occur when groups interact. As the world becomes “smaller,” such global issues are likely to have an everincreasing effect on all communities.

Housing and Homelessness

A crucial consideration of any neighborhood, town, or nation is ensuring that its residents have adequate shelter. Developing and providing housing is a complex social and political issue. As R. Allen Hays, author of the Encyclopedia of Community's “Housing” entry, writes: “The difficulties in creating housing policies that truly enhance the quality of individual and Community life stem, in large part, from the complexity of the human needs that housing is intended to serve.” The following list of publications and organizations focus on policies and approaches from around the world that address issues of housing and homelessness.

Intentional Communities

Bill Metcalf, one of the Encyclopedia of Community's editors and coauthor of the main entry “Intentional Communities,” defines the term as: “Five or more people, drawn from more than one family or kinship group, who have voluntarily come together for the purpose of ameliorating perceived social problems and inadequacies.” Intentional communities have existed for thousands of years, but many people associate the term with phenomena from the past 200 years: the utopian societies of the nineteenth century and the kibbutzim and communes of the twentieth century. In the twenty-first century, intentional communities of all kinds exist in virtually every part of the world, and range from well-established spiritually oriented Communities such as Findhorn in Scotland to more recent innovations such as ecovillages and cohousing. The following publications and organizations are dedicated to either the study of historic or contemporary intentional communities or the promotion of alternative ways of living in the modern world. Many will be useful to readers who are thinking about joining, or forming, an intentional community.

Internet and Cybercommunities

The rise of the Internet and online communities has forced the world to reconsider traditional definitions of “community.” The degree to which these new technologies either promote or endanger the spirit of Community is a much-debated topic. The Internet provides people around the world with easier access to a vast amount of information, as well as the ability to Communicate with friends, relatives, and even complete strangers, who live anywhere from the house next door to the other side of the planet. The following publications and organizations examine the development and ramifications of these new technologies.

Politics and Government

Political leaders and institutions can have profound effects on shaping the future of a community. The laws and other regulations issued by the government determine many aspects of community life, from the development of land to the definition and handling of deviance. The following publications and organizations examine types of government, civic participation, community organizing, and popular movements, as well as exploring the relationship between governments and citizens.

Race and Ethnicity

Race and ethnicity play an important role in both selfidentity and community identity. Ignorance and prejudice over race and ethnicity have caused many problems throughout human history, but group identity has resulted in strong communities and the empowerment of racial and ethnic minorities. The following publications and organizations are committed to the study of identity and relations, and the promotion of cultural understanding.

Religion

Much like race and ethnicity, religion has traditionally played an important role both in shaping one's sense of self and in forging connections among a group of people. For many people, churches, synagogues, mosques, and other places of worship are regular gathering places, where they can find both physical and spiritual community. The following publications and organizations examine the role that religion plays in the lives of individuals and in the lives of their communities.

Rural Life and Studies

Rural communities face many of the same problems as their urban counterparts, but often in different degrees. In addition, there are a host of issues unique to rural life. Rural sociology and other aspects of rural studies seek to break down the stereotypes associated with rural communities and to understand the similarities and differences in the challenges they face and the strategies they use in order to be successful. The following publications and organizations are representative of the work currently being done in this field of study.

Small Towns and Village Life

According to Alexander Thomas, author of the Encyclopedia of Community'entry on “Small Towns,” “There are more small towns in industrialized countries than there are cities, [but] the proportion of small-town residents is normally quite low when compared to those who live in metropolitan areas due to the relative populations of both types of settlements.” Small towns are often stereotyped, either as idyllic locations that avoid the corruption of the big cities or as stagnant communities that fear change and the encroachment of the modern world. The following publications and organizations examine the role of the small town in the modern world.

Social and Public Life

As the British poet John Donne wrote in 1624, “No man is an island … every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main” (Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, “Meditation 17”). From gathering with friends to watch a baseball game to waiting in line with strangers at a fast-food restaurant, from meeting coworkers at the local bar to offering help to a stranded motorist, interactions between people form a large component of human existence. Although new technologies and shifts in lifestyle are changing the ways in which people interact, such connections are still a vital part of a person's selfidentity and understanding of the rest of the world. Conviviality is an aspect of life that is understood in every culture, and promoted today as something that builds social capital. The Italy-based Slow Food Movement has, in fact, made conviviality a core part of its mission. The following are lists of publications and organizations that focus on information public life and the personal bonds that form the basis of community.

Social Capital

“At the most general level,” writes Michael Woolcock, author of the Encyclopedia of Community's entry “Social Capital,” the term “refers to the quality and quantity of our social connections, as captured in the popular aphorism ‘It's not what you know, it's who you know.’” The concept has attracted a lot of attention (and criticism) recently, sparked largely by the publication of Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone. The following publications and organizations take a look at the debate over social capital and its effects on communities.

Urban and Suburban Studies

The world's urban population saw a dramatic increase during the twentieth century as many towns grew into cities. With the growth of cities, new and unique issues and problems developed. The fields of urban and suburban studies are concerned with the rise of cities and suburbs, phenomena that are observable in countries around the world, as well as the lifestyles of their inhabitants. The following publications and organizations are devoted to studying the problems faced by urban populations, as well as the strategies that have evolved or have been implemented to deal with these issues.

Volunteerism

Volunteerism is a community activity in several different ways. First, it involves performing activities that are usually intended to benefit a community in some way. Second, as John Wilson, author of the Encyclopedia of Community's entry “Volunteerism,” writes: “Most volunteer work takes place in connection with, or on behalf of, an organization.” This means that volunteerism is often performed by a group of likeminded people working together toward a common purpose. The following publications and organizations provide information on studying, arranging, and performing volunteer work.