Difference Between Society and Association BA 1st Year Notes Study Material in English
Difference Between Society and Association BA 1st Year Notes Study Material in English: The meaning of Community is derived from two words ‘com’ meaning ‘together’ and ‘Munis’ meaning ‘to serve. According to its Etymological meaning. community means to serve together. Inevitably, people who over any length of time reside in a particular locality should develop social likeness, should have common social ideas, common traditions and a sense of belonging together. This fact of social living and a common specific area gives birth to the community.
Definitions of Community Some of the main definitions follow:
- According to Lundberg: “Community is, *a human population living. Within a limited geographic area and carrying on a common interdependent life.”
- Bogardus: “Community is à social group with some degree of “we feeling” and “living in a given area.”
- Ogburn and Nimkoff: “Community is the total organisation of social life with a limited area.”
- Kingsley Davis: “Community is the smallest territorial group that can embrace all aspects of social life.”
- Ginsberg: “Community is a group of social beings living a common life including all the infinite variety and complexity of relations, which result from that common life or constitute it.
- Talcott Parsons: “A community is that collectivity the members of which share a common territorial area as their base of operation for daily activities.”
In the above definitions, we find two approaches to the meaning of community first is the ecological aspect and the second is psychological emphasis.
Elements of Community There are the following essential elements in a community:
- Group of People: A community is a group of people where the individuals live together in such a way that they share the basic conditions of common life, we call them forming a community.
- Locality: The group of people forms a community when it begins to reside in a definite locality. A community always occupies a territorial area. The area need not be fixed forever. In the village people, there is unity because they reside in a definite locality.
- Community Sentiment: Community sentiment means a feeling of belonging together. It is ‘we-feeling among the members. In modern times this sentiment very much lacking among the people occupying a specific local area.
- Permanency: A community is not transitory. like a crowd. It essentially includes a permanent life in a definite place.
- Naturality: Communities are not made or created by an act of will but are natural. An individual is born in a community.
- Likeness: In a community, there is a likeness in language; custom mores etc. According to Green, “A community is a cluster of people living within a narrow territorial radius, who share a common way of life.”
- A particular Name: Every community has some particular name.
According to Lumley,
“It points to an identity, it indicates reality; It points out individuality, it often describes the personality and each community is something of a personality.
- No Legal Status: A community is not a legal person. It cannot sue, nor can it be said. In the eyes of law, it has no rights and duties.
Size of Community: A community- may be big or small. A big community, such as a notion, will contain within it a number of small communities and groups with more close bonds of unity and more notorious* common qualities.
Smaller communities like villages or neighbourhoods are examples of the primitive world- Both types of communities, big or small, are essential to the full development of life.
Difference between Community and Society
Community:
- A community consists of a group of individuals.
- Community is concrete.
- A definite geographical area is essential for a community.
- There can not be more than one society in a community.
- Community sentiment is indispensable for a community.
- In a community, the common objectives are comparatively less extensive and coordinated.
- In a community a common agreement of interests and objectives is necessary.
Society:
- Society is a web of social relationships.
- Society is abstract.
- A definite geographical area is not necessary for society.
- There can be more than one community in a society.
- Community sentiment or a sense of unity is not essential in society.
- In society, the common objectives are extensive and coordinated.
- In a society, Common interests and common objectives are not necessary.
According to Manzer, ” A society that inhabits a definite geographic area. is known as a community. “Zimmermann and Frampton describe the distinction between community and society as follows: “In the community (Gemeinschaft) the group has a life of its own, superior to that of its temporary members. The group is an end in itself. In the society (Gesellschaft) the group is merely a means to an end. In the Gemeinschaft, we have faith, customs, natural solidarity, common ownership of property, and a common will. The Gesellschaft, we have doctrine, public opinion fashion, contractual solidarity, private property, and individual will.”