Introduction
It should be noted that the social identity of people is based on their feeling of belonging to specific social groups. Moreover, it directly depends on the way a person characterizes him or herself with respect to these groups. In particular, this pattern is applicable to residents of all types of communities, and it defines both intergroup and interpersonal relations and internal processes as well.
Researchers argue that the more stable the relations in the community become, the less personalized is the identification of its participants, and individual traits of each person become less important since community interests become the top priority for all residents (Wise, 2015). When individuals are engaged in a group, they feel safer; they start to identify themselves socially, which leads to a more harmonious life of society. Consequently, the issue of social identity is directly related to the sense of community, and it inevitably affects the life of each individual. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the sense of community as applied to a particular group and evaluate it in terms of the four elements proposed in the McMillan-Chavis approach.
Community Description
The community under analysis is represented by low-income families who reside in rural areas of the state. The families and individuals belonging to this social entity have various backgrounds, and they are engaged in different occupations. Nevertheless, almost all representatives have life conditions below-average level, and not all of them can be characterized as self-sustaining families. To be more precise, the majority of the community needs to apply for assistance; however, they have poor access to local social services due to insufficient transportation system. In addition, many residents qualify for government assistance such as SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), Medicaid, and so on.
Nonetheless, they cannot apply for those because of the inability to access the services. These factors lead to such consequences as malnutrition, which poses a threat to community health. Moreover, it has resulted in inadequate living conditions in which the greatest part of the community has to reside. Given these issues, it is crucial to analyze the way a sense of community contributes to the well-being of residents and their feeling of social identification.
McMillan-Chavis Elements
McMillan and Chavis have developed a system that provides a platform for analyzing the psychological feeling of community. Its main elements are the sense of belonging to a group, the possibility to influence the setting and the others, the feeling of engagement to meet the needs of residents, and collective emotional bonding. According to researchers, these aspects and their intensity evidence that community residents are important to each other and that they can influence their well-being by putting a joint effort into it (Wise, 2015).
The feeling of belonging to a group enables people to meet their needs easier through a mutual contribution. However, more importantly, it increases the quality of life of all residents. Despite the fact that these elements are universal, the constituents can be different for various cultures and settings.
It is necessary to emphasize that from the point of view of the unity under analysis, the sense of community is influenced by the participation of residents in local organizations and their general representations about their area (Wise, 2015). Due to the fact that the residents are rather isolated from other communities because of the transportation issue discussed above, they try to communicate more closely and support each other.
Residents try to participate as much as possible in solving the problems of the community, which gives them the opportunity to exercise their rights and be more active in the life of society. In addition, such engagement of the population gives residents the chance to feel part of the community and rally the inhabitants (Jason, Stevens, & Ram, 2015). Such involvement in internal processes increases their sense of happiness and enhances the feeling of membership.
Nevertheless, there is a need to develop methods and tools that will allow residents to take responsibility for the development of their area. At present, a large part of the population poorly assesses their ability to influence the life and improvement of their community. Small-scale activities do not provide an opportunity to improve effectively the lives of residents despite the interest of people. However, residents also have little time to participate in public life due to problems related to the livelihood of families. Therefore, despite the residents’ desire to influence the proceedings within the society in order to improve the quality of life and satisfy their needs, the community either does not have the tools to support the residents or the inhabitants are deprived of opportunities for this activity (Wise, 2015).
It is important to note that despite the fact that most of the population has a desire to participate actively in the life of the community and positively assess their intent in planning the future, individuals do not have access to mechanisms for such participation. Also, many people have a lack of time to participate in events, which indicates the need to create ways to attract residents to the management of the area.
Therefore, regarding the four elements suggested by McMillan and Chavis, the community has a strong sense of membership. Residents identify themselves with the group and are eager to make a personal investment. In addition, it is possible to assume that the community has a common symbol system due to the fact that the area is rather isolated and people try to stick to each other. Nevertheless, the influence element is weak because of the insufficient levers of power that individuals possess.
Residents cannot influence others, which weakens cohesion within the group. This leads to the fact that the fulfillment of needs is insufficient as well. Individuals do not have an opportunity to participate in group formation to an adequate extent. Therefore, since they do not have the mechanisms to influence the setting, participants cannot feel rewarded and feel less integrated (Jason et al., 2015). Nonetheless, community residents share common values, which is a positive aspect in that matter. Regarding the shared emotional connection, individuals have quite positive contacts, which reinforces the feeling of group identification. However, it is rather difficult to judge whether this element is strong enough since further detailed research on the history and customs of this community is needed.
Diverse Backgrounds and Their Impact on Community
It should be mentioned that the members of the community have diverse cultural backgrounds but they share similar life settings and conditions, which affect the sense of community. Cultural differences among residents imply that people have different values and beliefs (Kutay Karacor & Senik, 2016). Nonetheless, the similarities in conditions and life situations have brought residents together so that they have started sharing mutual goals and views. Therefore, the differences in backgrounds had enriched identity and did not push the community to prioritize one subgroup to another. Therefore, it can be assumed that in the case of the community under analysis, diverse backgrounds should be considered an asset to forming a sense of community and driving people to collaborate.
Transportation Issue and Its Effect on Group Identification
Notably, the issue of transportation that exists in the area affects the sense of community. Researchers claim that effective transportation has the potential to reshape communities by providing residents with greater opportunities, which also influences the degree to which residents are willing to contribute themselves to community development. The crucial aspect of this issue is the vision of the community since transportation should envision the goals and aims that residents have (Kutay Karacor & Senik, 2016). Therefore, the transport system should be planned in accordance with collective community representations to be able to meet the needs of people. In general, it should serve as a means to boost social engagement and foster a sense of identity.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that the analysis of the four elements proposed by McMillan and Chavis showed incomplete identification of residents with their social group. Not all four elements are equally pronounced; moreover, several of them are practically absent for objective reasons. Most of the community inhabitants want to form a sense of community and participate in its development. They exhibit high levels of membership. Nevertheless, the low level of participation in the events indicates that this group has no essential mechanisms of influence; although, the residents want to be active in the life of society to fulfill their needs and have a greater bond with others. In order to solve the existing problems, it is necessary to conduct further research aimed at studying the approaches to meet the needs and desires of residents.
References
Jason, L. A., Stevens, E., & Ram, D. (2015). Development of a three-factor psychological sense of community scale. Journal of Community Psychology, 43(8), 973-985.
Kutay Karacor, E., & Senik, B. (2016). Understanding sense of community through neighborhood satisfaction and socio-demographic variables. International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies, 3(2), 1022-1035.
Wise, N. (2015). Placing sense of community. Journal of Community Psychology, 43(7), 920-929.