PYC4814
COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY
LESSON 1
THEORETICAL LENSES
, PYC4814
COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY 2022
Lesson 1
Lens 1
The social construction of community
Communities are real because they consist of real things
Studying communities
The same as studying natural phenomena such as rocks or trees or ecosystems, because
human communities often contain tangible things such as people and land and cars and
houses and food and water.
We will not focus much on these tangible things.
It is important to remember that real, tangible things keep communities going.
Communities are real because they are socially constructed
Working together, people invent ways of looking at and responding to the world
Because enough of us, share the same perspective = the thing we invented (or ‘socially
constructed’) becomes effectively real.
It doesn’t matter if ‘community’ really exists - our belief in the idea of community and in
the existence of particular communities has real consequences.
So the shared idea of community and of the existence of specific communities makes
communities real.
‘Community’ is about insiders and outsiders
The term ‘community’ implies two things:
1. There are people who belong together, who are of one mind, who have shared interests
and motives, and who care for one-another.
Together they form ‘the community’.
2. Conversely, ‘community’ suggests that there are people who do not belong - the outsiders
who are somehow different from those who form part of the community.’
There is truth to both these implications:
, It is true that communities consist of people who have something in common
(such as living in the same area or sharing common interests)
and it is true that there are always people who are outsiders and who do not belong to a
particular community.
However, using the term ‘community’ can trick us in two ways:
First the ‘insiders’ may be much more diverse than the term ‘community’ suggests.
Second, by how we define the boundaries of the community (that is by saying who is
included and excluded) we can make problems and their potential solutions appear in
different ways.
Whenever you hear the term ‘community’ you should be suspicious:
-Who is being included and made to look as if they are all the same and belong together?
-Who is being excluded and made to look as if they are irrelevant to the issues being faced by
the community?
There are ready-made ideas about different types of communities
Just as we have stereotypical ideas and prejudices about particular types of people, we
have stereotypical ideas about particular communities.
So, when we get information about a particular community we should take into account
that it might just be repeating preconceived ideas about that type of community.
Communities arise from particular histories
Communities are not timeless, but are the products of a series of large and small events
that help them to come into being and to continue existing.
Communities are (socially) constructed over time - they don’t spring into existence out of
nowhere.
It is important to know about the immediate, local history of a community, but perhaps
even more important is to understand how a community is the product of large historical
forces.
In South-Africa most communities have been shaped by our colonial and apartheid past
and, in like manner, our communities continue to be shaped by democracy and our present
history.
COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY
LESSON 1
THEORETICAL LENSES
, PYC4814
COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY 2022
Lesson 1
Lens 1
The social construction of community
Communities are real because they consist of real things
Studying communities
The same as studying natural phenomena such as rocks or trees or ecosystems, because
human communities often contain tangible things such as people and land and cars and
houses and food and water.
We will not focus much on these tangible things.
It is important to remember that real, tangible things keep communities going.
Communities are real because they are socially constructed
Working together, people invent ways of looking at and responding to the world
Because enough of us, share the same perspective = the thing we invented (or ‘socially
constructed’) becomes effectively real.
It doesn’t matter if ‘community’ really exists - our belief in the idea of community and in
the existence of particular communities has real consequences.
So the shared idea of community and of the existence of specific communities makes
communities real.
‘Community’ is about insiders and outsiders
The term ‘community’ implies two things:
1. There are people who belong together, who are of one mind, who have shared interests
and motives, and who care for one-another.
Together they form ‘the community’.
2. Conversely, ‘community’ suggests that there are people who do not belong - the outsiders
who are somehow different from those who form part of the community.’
There is truth to both these implications:
, It is true that communities consist of people who have something in common
(such as living in the same area or sharing common interests)
and it is true that there are always people who are outsiders and who do not belong to a
particular community.
However, using the term ‘community’ can trick us in two ways:
First the ‘insiders’ may be much more diverse than the term ‘community’ suggests.
Second, by how we define the boundaries of the community (that is by saying who is
included and excluded) we can make problems and their potential solutions appear in
different ways.
Whenever you hear the term ‘community’ you should be suspicious:
-Who is being included and made to look as if they are all the same and belong together?
-Who is being excluded and made to look as if they are irrelevant to the issues being faced by
the community?
There are ready-made ideas about different types of communities
Just as we have stereotypical ideas and prejudices about particular types of people, we
have stereotypical ideas about particular communities.
So, when we get information about a particular community we should take into account
that it might just be repeating preconceived ideas about that type of community.
Communities arise from particular histories
Communities are not timeless, but are the products of a series of large and small events
that help them to come into being and to continue existing.
Communities are (socially) constructed over time - they don’t spring into existence out of
nowhere.
It is important to know about the immediate, local history of a community, but perhaps
even more important is to understand how a community is the product of large historical
forces.
In South-Africa most communities have been shaped by our colonial and apartheid past
and, in like manner, our communities continue to be shaped by democracy and our present
history.
