Sense of Community

In past community studies, psychological sense of community (SOC) is an integral and overarching psychological concept to conceptualize the spirit and meaning of community.

Psychological sense of community were first introduced by Sarason (1974), and she believed

similarity with others, an acknowledged interdependence with others, a willingness to maintain this interdependence by giving to or doing for others what one expects from them,

.

Subsequent McMillan and Chavis (1986) reviewed several related researches about senseofcommunity(Doolittle& MacDonald,1978;Glynn,1981;Riger& Lavrakas,1981;

Riger,LeBailly,&Gordon,1981;Ahlbrant&Cunningham,1979;Bachrach&Zautra,1985) and developed the original theory regarding psychological sense of community, which has broadly adopted and discussed by subsequent researches in both placed-based communities (Chipuer&Pretty,1999;Hill,1996;Hughey,Speer,&Peterson,1999;Long&Perlins,2003;

Obst, Smith, & Zinkiewicz,2002;Obst&White,2004;Perkins, Florin, Rich, Wandersman, and Chavis, 1990)andcommunitiesofinterest(Burroughs& Eby,1998;McMillan,1996;

Obst,Zinkiewicz,& Smith,2002a,2002b;Obst& White,2004). McMillan and Chavis ense of community is a feeling that members have of belonging, a

. As aforementioned definition, the proposed conceptual framework of SOC has four major elements: (1) membership, (2) influence, (3) integration and fulfillment (reinforcement) of needs, and (4) shared emotional connection.

Membership, the first element of the sense of virtual community, is feelings of belonging to collective, and identifying and being identified in that community. McMillan and Chavis (1986) recognized five interrelated attributes related to membership: (1) boundaries, (2) emotional safety, (3) a sense of belonging and identification, (4) personal

investment, and (5) a common symbol system. Boundaries refer to an intangible and tangible space to distinguish people who are and who are not part of a group. People use boundaries to preserve personal space through common symbol system such as language, dress, or ritual, and to develop intimacy and feeling of emotional safety with others.

Emotional safety is analogous to the concept of security, which is a sense that people are willing to disclose true feelings. Sense of belonging and identification concerns with the faith and anticipation that one pertains to the group and the degree that one is accepted by the group and devote him/her to the group. The implication of personal investment resembles to cognitive dissonance theory (McMillan and Chavis, 1986). With time investment on participating in a group, meaningful membership will be perceived. Finally, the last attribute of developing sense of membership is common symbol system. It is considered as a significant root in sustaining and molding group boundaries.

Influence, a sense of mattering, is a bidirectional concept. It is the feelings that members influence what the group becomes and how members are moderated and motivated intangibly by the community. According to its notion, the first force is that a group endows its members with rights or powers to control over the group. This force pulls members joining the group. The second force implies that group would hold influence power (e.g., group cohesions and norms) over its members. These two forces will occur simultaneously and interdependently. In addition, McMillan and Chavis (1986) further pointed out the force

and unite, and hence, group norms will be constructed.

The third element of the sense of virtual community is integration and fulfillment of needs (i.e., reinforcement of needs), which is a feeling of the extent that members meet their needs from what they are rewarded since participating in a group. Motivation for seeking

properly satisfied in a group. Such rewards contain the status of being a member, the accomplishment of group as well as the perceived competence of others members. Although it is impossible to identify all the reinforcements (rewards), community can arrange and prioritize which need will be provided and first fulfilled through the directed force of shared

values. .

The last element of the sense of community is shared emotional connection. It is the feelings of having similar beliefs, history, or experience that members in that group are willing to devote themselves to building sympathetically intimate relationships. Shared emotional connection serves as an affective ingredient concerning sense of community.

Based on a shared history that community members can identify with, the community will provide members a location to contact with others, conduct qualified interactions, share critical events, and settle the problematic events. The more emotional involvement invests in a community, the more sense of honor (less humiliation) is perceived from that community, and members will thus be conscious of stronger sense of community. In some degree, the spiritual bond which is experienced among members also plays as a kind of spiritual symbol to promote the sense of community.

In addition to define the elements of the sense of community, McMillan and Chavis (1986) also discussed how attributes for each element interact mutually and how each element interrelates to incubate the sense of community. According to their perspectives, sense of community is not a static psychological situation, and its development will evolve and decay with time elapsed. Figure 2-1 showed the dynamics occurs within the elements. Five attributes of membership interact and enhanced with a circular model. For influence, more openness to influence for a member will lead to more power to influence the community, vice

versa. Also, the community power to influence members (norms) is determined by members needs for validation and community need for conformity. With respect to reinforcement, if a community is conducive to reinforce of members needs easily, members will develop the sense of community toward that community. Finally, two formulas explained the dynamics within shared emotional connection. First, the level of shared emotional connection bases on contact frequency and interaction quality. Second, the level of high-quality interaction is conditioned with the level of event closeness, the valence of shared events, and the glory to a community.

Further, McMillan (1996) expanded and renamed the definition of four elements for the sense of community: Spirit, Trust, Trade, and Art. First, membership is relabeled as spirit.

The major task of a community is to make members feel emotionally

through boundaries, which is a statement of personal own experience, and build the sense of belonging. Paying member dues serves as personal investment (cognitive dissonance) which provides people sense of entitlement to become a member. Second, the development of trust is a significant component for creating sense of influence. With the evolvement of norms order, authority based on principle, and justice for allocating power, people in community can build trustiness through exchanges of power. Third, the achievement of integrating and fulfilling members needs relied on creating a useful and trustworthy economy of trade with a driving force of similarity among members. A self-disclosed and fair economy implied that people intent to share similar values, and then process social exchanges with others who have different resources to approve their own needs. Fourth, the new implication of shared emotional connection is art. The essential of art is the member experience of contracting with others.

will become a collective art. McMillan (1996) mentioned the four principles -reinforcing circle. Spirit stimulates trust,

and then trust supports trade in a community. These three powers create a shared story that is symbolized as art. Finally, art is valuable to maintain the spirit of belonging.

Figure 2-1 Elements and Dynamic Relationships of the Sense of Community Source: Blanchard & Markus (2004, p. 68).