The elementary point of a social group is the presence of social relations. Now, just think of a group in which an individual spends most of the time of his life and what if this group is restricted to a particular locality or place or geographical area? It becomes a community in which people spend most of their time and keep a feeling of belongingness with it.
A group is called as a collection of people with residential ties to particular locality. It is the territorial boundary which differentiates a group with other groups because the concept of group is not restricted to a particular locality. It may be considered as a permanent local aggregation of people having diversified as well as common interests.
Word ‘Community’ is comprised of two Latin words namely ‘com’ and ‘munis’. In English ‘com’ means together and ‘munis’ means to serve. Thus, community means to serve together. In implies that the purpose of a group is to serve.
- MacIver and Page (1952) “Community is a group of people who live together, who belong together, so that they share, not ties or that particular interest, but as a whole set of interests, wide enough and complete enough to include their lives.”
- Kingsley Davis (1957) has defined community as the smallest territorial group that can embrace all the aspects of social life.
An individual cannot live his whole life within an organisation or an association while he can live his life in a village or in a city. So we can say that group provides the individual a conducive environment to live wholly within it and also summarize his social relationships within it.
In the simple societies, communities are considered as self-sufficient but in modern time character of community has become very complex. Moreover, group is a relative term. People live within a greater group such as a village within a district, a district within a region, a region within a state and a state within a country.
Sometimes, it becomes difficult to differentiate a group from other social form like society and groups. But, there are some basic characteristic features of the communities.
Characteristics of a Community
- Definitive geographical area: Community is a spatial entity. A group is always considered in relation to a physical geographical area or territory. It is a compulsory condition for a community. But it should not be confused with those groups who live together without any separate physical boundary. As four friends living in a room do not form a group. Community is a broader term.
- We feeling or community feeling: It is home instinct which lays the foundation of people’s attachment to their house, group or nation. It’s the ‘we’ feeling through which people recognises their community and themselves. Group sentiments develop during a period of time within group.
- Common culture and common life: Life of the people in a community is more or less same. Due to their common ecological conditions, they develop same type of culture, habits and behavioural patterns. Cultural uniformity and uniformity in their mode of life can be observed.
- Close relationships: As a person mostly lives in a community, proximate relations develop. Collective participation becomes a common affair which brings people together and gives a chance to primary relations to develop. Thus, the psychological feelings of a group become more important.
- Completeness of life: Group covers all the aspects of life. Community helps in the socialisation and also helps in developing the group sentiments in a person as well.
- Permanent nature: Communities are never formed with any particular aim or objective. It grows itself spontaneously and so it is durable.
- Not a legal body: A groupis not a legal body i.e. it cannot sue, nor it can be sued. In the eyes of law, group has no rights and duties.
Apart from these basic elements, group shares feeling of one-ness and has a particular name. Though a group does not form with a particular aim, its ends remain wider and natural. MacIver and Page (1952) has considered village and tribal societies as the best examples of community. Apart from it, they have also kept asylum and prison into the category of community.