Sociology and Space, No. 77-78, 1982.
Original scientific paper
The Local Community in Sociological Perspective
Milan Župančić
Abstract
In the introduction the author considers
the importance of the community,
and especially the local community,
for human society. In sociological theory
interest for the community grew
especially after the appearance of Tönnis’s
classical work Gemeinschaft und
Gesellschaft. Modern research into the
local community has a predecessor in
socio-reformatory studies of the society
started by F. Le Play and C.
Booth. They were primarily interested
in problems resulting from industrialization,
like crime, pauperization, social
disorganization and the like. It was
seen that these problems could be
studied best within the framework of
the local society, which is their natural
framework. Research developed from
a description of different phenomena,
to placing the communitiy and its structural
categories in the centre of interest.
The second part of the article presents
different approaches to research
into local communities- Different approaches
include different dimensions
of the local community, and focus on
specific aspects of life in them. Holistic
approaches fix the community as
a whole and all the manifestations of
life in it — these are usually studies
of an ethnographic and antropological
character. The ecological approach is
primarily concerned with spatial relations
between various groups and institutions,
and changes in the use of
space.
Most interesting for sociology are
approaches to the community as a social
system, and here the author explains
a model by I. Sanders, a wellknown
expert for problems of the local
community, which can be used for the
sociological elaboration of processes
that take place in local community.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
119616
URI
Publication date:
20.12.1982.
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