Mickel Hoback

Communities

This week’s reading covered communities in the Macro Social Environment. The chapter started out explaining the concept of a community which it described as “a number of people who had something in common with one another that connects them in some way and that distinguishes them from others” (Homan, 2008, p. 8). As I read this I started thinking about our own community and wondered what we have in common besides our geographic destination, in that we all live in this area. The chapter also discussed how social-psychological theories stress how community members feel about their interactions with others in the community and their overall sense of well-being. I then went on to read about how the conflict theories emphasize how various community groups are in constant conflict in a power struggle over resources.
As I sat and read over this material I was drawn back to a meeting in which I attended last week for a school project. Working within our cohort groups here at Southern my group has agreed we would be focusing on helping the Hispanic population with financial resources and education. While conducting research on this topic we were informed that a leader within that community would be speaking at an event located in downtown Chattanooga. I decided to go and see if I could obtain any much need information about the population we had chosen.
Upon arriving at the meeting I found out it was sponsored by Occupy Chattanooga which is a local organization following in the footsteps of the much bigger brother “Occupy Wall Street”. I am in no way fond of these types of movements as I always felt it was individuals with nothing better to do then complain about current events. However by the end of the meeting I had a totally different outlook on our own community and how it was being run. Things such as our own community were discussed and conflicts that were being addressed by the group. I found myself sitting there thinking about the many things within our community that were broken and I had never stopped to realize them. I left the meeting with a new perspective on how our local government is handling our concerns and running our city.
During the reading I went from wondering what I had in common with the individuals from my community to looking back on this meeting and realizing that maybe I have more in common with the individuals around me than I first thought. I have since been actively watching the movement hoping that it grows in momentum, but I like many others with the same beliefs are unable or unwilling to help in the movement due to outside opportunities that could be hindered by taking an active stand.