What defines a community? What are the basic requirements of a community?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Charles Vogl, a community is a formal or informal collective of people who care about each other and support each other’s growth. Within communities, people develop culture through meaningful relationships<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keep reading to learn more about what makes a community special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Communities demonstrate care by fostering relationships between members, which creates a sense of belonging<\/a> (the feeling that others welcome and value you). They support members\u2019 growth by sharpening their skills and helping them refine their character. <\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: One reason to be part of a community is that it can help you satisfy a basic psychological need. According to experts, humans are a fundamentally interdependent, social species<\/a>; being in community with others enhances our well-being because we\u2019re innately wired for connection. The psychologist Abraham Maslow referred to this as our need for \u201cbelongingness and love<\/a>.\u201d According to Maslow, once that need is met, we can then work on fulfilling our need to gain respect and reach our full potential. Being part of a community can help with those needs, too\u2014as Vogl explains, communities sharpen our skills and refine our character.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Care and mutual support are what define a community, but Vogl explains that as a community develops, it develops a few other key features, too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n First, community members honor a common moral code. Vogl says people join communities because <\/em>they want to be near people who care about the same things they do\u2014for example, you might join a book group because you value literature and want to explore it with like-minded people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A community\u2019s ethical beliefs also tend to guide members\u2019 behavior: Within a community that shares certain values, you\u2019re more likely to devote time to the causes you care about, and there can be negative consequences when you fall short of community standards. For example, if you\u2019re unfriendly to someone in your book club because they enjoy a different genre than you do, other members might question what you truly value and might even leave the community if the problem seems widespread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: While being part of a community with a common moral code can help guide your decision-making<\/a> in positive ways, there\u2019s also a dark side to this phenomenon. Psychologists call this groupthink<\/em><\/a>\u2014<\/em>the tendency to value community consensus over individual agency or the ability to speak one\u2019s mind. Groupthink<\/a> can lead to poorer community outcomes, since individual members are discouraged from bringing up potential pitfalls of a decision. For example, some experts believe that groupthink contributes to bullying<\/a>\u2014when some members of your community decide it\u2019s okay to make fun of someone else, you might struggle to voice your concerns because you value conforming to your community\u2019s moral code.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, membership in the community comprises part of your identity. Vogl explains that when the moral code you share with your community guides your thinking and behavior, your self-perception<\/a> changes: You see yourself as a particular kind of person (the kind who belongs to that particular community and honors its moral code). When your community is together, members support each other in being the kind of people you\u2019d like to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: Experts note that identity is multifaceted<\/a>\u2014you probably belong to more than one community (say, a religious organization and a hobby club), and each community you belong to comprises part of your identity. When two or more of your communities have conflicting moral codes or are otherwise incongruous, you might feel some cognitive dissonance<\/a> (the sense that you\u2019re not doing what you\u2019re supposed to be doing) or even experience an identity crisis<\/a>. For example, many people report that they struggle to resolve the tension between their religious identities and their LGBT identities<\/a>. To achieve cognitive consonance and a cohesive identity, experts recommend getting in touch with your most authentic self<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, as a result of the other two features, people within a community just get <\/em>each other. Vogl explains that since you share a moral code, behavioral standards, and aspects of your identity, you naturally relate to and empathize with each other, and you\u2019re at ease in each other\u2019s company. To illustrate, LGBT people often value being part of an LGBT community because they don\u2019t have to explain their gender and sexuality-related experiences in that community the way they do among cisgender and straight people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: While Vogl says that people in communities just get <\/em>each other, that\u2019s not always the case\u2014community members may sometimes be in conflict with each other<\/a>. According to experts, this is most likely to occur when members move past the beginning stages of community membership (when they\u2019re most inclined to be agreeable) and get comfortable being themselves. Conflict then arises when members\u2019 personalities or identities clash. For example, LGBT communities sometimes experience conflict<\/a> related to race and other facets of identity\u2014just because members can relate to each other when it comes to gender and sexuality doesn\u2019t mean that all <\/em>their experiences, beliefs, and desires are shared.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What defines a community? What are the basic requirements of a community? According to Charles Vogl, a community is a formal or informal collective of people who care about each other and support each other’s growth. Within communities, people develop culture through meaningful relationships. Keep reading to learn more about what makes a community special.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":34258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,24],"tags":[1320],"class_list":["post-117157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-relationships","category-society","tag-the-art-of-community","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nDefining Community<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n