Sept 14: Community

These writing assignments are meant to help you think about the readings and to prepare you for class discussions. For that reason, when you write a response it is important that you give your opinions and that you relate your thoughts to the reading. Remember that these are exam questions and that they are graded as such. You ought to write them as though you are writing questions on a midterm or a final exam.

Respond to one of the following questions by writing a response on the class Discussion Board on Blackboard at least one hour before class on the date the question is listed. Put your name in the text of the question and give the question number as listed below. Without these I can't tell who wrote the question or what you are responding to. You then have until Midnight on the following Sunday of that week to revise your response if you wish to do so and to submit it for grading. To submit your responses, send them via email to milofsky@bucknell.edu.

Your final version of this question is due by midnight, Sunday, September 20.

Our reading for Monday, September 14 describes a Norwegian island community. While that may seem far from anything you know about or are interested in, as sociologists we try to pay attention to how STRUCTURE works, and how one example of structure can be used to understand another setting or situation. Barnes provides one of the clearest descriptions of how a small, rural community works and we can use his description to understand Central Pennsylvania.

6-1. Consider what Barnes has to say about how networks operate and about how people in small towns share overlapping roles with each other. When you look at rural auctions, what evidence do you see of networks and overlapping roles?

6-2. Many students find sharp contrasts between their home communities and the communities witnessed at auctions. If you see this kind of contrast, what differences are most striking to you? How might differences in the presence or absence of community and the depth or thickness of relationships matter for human service institutions?

6-3. Tell how, according to Barnes, urban and rural networks are fundamentally different. Does this fit your experience? Does it have to be true? What difference does it makes if the network structures are different?

6-4 Let us imagine that altruism is the act of helping others when as individuals we stand to gain nothing for ourselves. Is this kind of altruism actually possible? I've phrased the question to emphasize that people must gain specific personal benefits. Thus vague benefits, like the community benefiting and the individual benefiting from a successful community do not count.

6-5 The chapter "Why Help?" describes three rationales for helping and in each case suggests that the justification for helping also involves refusing to help. Do you believe that some individuals in society do not deserve help? In answering this question, be sure to consider which of the rationales for helping you are buying into and also consider your response to the other rationales for helping.

6-6 Why is community an important component of helping? What kind of social life or social relationships need to be present for a strong helping community to develop? What kind of social life or social relationship in a residential area make helping less likely to be offered?