Communities and Societies

What is the distinction between a community and a society? 

Community

a.        Group of human beings who know each other

--Implies personal knowledge of one another

--Family or group of families—neighborhood, village, college, etc, for example

--Literally have a personal relationship with them; it may not be a deep relationship; it is about knowledge—prefaced on emotional response

--communities are based on emotion

--sense of responsibility in a community/not governed as societies are

--Example of community:  high school

----power relations exists

-----Examples:  elite (wealthy, cheerleaders, jocks) vs poor (nerds, geeks, dweebs)

----informal politics – personal

Society

a.        Group of people that work together

--Relationships primarily defined by pragmatic concerns, norms, structures, institutions

--capable of being much larger (i.e. billions)

--more impersonal

--Example:  United States is a society with

--Example:  United States of America is a society with 330 million people

--impersonal

--a society is impersonal; based on ethics (structural or institutional); governed

--dominated by formal or institutionalized politics; impersonal