Objectives:

After completing this introductory class session, you will be able to:

• Use the syllabus and web site to improve your success in this course
• Identify ways that you can use social theories in research and practice to address the needs, issues and problems that face contemporary communities
• Appreciate how your life differs from the life you would have lived in a "pre-modern" world
• Start your own appraisal of how different social concepts, theories and theoretical perspectives inform the policies, institutions, interventions and public discourse that affect our daily lives as individuals and groups

Readings -- READ THESE BEFORE CLASS

Allan (textbook)

Allan, K. (2011). Sociology, theory and the modern agenda. In K. Allan, The Social Lens, pp. 3-12, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA. NOTE this is from the 2nd Edition. For those of you using the 1st Edition, you can get this on e-reserve

Blackshaw (textbook)

None

Other Required Readings

Reed, B.G. (2005) Theorizing in community practice: Essential tools for building community, promoting social justice, and implementing social change. In M. Weil (ed.), The Handbook of Community Practice, pp. 84-102, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA. On e-reserve. Bring this to class.

Dixon, J. & Banwell, C. (2009). Theory driven research designs for explaning behavioural health risk transitions: The case of smoking. Social Science & Medicine 68 (12), 2206-2214. On e-reserve -- read this for overall content, not in great detail. Bring this to class.

Additional Preparation

Examine the syllabus well before class. If you have any questions, be prepared to get clarification in class. I do not plan to go over the content of the syllabus in class in any detail.

Theory, Epistemology & Methodology Bring this to class

Additional Materials

What Is Community

Affleck, J. & Kvan, T. (2008). A virtual community as the context for discursive interpretation: A role in cultural heritage engagement. International Journal of Heritage Studies 14(3), 268-280.

Atkinson, J.D. (2008). Towards a model of interactivity in alternative media: A multilevel analysis of audiences and producers in a new social movement network. Mass Communication & Society 11(3), 227-247.

Blanchard, A.L. (2007). Developing a sense of virtual community measure. CyberPsychology & Behavior 10(6), 827-830.

Brown, E.E. & Brooks, F. (2006). African American and Latino perceptions of cohesion in a multiethnic neighborhood. American Behavioral Scientist, 50(2), 258-275.

Edge, S. & McAllister, M.L. (2009) Place-based local governance and sustainable communities: Lessons from Canadian biosphere reserves. Journal of Environmental Planning & Management 52 (3), 279-295.

Fremeaux, I. (2005). New Labour's appropriation of the concept of community: A critique. Community Development Journal 40(3), 265-274.

Goodings, L., Locke, A. & Brown, S.D. (2007). Social networking technology: Place and identity in mediated communities. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology 17, 463-476.

Hartman, J.E. (2005). Another kind of "chilly climate": The effects of lesbian separatism on bisexual women's identity and community. Journal of Bisexuality, 5(4) 61-76.

Ishii, K. & Ogasahara, M. (2007). Links between real and virtual networks: A comparative study of onine communities in Japan and Korea. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10(2), 252-257.

Jensen, M.J., Danziger, J.N. & Venkatesh, A. (2007). Civil society and cyber society: The role of the internet in community associations and democratic politics. The Information Society 23, 39-50.

Kelly, G. & Hosking, K. (2008). Nonpermanent residents, place attachment, and "sea change" communities. Environment & Behavior 40(4), 575-594.

Kumar, C. (2005). Revisiting "community" in community-based natural resource management. Community Development Journal 40(3), 275-285.

Lin, C. (2010). Learning virtual community loyalty behavior from a perspective of social cognitive theory. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction 26(4), 345-360.

McCreanor, T., Penney, L., Jensen, V., Witten, K. et al. (2006). "This is like my comfort zone": Senses of place and belonging with Oruamo/Beachhaven, New Zealand. New Zealand Geographer, 62(3), 196-207.

Perkins, D.D., Bess, K.D., Cooper, D.G., Jones, D.L. et al. (2007). Community organizational learning: Case studies illustrating a three-dimensional model of levels and orders of change. Journal of Community Psychology 35(3), 303-328.

Peterson, C.E. & Drennan, R.D. (2005). Communities, settlements, sites and surveys: Regional-scale analysis of prehistoric human interaction. American Antiquity 70(1), 5-31.

Polletta, F. & Jasper, J.M. (2001). Collective identity and new social movements. Annual Review of Sociology 27, 283-305.

Smith, G. (2004). Faith in community and communities of faith? Government rhetoric and religious identity in urban Britain. Journal of Contemporary Religion 19(2), 185-204.

Trentelman, C.K. (2009). Place attachment and community attachment: A primer grounded in the lived experience of a community sociologist. Society & Natural Resources 22(3), 191-210.

Use these articles as you complete the assignments for the semester project. They give examples and perspectives and will help you understand how to tie theory to resarch and practice. These do NOT necessarily deal with applications to community -- they are simply examples of how to use theory .

August, G.J., Bloomquist, M.L., Lee, S.S., Realmuto, G.M. & Hektner, J.M. (2005). Can evidence-based prevention programs be sustained in community practice settings? The early risers' advanced-stage effectiveness trial. Prevention Science 7 (2), 151-165.

Babalola, S., Brasington, A., Agbasimalo, A., Helland, A. et al. (2006). Impact of a communication programme on female genital cutting in eastern Nigeria. Tropical Medicine & International health 11 (10), 1594-1603.

Bijlenga, D., Birnie, E. & Bonsel, G.J. (2009). Feasibility, reliability and validity of three health-state valuation methods using multiple-outcome vignettes on moderate-risk pregnancy at term. Value in Health 12(5), 821-827.

Cooke, I.R., Queenborough, S.A., Mattison, E.H.A., Bailey, A.P. et al. (2009). Integrating socio-economics and ecology: A taxonomy of quantitative methods and a review of their use in agro-ecology. Journal of Applied Ecology 46 (2), 269-277.

Green, L.W. & Glasgow, R.E. (2006). Evaluating the relevance, generalization and applicability of research. Evaluation and the Health Professions, 29 (1), 126-153.

Hoyt, A.L., Rhodes, R.E., Hausenblas, H.A. & Giacobbi, P.R. Jr. (2009). Integrating five-factor model facet-level traits with the theory of planned behavior and exercise. Psychology of Sport & Exercise, 10(5), 565-572.

Ingram, M., Ruiz, M., Mayorga, M.T., & Rosales, C. (2009). The Animadora Project: Identifying factors related to the promotion of physical activity among Mexican Americans with diabetes. Journal of Health Promotion 23(6), 396-402.

Jackson, P.R. (2005). Indigenous theorizing in a complex world. Asian Journal of Social Psychology 8 (1), 51-64.

Kim, J. & Ross, C.E. (2009). Neighborhood-specific and general social support: Which buffers the effect of neighborhood disorder on depression? Journal of Community Psychology 37 (6), 725-736.

Lansing, J.S. (2003). Complex adaptive systems. Annual Review of Anthropology, 32 (1), 183-204.

Raudsepp, M. (2005). Why is it so difficult to understand the theory of social representatinos? Culture & Psychology 11(4), 455-568.

Schensul, J.J. (2009). Community, culture and sustainability in multilevel dynamic systems intervention science. American Journal of Community Psychology 43 (3-4), 241-256.

Stein-Seroussi, A., Stockton, L., Brodish, P. & Meyer, M. (2009). Randomized controlled trial of ACTION smoking cessation curriculum in tobacco-growing communities. Addictive Behaviors 34(9), 737-743.

Trickett, E.J. & Ryerson Espino, S.L. (2004). Collaboration and social inquiry: Multiple meanings of a construct and its role in creating useful and valid knowledge. American Journal of Community Psychology 34 (1-2), 1-69.

Weik, T.M. (2009). The role of ethnogenesis and organization in the development of African-Native American settlements: An African Seminole model. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 13(2), 206-238.

West, R.E. (2009). What is shared? A framework for understanding shared innovation within communities. Educational Technology, Research & Development 57(3), 315-332.