Working In The Community

Introduction

The corresponding study report would bring into focus the critical aspects associated with the analytical assessment of a selected community for the purpose of fulfilment of the study consecutive study objectives. The initial objective could be outlined as demonstration of the understanding concerning the concept of working with any specific community with specific focus on the concepts related to community identity. The next study objective would be deliberative of the factors which formulate and characterise the structure of communities. Furthermore, the third study objective would be related with the research analysis of the resources which get to be applied at the community level. Finally, the study objective of gauging the views of the community would be undertaken through proper evaluation of the approaches.

Community profile development

Community selection

For the purpose of achievement of success of the study project undertaken, the research process has selected the African minority community currently residing within the geographical boundary of the United Kingdom. In this context, the research of Aldrich and Meyer (2015) has outlined certain features which could be brought into focus concerning the formulation of the profile of the selected community within the study context. To this effect, it could be observed that the ethnically African community based populace is primarily formulated by the descendants of the Africans who arrived at the United Kingdom from the early years of 1950s onwards and the points of commencement of the migration could be mostly observed, from the historical perspective, to be those of West Indies and the various Commonwealth nations of the African continent. The minority African community of the United Kingdom, as per the research of Bessant (2016), currently constitutes an approximate measure of 3% of the entire population structure of the United Kingdom. This statistical measure could thus be interpreted to amount to 1.9 million people who are inclined to trace their ethnic lineage as Caribbean or Afro-Caribbean. According to Bhachu (2017), out of this entire population extent of the African community, the personnel of Caribbean descent could be identified to be that of 601700 individuals which amounts to, approximately, 0.95% of the entire community. Out of the rest, 1.02 million or approximately 1.6% of the individuals are of African descent and, furthermore, 0.45% or 282100 individuals categorise themselves as people of other descent, primarily that of mixed lineage. The number of personnel of interracial lineage could be identified to be that of 615000 individuals. The majority of the members of the African community currently are urban dwellers at major cities of the United Kingdom. However, a noteworthy demographic transition had become evident from 1984 onwards which could be better elaborated as the surpassing of numbers of the members of the African communities who had been born at the United Kingdom in comparison to the first generation immigrants.

According to Blinder (2015), the varieties and extensive ethnic as well as demographic and social engagement factors associated with the overarching structure of the minority community of African descent currently residing within the United Kingdom, are multifarious. Such features and aspects involve the occupational and professional perspectives where, as per the research of Cantle (2018), a considerable number of first and second generation migrants of African descent to the United Kingdom could be observed to be employed as entrepreneurs, community activists, bankers, writers, medical professional photographers, seamstresses and fashion designers, caterers, nurses, columnists and as successful sportsmen as well. The individual geographical lineages of such a large number of foreign descent community members are also multiple in number and include individuals of different national lineage such as Congolese, Nigerians, Angolans, Ghanaians, personnel from Sierra Leone, Somalis, Zimbabweans, South Africans, Malians, Gabonese and others as well. According to Chessum (2017), from the academic and skill development perspectives, the observed conditions related to the situations of the members of this community exhibit an extensive variation as well, depending upon socio-economic status and positions in the current fluid state of social hierarchical structures. This could be better elaborated as possession of degree course qualification by up to a quarter of the migrant community of the African origin as well as possession of differential vocational qualifications and practical skills by another quarter of the same community. According to the research observations of Cole and Groes (2016), approximately 12.5% or one in every eight individuals of African descent do not have possession of any effective educational qualification of any specific mainstream educational measure, be it that of the degree course or of any other stream. Apart from this, as could be determined from the research of Dillon and Fanning (2016), there is a particular trend which could be observed in terms of likelihood of possession of qualifications by distinctive groups of members of the African minority community at the United Kingdom. This could be better explained through the fact that immigrants or descendants from nations of Western Africa have greater likelihood of possessing higher qualifications including that of the degree course level. On the contrary, immigrants and the descendants of the immigrants from different nations situated at Eastern Africa could be observed to have the least likelihood having any higher qualification including that of degree course level such as Bachelor degrees in any mainstream subject. Complete dearth of qualification could be observed to be another aspect associated with the Eastern African immigrants to the United Kingdom. Furthermore, Favell (2016) has concluded that immigrants arriving from South Africa or other countries situated at the Southern African half are more likely to possess specific qualifications commensurate for professional and utilitarian responsibilities such as nursing, care provisioning and others.

From a historical perspective, according to the research of Freeman (2015), the arrivals of the populace of the African origin could be understood to have commenced from the 12th Century onwards as a direct outcome of the slave trade. Even during the Roman occupation of the British Isles, the existence of personnel of African origin could be determined from the historical records of the Roman Governor Septimus Severus who was an African. Herbert (2016) has observed that by the 18th Century, particular urban centres such as Liverpool, Bristol and Cardiff had sizable population of personnel of African origin.

As has been observed by Holmes (2015), the first large immigration of personnel of African origin commenced from the early years of the First World War when the Afro-Caribbeans had arrived at the UK as servicemen in the armed forces and as replacement labour for the weapons production industry. The conclusion of the WWI witnessed employment of extensive numbers of personnel of African and Caribbean origin, from the Caribbean regions such as Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad by the public services of the UK, such as British Railways, the National Health Service, London Metropolitan Transport and by others which had been nationalised by the early 1920s.

According to Holmes (2015), the African immigrants of Caribbean origin managed to integrate effectively, from the linguistic perspective, within the mainstream social context of UK since English has been the official language of the former British Caribbean Islands. However, the immigrants from different regions of the African continent have experienced certain complications regarding the adaptations to the mainstream education of UK. However, Joly (2017) has pointed out that hybrid dialects had been adopted and developed by the African immigrant descendants through combination of local dialects of UK and their native dialects. This has been indicative of the distinctive cultural influence of African and Caribbean dialects on the mainstream vernacular of the UK.

From the religious perspectives, the majority of the African and Caribbean immigrants have exhibited the inclination towards accepting Protestant denominations of the Non-conformist order. Apart from this, extensive Evangelical influence, in the manner of Pentecostalism could be observed as dominant practices as well amongst the members of this community.

Concerning the resource base of the community under consideration, Martin and Mellon (2018) has delineated that the predominant religious practices, the establishment of Methodist and Seventh Day Baptism order based churches have been extensively supported by the African community at UK and a majority of these churches have evolved into community social centres to foster the social capital of this community. Apart from these, other social resources could be identified in the form of multiplicity of cultural and educational institutes which have been formulated to serve the educational and cultural capital development initiatives of this community. One mention could be made of the Southall Black Sisters organisation which is a non-profit institution catering to the necessities African ethnic minority women. Apart from this, according to Modood and Khattab (2016), another important and critical resource related to the African immigrant community could be identified as the United Kingdom Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic (UK-BAME) organisation. The UK-BAME operates as an online instrument to support the minority ethnic communities within the social structure of the UK as an umbrella organisation. It extends support to the individuals as well as groups of African as well as to minority communities of other nations within the UK regarding access to establish social networks and concerning other opportunities. The primary objective in this regard is to represent the diversified and collective interests of the various minority ethnic communities who could be in requirement of different modes of assistance such as establishment of small businesses and career opportunities.

Reference List

• Aldrich, D.P. and Meyer, M.A., 2015. Social capital and community resilience. American Behavioral Scientist, 59(2), pp.254-269.
• Bessant, K.C., 2016. Whither Gemeinschaft: Willing and acting together as a community. The Anthem companion to Ferdinand Tönnies, pp.59-78.
• Bhachu, P., 2017. Immigration and entrepreneurship: culture, capital, and ethnic networks. Routledge.
• Blinder, S., 2015. Imagined immigration: the impact of different meanings of ‘immigrants’ in public opinion and policy debates in Britain. Political Studies, 63(1), pp.80-100.
• Cantle, T., 2018. Community cohesion: A new framework for race and diversity. Springer.
• Chessum, L., 2017. From immigrants to ethnic minority: Making black community in Britain. Routledge.
• Cole, J. and Groes, C. eds., 2016. Affective Circuits: African Migrations to Europe and the Pursuit of Social Regeneration. University of Chicago Press.
• Dillon, D. and Fanning, B., 2016. Lessons for the Big Society: planning, regeneration and the politics of community participation. Routledge.
• Favell, A., 2016. Philosophies of integration: Immigration and the idea of citizenship in France and Britain. Springer.
• Freeman, G.P., 2015. Immigrant labor and racial conflict in industrial societies: The French and British experience, 1945-1975. Princeton University Press.
• Herbert, J., 2016. Negotiating boundaries in the city: Migration, ethnicity, and gender in Britain. Routledge.
• Holmes, C., 2015. Immigrants and minorities in British society. Routledge.
• Holmes, C., 2015. John Bull's island: immigration and British society, 1871-1971. Routledge.
• Joly, D., 2017. Blacks and britannity. Routledge.
• Martin, N. and Mellon, J., 2018. The puzzle of high political partisanship among ethnic minority young people in Great Britain. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, pp.1-21.
• Modood, T. and Khattab, N., 2016. Explaining ethnic differences: Can ethnic minority strategies reduce the effects of ethnic penalties?. Sociology, 50(2), pp.231-246.
• Shaw, S.L. and Sui, D. eds., 2018. Human Dynamics Research in Smart and Connected Communities. Springer.
• Tiryakian, E.A., 2016. Situating Durkheim’s Sociology of Work. In For Durkheim (pp. 133-148). Routledge.
• Van Wormer, K. and Besthorn, F., 2017. Human behavior and the social environment, macro level: Groups, communities, and organizations. Oxford University Press.

Essay

Introduction

From an academic perspective, as has been observed through the research of Verkuyten (2018), the concept of community could be understood as the collective entity which is comprised of generally four socio-psychological constituents in the manner of membership, influence, integration of different members for the purpose of fulfilment of necessities and finally an emotional connection which has to be shared and could exist amongst the members of the community and this connection. The emphasis is always on the interplay which has to take place in between these specifically mentioned factors for the structural formulation and sustaining effect of the same related to a community such as the one under consideration in this research study. According to Chessum (2017), this could be further elaborated as sharing of the beliefs, intents, preferences, resources, necessities and commonality of on part of a group of people who comprise any social unit which could be either small or large in size. In this respect, as has been observed by Cole and Groes (2016), certain characteristics related to the concept of a community could be analysed. The first one is identifiable as the sharing of a sense or perception of place concerning any particular geographical region such as neighbourhood, village, urban dwelling, country or even a continent, such as that of Africa in case of the African immigrant community. This sense or perception defines the social relationship which could bind the members of such a community profusely.

As per the research of Dillon and Fanning (2016), the second one could be comprehended in the manner of the assessment of durable relations as the basis of the social capital which signifies the fundamental cohesion of any social group of people and thus lead to the formulation of an enduring community. These durable relations are necessary to have the capability of extending beyond the genealogical ties which could be immediate amongst the members of any community. In this regard, it could be ascertained that such shared ideas or visions and social connections are perceived to be significant, by the members of different communities, concerning the delineation of the identity and practices as well as roles of them within the various social institutions which could be associated with such communities such as the families, workplaces, home and hearth, administrative entities such as governments and humanitarian entities as well. In this context, Favell (2016) has outlined that the concept of community, at the micro-level, is mostly indicative of social ties which are mostly non-extensive in relation to the broader perspectives which define the perception of social capital, however, at the macro-level, the concept of community could as well refer to extensive group based affiliations involving the perception of communities at the local, regional, national international and even at the virtual level.

Furthermore, as per the researched suggestions of Freeman (2015), the observed considerations are equally applicable in terms of different interpretations of community, such as those based on the objectives of support provisioning, interest fulfilment or identity generation. Thus, it could be understood that community formulation does not only involve any simplified aggregate of human congregation of based on social relations, since , the membership of any community could be often a voluntary occurrence. However, this does not rule out or obfuscate the fact that the core tenets of every community membership is the definition provision into the social capital, the formulation of consensus amongst the involved community members and the establishment of solidarity based on the shared identity or intents. The instruments which underscore the cohesive ability of the concept of community could be understood as the prevalent emotions and identities as well as the sense of belonging to a social existence on part of the community members. This is fostered through mutual dependence amongst the community members. Herbert (2016) has observed this as the relational unit or component which fosters a specific desire, on part of the individuals, to belong to any social entity which could be extensive and larger than that of the individual. This could be better delineated as the dominance of preferences in contrast to the situational imperatives which could lead to the formulation of any community. This could be envisaged through a specific example that the residents of any town or urban space, who could be taxpayers, could be classified into such a community of taxpayers. However, these personnel could exhibit the propensity or the desire to get affiliated with or to experience the sense of solidarity with specific groups comprised with the individuals who could be like minded. Such groups could be identified in the geographical contexts or in the cultural contexts.

Hence, the previous discussion could bring forth the realisation that the concept of community could be comprehended from a threefold approach based conceptual basis. The first one could be ascertained as the foundation of the sense of community on the geographical proximity based considerations. The second one could be delineated in the manner of social systems becoming the thread of binding the social institutions as well as groups which could formulate the overall structure of any community. Finally, according to Holmes (2015), the third approach based realisation could drive home the fact that communities could be formulated out of the social communion amongst different individuals or groups of individuals who could be related through commonalities of beliefs or identities as well as social, religious, political and economic practices.

The theoretical constructs which contribute in the analysis of the structural dynamics of any community, generally are based upon the principles of the unity amongst a group of personnel which could be utilised for social improvement and existentialist purposes. In this respect, the prevalent theories of community primarily could be differentiated on the basis of the nature of two different forms of communities. According to Holmes (2015), the first one could be identified as the organisation communities and the second one is associated with the functional identity and such communities had mostly come into existence since the industrial and post-industrial age had set in. In this respect, it could be ascertained that the second format of communities define the communities which emerged as an outcome of congregation of similar minded interest groups and as a direct result of congregation or social connection amongst people, who, could share similar problems or common economic or social conditions. This observation could provide a divergent perspective from the organic method of community formulation which is incumbent upon the proximity of geographical regional existence concerning the formulation of shared social capital amongst the purported members of any community. According to Joly (2017), this standpoint also validates the perception that even territories could exist without any specific community based cohesion or social connection as well, through a variety of means.

In this respect, Martin and Mellon (2018) have observed that the concepts of Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, as had been propounded by Tonnies, are of prime significance. This could be considered to have been a direct reference to the early years of the arrival of the Afro-Caribbean immigrants within the geographical territory of the United Kingdom. This had been the case since the concept of Gemeinschaft exhibits the intimacy and exclusivity of communal existence. However, with the passage of time and with the advent of post-modernism, the theoretical construct of Gemeinschaft had shifted to Gesellschaft. This could be better delineated as a direct shift in the structural makeup of the social relationships and capital where the previous intimacy and exclusivity of existence on the community basis has been transformed into a mechanical and impersonal existence on part of the most of the members of the community under consideration. According to Modood and Khattab (2016), this is one example of organic solidarity getting transformed into mechanical solidarity on part of the Afro-Caribbean immigrant community at the UK. The underlying focus could be comprehended to be on the greater specialisation of the division of labour within the existing social context of the UK and this has overshadowed the commonality of values and norms. However, the theoretical construct propounded by Durkheim, concerning the organic and mechanical solidarity, brings the perspectives of Tonnies into question. This could be understood from the research perspectives of Shaw and Sui (2018), as a divergence of theoretical explanations where Tonnies had put greater emphasis on larger psychological elements concerning the contrasts of or differences which could be generated from diverging individuals personalities and attitudes, whereas, Durkheim, as well as those of formulated by Weber and Karl Marx, specified that the primary rationale of such shifts in the community development dynamics could be envisaged as the specialisation as well as division of labour and the pervasive effect of the same on the social capital and cohesiveness of any community such as that of the Afro-Caribbean minority community of the United Kingdom.

Reference List

• Chessum, L., 2017. From immigrants to ethnic minority: Making black community in Britain. Routledge.
• Cole, J. and Groes, C. eds., 2016. Affective Circuits: African Migrations to Europe and the Pursuit of Social Regeneration. University of Chicago Press.
• Dillon, D. and Fanning, B., 2016. Lessons for the Big Society: planning, regeneration and the politics of community participation. Routledge.
• Favell, A., 2016. Philosophies of integration: Immigration and the idea of citizenship in France and Britain. Springer.
• Freeman, G.P., 2015. Immigrant labor and racial conflict in industrial societies: The French and British experience, 1945-1975. Princeton University Press.
• Herbert, J., 2016. Negotiating boundaries in the city: Migration, ethnicity, and gender in Britain. Routledge.
• Holmes, C., 2015. Immigrants and minorities in British society. Routledge.
• Holmes, C., 2015. John Bull's island: immigration and British society, 1871-1971. Routledge.
• Joly, D., 2017. Blacks and britannity. Routledge.
• Martin, N. and Mellon, J., 2018. The puzzle of high political partisanship among ethnic minority young people in Great Britain. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, pp.1-21.
• Modood, T. and Khattab, N., 2016. Explaining ethnic differences: Can ethnic minority strategies reduce the effects of ethnic penalties?. Sociology, 50(2), pp.231-246.
• Shaw, S.L. and Sui, D. eds., 2018. Human Dynamics Research in Smart and Connected Communities. Springer.
• Verkuyten, M., 2018. The social psychology of ethnic identity. Routledge.