Editing Community (section)

==Perspectives of various disciplines==

===Archaeology===
[[Archaeology|Archaeological studies]] of social communities use the term "community" in two ways, mirroring usage in other areas. The first meaning is an informal definition of community as a place where people used to live. In this literal sense it is synonymous with the concept of an ancient [[Human settlement|settlement]]—whether a [[hamlet (place)|hamlet]], [[village]], [[town]], or [[city]]. The second meaning resembles the usage of the term in other [[social sciences]]: a community is a group of people living near one another who interact socially. [[Social interaction]] on a small scale can be difficult to identify with archaeological data. Most reconstructions of social communities by archaeologists rely on the principle that social interaction in the past was conditioned by physical distance. Therefore, a small village settlement likely constituted a social community and spatial subdivisions of cities and other large settlements may have formed communities. [[Archaeology|Archaeologists]] typically use similarities in [[material culture]]—from house types to styles of pottery—to reconstruct communities in the past. This classification method relies on the assumption that people or households will share more similarities in the types and styles of their material goods with other members of a social community than they will with outsiders.<ref>Canuto, Marcello A. and Jason Yaeger (editors) (2000) ''The Archaeology of Communities''. Routledge, New York. Hegmon, Michelle (2002) Concepts of Community in Archaeological Research. In ''Seeking the Center: Archaeology and Ancient Communities in the Mesa Verde Region,'' edited by Mark D. Varien and Richard H. Wilshusen, pp. 263–279. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.</ref>

=== Sociology ===
Early sociological studies identified communities as fringe groups at the behest of local power elites. Such early academic studies include ''[[Who Governs?]]'' by [[Robert Dahl]] as well as the papers by [[Floyd Hunter]] on [[Atlanta]]. At the turn of the 21st century the concept of community was rediscovered by academics, politicians, and activists. Politicians hoping for a democratic election started to realign with community interests.<ref>{{Cite book |title=A Neighborhood Politics of Last Resort: Post-Katrina New Orleans and the Right to the City |author1=Stephen Danley |page=3 |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |year=2018 |isbn=9780773555891}}</ref>

===Ecology===
{{main|Community (ecology)}}

In [[ecology]], a community is an assemblage of populations—potentially of different species—interacting with one another. Community ecology is the branch of ecology that studies interactions between and among species. It considers how such interactions, along with interactions between species and the [[abiotic]] environment, affect social structure and species richness, diversity and patterns of abundance.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nicolson |first=Malcolm |date=March 1993 |title=L. A. Real and J. H. Brown (eds.), Foundations of Ecology: Classic Papers with Commentaries. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press (with the Ecological Society of America), 1991. Pp. xiv + 905. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0007087400030673 |journal=The British Journal for the History of Science |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=129–130 |doi=10.1017/s0007087400030673 |issn=0007-0874|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Species interact in three ways: [[competition]], [[predation]] and [[Mutualism (biology)|mutualism]]:
* Competition typically results in a double negative—that is both species lose in the interaction.
* Predation involves a win/lose situation, with one species winning.
* Mutualism sees both species co-operating in some way, with both winning.

The two main types of ecological communities are '''major''' communities, which are self-sustaining and self-regulating (such as a forest or a lake), and '''minor''' communities, which rely on other communities (like fungi decomposing a log) and are the building blocks of major communities. Moreover, we can establish other non-taxonomic subdivisions of biocenosis, such as [[Guild (ecology)|guilds]].

[[File:IB Biology Figure Project (1).svg|thumb|A simplified example of a community. A community includes many populations and how they interact with each other. This example shows interaction between the zebra and the bush, and between the lion and the zebra, as well as between the bird and the organisms by the water, like the worms.]]

=== Semantics ===
The concept of "community" often has a positive semantic connotation, exploited rhetorically by populist politicians and by advertisers<ref>
{{cite book
 | editor1-last = Wilson
 | editor1-first = Alexander
 | title = Advertising and the Community
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oOBRAQAAIAAJ
 | series = Reprints of economic classes
 | year = 1968
 | edition = reprint
 | location = Manchester
 | publisher = Manchester University Press
 | page = 39
 | isbn = 978-0719003363
 | access-date = 6 June 2021
 | quote = In Britain, by far the more fashionable concern is that for advertising's value to the community.
}}
</ref>
to promote feelings and associations of mutual well-being, happiness and togetherness<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Everingham
 | first1 = Christine
 | title = Social Justice and the Politics of Community
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GVK5AAAAIAAJ
 | series = Welfare and society : studies in welfare policy, practice and theory
 | year = 2003
 | edition = reprint
 | location = Aldershot
 | publisher = Ashgate
 | page = 21
 | isbn = 978-0754633983
 | access-date = 6 June 2021
 | quote = Community is a very troublesome word then, having a wide range of meanings and connotations but little in the way of specific content. It is particularly useful as a rhetorical device because of its democratic and populist connotations, being associated with 'the people', as distinct from 'the government'.
}}
</ref>—veering towards an almost-achievable [[utopian community]].

In contrast, the [[epidemiology|epidemiological]] term "[[community transmission]]" can have negative implications,<ref>
For example:
{{cite news
| last1                 = Basu
| first1                = Mohana
| title                 = What is community transmission — how one can contract COVID-19 without travelling
| url                   = https://theprint.in/health/what-is-community-transmission-how-one-can-contract-covid-19-without-travelling/380398/
| work                  = ThePrint
| publisher             = Printline Media Pvt Ltd
| publication-date      = 13 March 2020
| access-date           = 6 June 2021
| quote                 = [...] when the source of transmission for a large number of people is not traceable it is called a community transmission. [...]Most types of influenza and bird flu outbreaks in the past were known to have spread through community transmission. The outbreak of H1N1 in 2009, commonly known as swine flu, was primarily through community transmission. [...] In the case of community transmission, contact tracing is inadequate in containing the disease. [...] This is particularly worrisome for health officials because that means the virus is in the community but no one knows where it has come from or track its origins. This also means the virus can be widespread in a community.
}}
</ref> and instead of a "criminal community"<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Feinberg
 | first1 = Joel
 | author-link1 = Joel Feinberg
 | title = The Moral Limits of the Criminal Law: Harmless wrongdoing
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yDQQAQAAMAAJ
 | series = Volume 4 of The Moral Limits of the Criminal Law
 | year = 1988
 | location = Oxford
 | publisher = Oxford University Press
 | publication-date = 1988
 | page = 103
 | isbn = 978-0-19-504253-5
 | access-date = 6 June 2021
 | quote = There is, as I have said, a law enforcement community but not a criminal community. Why should that be?
}}
</ref> one often speaks of a "[[criminal underworld]]" or of the "criminal fraternity".