Dimensions of community identity

Abstract

The important research area of community identity has failed to develop a practical means of measurement and comparative analysis. Scrutiny of the research literature suggests that this is in part due to the conceptual difficulties related to community in general, a restrictive emphasis on individual level psychological variables, and a reluctance or inability to proceed beyond exploratory methods of research to fuller field studies. Through a review of the related research in community identity in the UK, and from wider research in the areas of Psychological Sense of Community, Social Cohesion, and Community Satisfaction, a number of underlying dimensions of community identity are identified.

Meanings of place and aspects of the Self: an interdisciplinary and empirical account

“…To be true, there is no general agreement among psychologists about the definition of each of these concepts. Attachment is at times treated as a synonym of identity (Brown and Werner 1985;Stedman 2002, p. 563), correlated with it (Williams 2002;Hernandez et al 2007, p. 311) or subsumed within it (Lalli 1992;Puddifoot 1995), occasionally in form of a prerequisite (Proshansky et al 1983, p. 60-61;Twigger-Ross and Uzzell 1996, p. 206). In other cases, both identity and attachment are instead conceptualized as components of a superordinate category, sense of place (Hay 1998, p. 7;Jorgensen and Stedman 2001, p. 233).…”

Sense of place amongst adolescents and adults in two rural Australian towns: The discriminating features of place attachment, sense of community and place dependence in relation to place identity

“…In previous studies attachment has been subsumed under the concept of place identity (Lalli, 1992;Puddifoot, 1995). However these researchers did not operationally define the affective and behavioural commitment features, and did not differentiate between bonding and belonging.…”

“…distinguishes between belonging and affiliation, and bonding, however Puddifoot (1995) identifies these as common aspects of community identity without distinguishing between them. In the sociological literature, there is a similar lack of specificity in definitions of attachment and identity (Goudy, 1990a;Stinner, Van Loom, Chung & Byun, 1990;O'Brien et al, 1994).…”

“…This makes conceptual interpretation of participants' responses difficult. Attempts to address these problems and to develop better models and measures (for example, Shamai, 1991;Lalli, 1992;Cuba & Hummon, 1993;Puddifoot, 1995;McAndrew, 1998;Jorgensen & Stedman, 2001;Obst, Smith & Zinkiewicz, 2002) have resulted in further expansion and complexity, but little progress in conceptually and empirically disentangling the dimensions. This problem was foreshadowed by those who cautioned against the positivist tradition of dissecting sense of place phenomena into precisely defined and measurable dimensions (Relph, 1976).…”

Residential Community Identification and Psychological Well-Being

“…Puddifoot (1995Puddifoot ( , 1996 and others (Pretty, 2002;Pretty, Chipuer, & Bramston, 2003;Twigger-Ross & Uzzell, 1996) took this notion one step further by directly or indirectly suggesting that place influences all aspects of identity but does not necessarily warrant an identity category unto itself. Either way, these scholars in a sense take literally Proshansky et al's statement that all environments are both social and place based, arguing for a form of place-based selfidentity that operates at varying levels of abstraction from the personal to the small or large group.…”