Exploring “personal” and “shared” sense of community identity in Durham City, England

The discursive construction of community identity

“…As Puddifoot (2003) himself points out, the theoretical and methodological emphasis on the individual's perceptions towards the community has enabled the accessing of individual perceptions of the community with some degree of validity, but it is less convincing that subsequent aggregation of such views actually represents a community's view of itself. In order to overcome these difficulties, Puddifoot (2003) has recently argued for a 'personal' and 'shared' sense of community identity (SOCI).…”

“…As Puddifoot (2003) himself points out, the theoretical and methodological emphasis on the individual's perceptions towards the community has enabled the accessing of individual perceptions of the community with some degree of validity, but it is less convincing that subsequent aggregation of such views actually represents a community's view of itself. In order to overcome these difficulties, Puddifoot (2003) has recently argued for a 'personal' and 'shared' sense of community identity (SOCI). In his view, SOCI is held to be conceptually distinctive from the the notion of 'psychological sense of community' (PSOC) widely used in community psychology: 'Sense of community identity refers neither to purely individual perceptions nor is it an entirely social construct grounded in irrevocable social realities or local conditions.…”

“…More recently, PSOC has also been investigated in relational communities (Pretty, 1990;Pretty, Andrewes, & Collett, 1994;Royal & Rossi, 1996) and organizational settings (Burroughs & Eby, 1998;Fyson, 1999). Still, community identity has been studied mostly within territorial settings (Brodsky & Marx, 2001;Puddifoot, 1995Puddifoot, , 1996Puddifoot, , 2003.…”

An exploration of the interplay between psychological sense of community, social identification and salience

“…In particular, identification plays an important role in the dimensions of Membership, an essential part of which is a sense of identification with the community, and Emotional Connection, in which identification with other community members is central. In much of the literature on community, the notion of identification with the community arises in understanding members' attachment to their community, be it their geographical community (Hedges & Kelly, 1992;Puddifoot, 1995Puddifoot, , 2003 or memberships in multiple communities, both geographical and relational (Brodsky & Marx, 2001).…”

Distinctiveness and sense of community in the historical center of Naples: A piece of participatory action research

“…In the interviews, the historical center is characterized by a strong distinctiveness, which includes, according to Puddifoot (1995Puddifoot ( , 2003, all processes and mechanisms that characterize the community and create uniqueness of place ( Fig. 1): the "soul of the town," which has a peculiar sacred and magic dimension.…”