OBJECTIVES: Recent studies have demonstrated that income inequality is related to mortality rates. It was hypothesized, in this study, that income inequality is related to reduction in social cohesion and that disinvestment in social capital is in turn associated with increased mortality. METHODS: In this cross-sectional ecologic study based on data from 39 states, social capital was measured by weighted responses to two items from the General Social Survey: per capita density of membership in voluntary groups in each state and level of social trust, as gauged by the proportion of residents in each state who believed that people could be trusted. Age-standardized total and cause-specific mortality rates in 1990 were obtained for each state. RESULTS: Income inequality was strongly correlated with both per capita group membership (r = -.46) and lack of social trust (r = .76). In turn, both social trust and group membership were associated with total mortality, as well as rates of death from coronary heart d...

https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2105/AJPH.87.9.1491

Social capital, income inequality, and mortality.

Defining sense of community as a feeling of belongingness within a group, this article reviews research about students' sense of acceptance within the school community to address three questions: Is this experience of belongingness important in an educational setting? Do students currently experience school as a community? And how do schools influence students' sense of community? Conceptually, the review reflects a social cognitive perspective on motivation. This theoretical framework maintains that individuals have psychological needs, that satisfaction of these needs affects perception and behavior, and that characteristics of the social context influence how well these needs are met. The concern here is how schools, as social organizations, address what is defined as a basic psychological need, the need to experience belongingness. The findings suggest that students' experience of acceptance influences multiple dimensions of their behavior but that schools adopt organizational practices that neglect and may actually undermine students' experience of membership in a supportive community.

Students' Need for Belonging in the School Community:

The authors develop and estimate a conceptual model of how different aspects of customers' relationships with the brand community influence their intentions and behaviors. The authors describe how identification with the brand community leads to positive consequences, such as greater community engagement, and negative consequences, such as normative community pressure and (ultimately) reactance. They examine the moderating effects of customers' brand knowledge and the brand community's size and test their hypotheses by estimating a structural equation model with survey data from a sample of European car club members.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/30162054.pdf

The Social Influence of Brand Community: Evidence from European Car Clubs

We investigate two key group-level determinants of virtual community participation - group norms and social identity - and consider their motivational antecedents and mediators. We also introduce a marketing-relevant typology to conceptualize virtual communities, based on the distinction between network-based, and small-group-based virtual communities. Our survey-based study, which was conducted across a broad range of virtual communities, supports the proposed model, and finds further that virtual community type moderates consumers' reasons for participating, as well as the strengths of their impact on group norms and social identity. We conclude with a consideration of managerial and research implications of the findings.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID534523_code107512.pdf?abstractid=534523&mirid=1&type=2

A Social Influence Model of Consumer Participation in Network- and Small-Group-Based Virtual Communities

https://rofianto.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/2004-ijrm-a-social-influence-model-of-consumer-participation-in-network-and-small-group-based-virtual-communities.pdf

For several years many of us at Peabody College have participated in the evolution of a theory of community, the first conceptualization of which was presented in a working paper (McMillan, 1976) of the Center for Community Studies. To support the proposed definition, McMillan focused on the literature on group cohesiveness, and we build here on that original definition. This article attempts to describe the dynamics of the sense-of-community force — to identify the various elements in the force and to describe the process by which these elements work together to produce the experience of sense of community.

Sense of community: A definition and theory

This article revisits the theory of sense of community originally developed in 1976 and subsequently presented by McMillan and Chavis (1986). Chavis, Hogge, McMillan, and Wandersman (1986) demonstrated its empirical strength as a theory and developed the Sense of Community Questionnaire. This was essential work in getting the theory used. As reflected in the contents of this special issue, the theory has since stimulated considerable empirical research. &copy 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Sense of community

Although sense of community was heralded by Sarason (1974) as the “overarching value” of community psychology, no theory or definition of the phenomenon has been operationalized or empirically tested. The difficulty in the scientific exploration of sense of community is in the value-laden and phenomenological nature of the experience. Following McMillan and Chavis (this issue), it is theorized that sense of community is represented by four elements: membership, influence, integration and fulfillment of needs, and shared emotional connection. Brunswik's lens model offers an appropriate method for determining the shared domain of the experience within a diverse population. The goal of this study was to develop a Sense of Community Index (SCI) that would allow the determination of the relative influence of various factors on the judgment of sense of community. Twenty-one judges, representing four professional groupings selected from three urban centers, where employed in the rating of 100 sense of community profiles of randomly selected individuals. There was a high degree of consensus among the diverse groups of judges, and a regression equation with 23 predictors derived from the sense of community profile accounted for 96% of the variance of mean judges, ratings of overall sense of community. The results were interpreted as supporting the theory of McMillan and Chavis, which appears suitable both for scientific investigation and as a framework for intervention. The relationships of specific profile items (e.g., neighboring behavior, length of residence, home ownership, involvement in voluntary associations) are related to the four elements and to the prediction of overall sense of community.

Sense of community through Brunswik's lens: A first look.

First-order and second-order models of sense of community (SOC) were tested using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of data gathered from a random sample of community residents (n=293) located in the midwestern United States. An 8-item Brief Sense of Community Scale (BSCS) was developed to represent the SOC dimensions of needs fulfillment, group membership, influence, and shared emotional connection. The CFA results for the BSCS supported both the scale's hypothesized first-order and second-order factor structure. The overall BSCS scale and its subscales were also found to be correlated as expected with community participation, psychological empowerment, mental health, and depression. Findings provide empirical support for the BSCS and its underlying multidimensional theory of SOC. Implications of the study are described and directions for future research discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Validation of a brief sense of community scale: Confirmation of the principal theory of sense of community

This is a response to the Nowell and Boyd (2010) article printed in this journal titled: Viewing Community as Responsibility as Well as Resource: Deconstructing the Theoretical Roots of Psychological Sense of Community. In that article, they argued that the McMillan theory of Sense of Community is a simplistic, needs-based theory that excludes responsibility as a part of Sense of Community. They base their critique of McMillan's theory on March and Olsen's many articles. In this article, McMillan responds. He argues that Nowell and Boyd (2010) have yet to understand his theory and that they use a false dichotomy to critique it. He suggests that Third Position Thinking (Newbrough, 1995; Newbrough & McMillan, 2005) would help undo false dichotomies and provide a better description of the juxtaposition of human values. McMillan contends that responsibility is an inherent part of his theory. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

David W. McMillan

Papers

Sense of community: A definition and theory

Sense of community

Sense of community through Brunswik's lens: A first look.

Validation of a brief sense of community scale: Confirmation of the principal theory of sense of community

Sense of community, a theory not a value: a response to Nowell and Boyd†