I've been reading a lot on philanthropy of community and thinking of how public sociology fits into this. I feel like I understand PS much more than before. I wrote up a blog post on it, I'll paste it below. Tell me what you think, and what could be missing from this perspective:
United States culture is interesting. We constantly think it terms of deliverables and individual worth. The majority of our economy has become hyper-professionalized. People identify themselves first as a worker, second as a human. This is what I've observed intuitively anyway, I can't verify it empirically. I've suffered from this delusion as well, and it only serves to isolate individuals from their social environment beyond the workplace. I think this identity delusion is one of the major barriers to establishing public sociology within the United States.
I've been reading a lot about Philanthropy of Community, or PoF. PoF is a system of community action seeking to change social conditions for the better. PoF is alive and well in places like South Africa, yet it is a relatively new concept in the United States. Philanthropy for Community is typically practiced here, a model of giving which assumes communities in need have nothing to give - making them passive victims who can only wait for aid. This is a misconception. According the the UCT Graduate School of Business, the poor give to survive. Granted, these finding come from regions of South Africa that are racked by a poverty that isn't often seen in the United States. Regardless of the economic and cultural differences, I think the same giving can be observed here.
The UCT Graduate School has issues a report entitled "The Poor Philanthropist: How and Why the Poor Help Each Other" (Wilkinson-Maposa et al.). The report finds that giving among the poor is an essential part of their social fabric. The poor are required by unwritten conventions to give to each other, and their are actually sanctions for those who do not participate in this giving. The most common forms of this giving are exchanges of money, food etc (material goods). Physical help, labor, and emotional support are also extremely common forms of giving. The systems of giving are determined by blood relationship, reputation, physical proximity, and class commonalities. Basically, you'll be more likely to share resources with those who live nearby, who are family, have a good reputation in the community, or share the same social class standing as you. This giving assures that you will be given to, which is necessary for survival in situations of absolute poverty.
This giving system among the poor has been recognized by community action leaders in North Carolina. Dr. Leslie Hossfeld and Reverend Mac Legerton realize that the poor are supporting themselves through previously existing systems of giving. This has allowed them to identify these systems using sociological research, and to tap into these systems through community engagement. Research in this area should focus on these questions (as identified by Maposa and Fowler 2008):
1. What needs exist in the community currently, and how do pre-existing networks attempt to satisfy these needs?
2. What kind of material and non-material resources are currently available to the community, and what resources are needed?
3. How are decisions made in the community in question, and how are decisions disseminated among the community population?
4. What motivates people in this community to help other residents?
5. How can answering these questions help to create positive social change?
The answers to these questions will allow philanthropists and community action leaders to properly address the needs of their community through social networks that already exist within the community in question. This allows for the community to control the outcome of philanthropic change, which is a form of investment. This investment will serve to strengthen bonds between community members while also improving the economic and meta-physical conditions of a community. Imagine if grantors gave money and resources to communities through these previously existing networks? Change would be much more rapid and effective. We're simply talking about giving people the tools to control their own lives.
Public sociology directly ties into this process. I'm finally realizing exactly what public sociology is. It is sociology that seeks to understand a community that has need. Public sociology uses sociological methods to understand the history, culture and social networks of a community. It identifies the resources the community already has, and attempts to identify how these resources can be improved and how these resources can be distributed through previously existing social networks in a community. Its not about choosing a side in a community, or championing one social group in a community. Its an attempt to understand an entire community that is in need of social support.
