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The debate among sociologists and political scientists about community power structure was concerned primarily with questions of methodology and the appropriate imagery for describing the distribution of power in American communities. The question of what difference it made for a local community and its citizens, if any, whether power was narrowly concentrated or widely dispersed was seldom raised. Two alternative hypotheses relating the concentration of community power to community-mobilization are discussed. The first argues for a positive relationship between concentration of power and community-mobilization while the second argues the obverse of this hypothesis. A diffusion-of-power scale is constructed based on a content-analysis of thirty-one American communities that were the subject of decision-making studies, and this scale is related to community participation in four federal self-help programs—public housing, urban renewal, Model Cities, and the war on poverty. The results show that the cities in which power is most diffused have greater participation in these programs. An outline of some key concepts that may be most appropriate for explaining such findings is suggested.

This book explores the contributions that research, with refugees and with faith-based organizations for example, makes to strengthen community development and consequently promote active citizenship and social justice, This book focuses upon the contributions that research can make towards strengthening community development and working for social justice agendas in Britain. Drawing upon original research, as part of the Third Sector Research Capacity Building Cluster, the volume explores different ways in which research can contribute to capacity building and 'research mindedness' in the Third Sector. This includes the contributions that community-university research partnerships can make, enabling organisations and social movements to undertake research for themselves. Examples include research with refugee and asylum seeker organisations and groups, research with faith-based organisations and research exploring the relevance of community arts, media and sports. Whilst the book covers a number of related themes, they share an overall focus upon community development to promote active citizenship and social justice

AbstractConflict is essential in creating and re‐creating community: Community is forged out of a struggle among people to determine how they can live together.

It is inevitable that some people granted conditional release will (re)offend, but most will complete their order without incident. Nevertheless, the standard approach adopted by correctional agencies to communicating with the public about community corrections is one of minimal information. We suggest that this may create an impression that offenders are dark shadowy figures incapable of change or redemption. To address this, we set out an agenda for Australian governments to build public confidence in community corrections. We call for more robust program evaluation, publication of the results and regular updates on trends in successful order completion. We also highlight the importance of educating the public about crime and corrections and the need to improve the credibility of community corrections. Finally, governments should do more to humanise offenders. The public has a right to know more about how offenders are managed in the community. They also deserve to hear the stories behind the statistics.

A description of a graduate seminar course in police-community relations conducted at Southern Illinois U with a group of Memphis (Tenn) criminal justice employees. One course requirement was to complete a study of a Memphis neighborhood's history & economy, its relation to the city's political structure, & how these factors affected police-community relations. In addition, students were asked to draft a "fantastic community" plan in which they were to assume that unlimited resources were at their disposal to solve problems between the police & the community. The special object of the research was to discover in their neighborhood those historical & economic factors that predominate in determining the present problems or lack of problems in police-community relations. The project allowed the police to look deeply into the historical, economic, political, & social underpinnings of the neighborhood, to connect these to national trends, & thus to create links to current neighborhood problems. Interacting with neighborhood residents, showing them that the police are interested & actually producing something of value to themselves & to the neighborhood (ie, a community study), had a positive effect of improving relations between the two groups. 14 References. AA

AbstractPublic resistance to the establishment of residential facilities represents a significant barrier to community care programs, one that mental health professionals can no longer afford to trivialize or ignore.