Third Sector and Community Development WSE-SO-TSaCD

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

To gain theoretically-grounded and methodologically robust comprehension of the complex issue termed ‘Third Sector and Community Development’, including nonprofit organisations, civil society, social economy, philanthropy and volunteering.

To overview of the research evidence – along with the methods of collection and analysis of the relevant empirical data - concerning the role of the Third Sector organizations in community development processes in Europe (and occasionally, in America); and to analyze the functions, resources and roles they play in societies and economies, focusing on both institutional and community-based development (including Faith-Based Organizations/FBOs).

To comprehend the nature and character of the relationships between the different types of TS’ organizations and civil society, from one side, and the relationship between them and the public sector – focusing on public policy and welfare systems – from the other, as well as business sector: public-private partnership (PPP) and sponsorship.

To better understand the policy implications at the local, national, and international level – including the degree of reliance on TS’ organizations in addressing current and future needs and problems associated with local community development – with special attention paid to local/community-level risk-reducing and development-promoting influence of institutional and voluntary organizations (including local labor market and local welfare state) .

MAIN TOPICS:
I
Community Development (CD)
[Question “how do places come to be the way they are?" (Gieryn, 2000, p. 463) engages sociologists interested in spatial effect of such ohenomena like: inequality, power, interaction, community , social movenments, poverty, deviation, crime, life course, identity, history.]
concepts of community
a holistic model of local community
community-based / community-led development
local capital generating strategies
local risk-reducing strategies
measuring community development - dual approach /objective-subjective
economic and social indicators
community well-being (CWB) –objective and subjective CWB
II.
Definitional problems (Hillery 1955: 94 definitions of ‘thing’ called community)
„A community is a group of people connected by the physical or virtual locations in which they dwell or congregate, organizations they form, and cultural values and symbols they share”
Nowadays, community (typically) refers to „a geographically bound group of people on a local scale who are subject to either direct or indirect interaction with each other” (Lee and Kim, 2015, p. 12)
Communities are affected (and defined) by forces that affect their members and their space.
 maxi-min (Weberian ideal-type) way of dedfining
III.
Origin and development of TS in Europe and USA:
The Third Sector in the classical traditions of social, political and economic theories.
Historical trends and contemporary directions of influences on local communities, societies and economies: giving - altruism– and reciprocity – philantropy
The role of TS in contemporary public policies – CD, ‘tertiarization’, ‘hybridization of social services, etc.
IV.
The Third Sector in the Community Development context: research methodology
different approaches and their practical implications for local/national and international/global scale:
(i) socio-economic, statistical/descriptive and classification-focused;
(ii) analytical, evaluation and application–focused (including management, capacity building, leadership, etc.).
Research on civic participation and civic engagement - volunteerism and civicness in comparative context.
V.
Evaluation the role of TS in the CD
Evaluation of TS effects and performance of TSOs at different contexts and problems/programs :
types of evaluation strategies and analyzes of TSOs’ influence in the CD process
focus on TSOs’ contribution to (community) well-being
– individual/subjective and social W-B
Measurement issues - in a comparative (international) context.
VI.
Issues in measuring community well-being for policy research and evaluation purposes
Interpetation of Community well-being
[‘concepts s developed by synthesizing research constructs related to resident’s perceptions of the community, … needs fulfillmemnts, observable community conditions, and the social and cultural context…” (Phillips & Wong, 2017).
- objective community well- being (CWB)
- subjective communiy well-being (SCWB

Changes in community relevant (well-being) measures only
Changes in both community and individual (residents’) measures