FLDP.org

Every community has a value system. There is a pattern of acceptable goals and acceptable means for striving toward them. Individuals and groups have status in a community to the extent that they have accepted and achieved (by approved means) the important “community” goals.

Every group has a status in the community, whose members rank it in relationship to coexisting groups. Where and how a group is ranked depends to a degree upon how consistent its goals, objectives, and means are with the general community values. Related to its status is its role – or what the community expects it to do. At any given time two or more groups may be competing for a given status position. Any or all of these forces may affect the goals the group sets, and how it attempts and how hard it will work to accomplish them.

Parent Organizations

Many local groups have affiliations with an organizational structure which exists outside the community. The Masonic Lodge, the American Legion, the American Red Cross, many church denominations, and Federated Women’s Clubs are examples of this type. Most affiliated community groups have a high degree of local autonomy. But there are many instances where the “over-all organization” does exert influence through counsel, guidance, required or recommended programs and policies, and program aids provided to the local affiliate. It is important to recognize that such external forces affecting group function exist and must be considered in understanding group functioning.

Sometimes groups have problems in this regard because they are affiliated with outside organizations which do not hold the same values as the community. For example, the parent organization may set down certain policy positions on a national level. In some communities these policies may not be completely acceptable. The local unit is faced with the task of adjusting to this difference in values.

Groups, like individuals, can make different adjustments when faced with this kind of a dilemma: they can ignore the community values, which means they risk losing status or being ostracized by the community; they can ignore the institutional values, which means they risk censure by the parent institution; or they can try to adjust between the two. The fact that they are an integral part of an extra-community pattern as well as an integral part of the community is a force which constantly influences their activities and behavior. To understand such groups, one must recognize the value orientation of both the community and the parent institutions.

Groups with affiliation outside the community must often walk a tight-wire between individual group member interests, community values, and the values of the “over-all organization.” In many cases these are not completely compatible.

Another type of group is found in nearly every community. It is a subdivision of an existing formal structure. A good example is the “ladies aid society” – an integral part of most churches. The goals and objectives of these groups, and their means of attaining them, must be consistent with those of the parent group.

Most communities have groups that are independent of any formal group structure existing beyond the community. This independent group usually reflects community values and the social level of most of its members. Though independent, the community has expectations of the group, assigns it status, and has some influence on it. Such forces will affect its ongoing activities and must be considered in understanding its functioning.