ABSTRACT
The idea of community gradually has been taking definite form in the minds of American rural sociologists. A community does not exist chiefly because of formal planning and organization, but through direct personal acquaintance and relationships, in a spirit of fellowship. The existence of a community is determined, not by the amount of organization and social machinery, but by the extent to which common needs and interests are worked out by unified planning and action, in a spirit of mutual interest. The term "community", describing the qualities which lead people to act in common for common ends, cannot be limited to groups of any particular size, except by convention and usage. The use of the word "community" to describe such small groups does not imply that important community characteristics are not present in larger societies. The city as a whole provides a field for expression of community traits which commonly originated in smaller groups.
