ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the concept of community and people relationship to it as a social work practitioner and explores the types of community and the functions that give community meaning. It considers methods of inquiry into the study of community, including community analysis; community needs assessment; and community asset mapping. The chapter also considers the need for and avenues by which to have a global perspective on community practice. Encouraging individuals, families, and groups to work to improve their communities is part of social work practice. Community practice uses research-informed and evidence-based practice to advance human rights and economic justice. The chapter describes three of the most common—spatial, social, and political—as well as personal communities. It also examines communities as social systems; as ecological systems; as centers for power and conflict; and from two contemporary perspectives: the strengths, empowerment, and resiliency perspectives and the postmodern perspective. Social workers can approach engagement, the first step in the change process.
