Community identity,Tinicum Township,Delaware County,Pennsylvania: Lester and Essington.
详细信息
- 作者：Malarkey ; John Joseph ; III.
- 学历：Doctor
- 年：1998
- 导师：MacElveen-Hoehn,Penny,eadvisor
- 毕业院校：The Union Institute
- ISBN：9780591998467
- CBH：9902706
- Country：USA
- 语种：English
- FileSize：7634769
- Pages：232
文摘
This study focuses on the community identity of a working class community in the process of gradual change. Analysis was based on theories of community by Tonnies (1887),cities by Mumford (1937),rural towns by Vidich and Bensman (1958),and suburbs by Gans (1967) and Baumgartner (1988),volunteer fire fighters by Perkins (1987),and general community by Selznick(1992). Data were generated from personal observation,census,historical records,purposive sample using printed and telephone survey； and by structured,open-ended interview consistent with Spradley (1978,1980). Thematic analysis (Dey,1993) was used to organize the data. Both villages (Lester,PA and Essington,PA) share a school system (Tinicum Elementary/Middle School,Interboro School District)； a local government (Tinicum Township,Delaware County,Pennsylvania)； an Irish,German,Italian,English,Polish ethnic mix； and a socioeconomic mixture from working poor to middle income. Shared governance rules out the possibility that separate government is the major difference. Volunteer activities by 12% of the available adults form stabilizing,identity-establishing associations. The local volunteer fire companies are a central unifying feature. They are a place for people to demonstrate their bond to the community and their courage in a way that is nonviolent and socially relevant. Church membership,a major source of volunteers,is 38%,which is lower than nationally. Both villages are separate communities blending into a single entity,Tinicum. The historic economic reasons for their separation are no longer present. The economic rationale driving them to combine outweighs the traditional separation. The breakdown of almost all formal organizations at the village level is blending the two villages into a single system.