With my two emphases being business and sociology I would like to integrate the two on how businesses can effect the success of a community both financially and in community togetherness. By businesses helping communities be the best they can be as a community (Sounds a little cheesy now that I write it out, maybe I should add world peace too haha) suggestions are encouraged!
While researching some sources for the last blog I found two articles that nailed my thoughts on this issue so I hope you don't mind me re posting them!
The privatization of public safety in Urban neighborhoods.
This article discusses how privately owned businesses can affect their community by adding public safety to their business like security staff or cameras. This would not just mean for their own business but for the section of block that they may inhabit. by doing this they are double covering each other and protecting not only the businesses but the people that like to enjoy them.
MacDonald J, Stokes R, Grunwald B, Bluthenthal R. The Privatization of Public Safety in Urban Neighborhoods: Do Business Improvement Districts Reduce Violent Crime Among Adolescents?. Law & Society Review [serial online]. September 2013;47(3):621-652. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA.
Influencing commitment of volunteers in neighborhood watch organizations.
As stated in my last blog I feel that it is extremely important to understand what drives community members to feel the need to help out their community or vise versa, what deters them from helping? Fear, selfishness ? with this knowledge at hand maybe we can figure out a way to encourage those that are currently not willing to stand up and help their community to do something even the smallest thing helps. I want to know, what drives commitment in a community?
Thomas V, Selvadurai S, Er A, Lyndon N, Moorthy R. Factors Influencing Commitment of Volunteers' in Neighborhood Watch Organization. Journal Of Social Sciences (15493652) [serial online]. December 2011;7(4):569-574. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed October 8, 2013.
What businesses and business organizations could do...
I particularly love this article I found, It goes through bullet points of what businesses can do for our communities. (I found this one after I already started my blog, I guess my vision isn't as cheesy as anticipated).*Education- Adopting a course in schools on things like economics.
- Inviting children into the workplace- show them what its like
- Student interns
- Job training and placement
-sponsoring programs (kids at work)
*Family friendly workplace
*Encouraging employee involvement
*sponsoring a community event for youth
*paying entrance fees to impoverished children (or stating a fund for these facilities that are paid entry only)
*providing college scholarships
The list goes on and on
http://people.missouristate.edu/MichaelCarlie/SOLUTIONS/INSTITUTIONS/what_your_local_business.htm
Lily,
ReplyDeleteI think it's great when businesses (both corporate and local), contribute to greater good of the community around them. I think it's even better when they do it with a spirit of altruism, not expecting any sort of reciprocity in return. With the sources you found, you brought up an interesting list of ways in which a business might contribute to the community. I also liked you're stated interest in what drives commitment within a community. I think that commitment is strongly linked to social altruism and depends heavily on collective efficacy within the community. The more an individual feels a responsibility for the community, the more they are likely to show a commitment. As sociology is also one of my emphases, I look forward to hearing what else you uncover on the subject!
Lily,
ReplyDeleteI think you are getting a great start. I personally liked your list of ideas for businesses to influence community from your last article. Maybe you could even choose one of the bullet points to focus your research on. I personally think America's communities have a huge gap between education and the workplace. Therefore, I think it would be interesting to research communities that have installed a "kids at work" program, and then see what the results of such a program are. I have always been an advocate of getting kids involved and working at a young age rather than the typical k-12 education that ignores work as a from of education. I don't know if I am any help, but I think you are on the right track.
Lily, I am interested in your first article and half tempted to read it (if I didn't have so much other reading to do). If you chose this article for the reason I am thinking then it correlates well with Sampson's social control notions. Social control could become stronger if individuals knew that there was more accountability on their part because of the steps businesses took in public safety.
ReplyDeleteFor example, my sister was in an car accident in one of the intersection of Tabernacle in downtown St.George. After stopping at the four-way stop and then preceding through the intersection she was hit by another car failed to stop. My sister and the other driver decided to move their cars out of the intersection, so they wouldn't block traffic. This action, of course, caused a problem for the police officer who came to investigate the accident. The other driver ended up trying to claim my sister failed to stop and not her. Anyway, the point to this is that none of government, city, or private business buildings at that intersections or even close to it had security cameras. My sister had no way of proving she was not at fault.
I do think your topic could shed some light on how businesses could be key in social control not only for car accidents but other things as well.
I love your idea! I think that business have a huge impact on communities. For my family we have a large passion for food and we will go back to certain food communities because of how they treat us or the customers we tend to find there. I am very excited to see how this research evolves.
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