Assignment 7, Option 1

The term community is described by Etzioni and Etzioni (1999) as “web of affect laden relationships that encompasses a group of individuals, relationships that criss-cross, and reinforce on another, rather than simply a chain of one-on-one relationships”, they also go on to give a second definition of the term, “a community requires a measure of commitment to a set of shared value, mores, meanings, and a shared historical identity”. Looking at these definitions the community that first came to mind was one that I have joined here at Cornell, the Haitian Student Association. All of the students in this community are either Haitian are have some sort of commitment to the spread of Haitian culture for one reason or another. In this way we share a historical identity as well as values. We also can also each be seen as actors, with every person student playing the role of an executive board member. Being Co-President of the Haitian Student Association, the information flows from me down to the other executive board members. At meetings however, we each have an important role and equally give input to discussions. Each different executive board member has different resources that are intrinsic to their position or role. For example, the secretary has access to all the minutes from all of the meetings, and also to all of the netIDs that are on the list serve. The treasurer has access to all of the money and also has connections with all of the funding boards. The program coordinator, through their work, gains connections with different catering companies, venues, DJs, etc. The position you have dictates exactly what resources you have access to. Within the Haitian Student Association the ideas of common ground and reciprocity are definitely important. We are all on the executive board for one common reason, to spread Haitian culture and awareness throughout Cornell’s community. We also expect reciprocity from each other. We all complete the duties and tasks necessary for our position; expect the other executive board members to do the same. Without common ground or reciprocity, our organization would in effect not function.

CMC definitely has an affect our community and how we function. Besides our weekly meetings, most of our communicating occurs through E-mail. Without E-mail our community would not be able to get information across efficiently. However, in some ways E-mail takes away from our ability to form strong ties. While I work closely with these people, they are not people I have formed strong ties with. If there were no email, we would be forced to meet more often and use the telephone more often, and as result we would become closer and our ties would strengthen. Although the weak ties I have formed with my fellow executive board members are important for networking reasons, it sometimes more worth it to form strong ties with people who you really connect with and appreciate, and in some ways E-mail prevents us from doing this.