SENSE OF COMMUNITY AS CONSTRUCT AND THEORY: AUTHORS’ RESPONSE TO MCMILLAN

摘要

In this article, we respond to criticisms posed by McMillan (2011) of our recent paper, “Viewing Community as Responsibility as well as a Resource: Deconstructing the Theoretical Roots of Psychological Sense of Community.” We clarify that the focus of our article was to explore the macro theoretical frameworks and second-order assumptions that have guided the measurement and study of the psychological sense of community (PSOC) construct to date. We then correct McMillan’s mischaracterization of our work as a normative theory by clarifying that our thesis was not that PSOC is a value – but rather that (a) people have values and belief systems, and (b) these belief systems may interact with aspects of a community context to evoke a sense of responsibility for a community to which one belongs. We conclude by reviewing key areas of shared agreement concerning responsibility aspects of PSOC that may serve as a foundation for guiding future research.