This new handbook builds on The Handbook of Community Movements and Local Organizations published in 2007, and is the only resource defining the field of study related to small nonprofit organizations and to studying communities from the standpoint of associations that make up communities. It explores the history and conceptualizations of community, theoretical concepts in community organizations, social movements ranging from health to crime, and community practice methods. Further it provides authoritative statements of major theory areas, gives examples of different sub areas of the field, provides guidance to people working as practitioners in the field, and nicely coincides with the increasing interest in clinical sociology. This handbook is of great interest to academics, students and practitioners with an interdisciplinary resource to understand and collaborate in work with contemporary communities.

The most comprehensive handbook about communities in the 21st century

Introductory Chapter; Ram Cnaan, Carl Milofsky and Albert Hunter.- Part I. History and Conceptualizations of Community.- Chapter 1. Conceptualizing Community; Albert Hunter.- Chapter 2. Community at Work: Sensing Community Through Needs Fulfillment and Responsibility; Neil Boyd and Branda Nowell.- Chapter 3. Community Climate: Adapting Climate Theory to the Study of Communities; Gil Luria, Amnon Boehm and Ram A. Cnaan.- Chapter 4. Reading Social Symbol Systems; Ben Marsh and Janet Jones.- Chapter 5. Community Elites or Community Elitism?: The Democratic Challenge of Empowering Community; Stephen Danley.- Chapter 6. Disengagement and Alienation in Modern American Institutions; Jennifer Silva.- Part II. Theoretical Concepts in community Organizations.- Chapter 7. Systemic Theories of Associations: Macro and Meso Approaches; Carl Milofsky.- Chapter 8. PCreating Participatory Democratic Decision-Making in Local Organizations; Joyce Rothschild.- Chapter 9. Client Authority in Nonprofit Human Service Organizations; Lehn M. Benjamin.- Chapter 10. Community-Labor Coalitions; Scott Harding and Louise Simmons.- Chapter 11. A Field Guide to Organizations "In the Wild:" Moving Beyond Restrictive Organization Theory for Associations; Jordi Comas.- Chapter 12. Legitimacy as the Basis for Organizational Development; Davide Gnes and Floris Vermeulen.- Chapter 13. About the Localized Social Movement; Randy Stoecker.- Chapter 14. Volunteers in Community Organizations; Christopher J. Einolf.- Chapter 15. Community Practice and Community Organization: A Conceptual Understanding; Haya Itzhaky and Edna Bustin.- Chapter 16. Community Empowerment; Stephen W. Stoeffler.- Chapter 17. Contested Community: A Selected and Critical History of Community Organizing; Robert Fischer, James DeFilippis and Eric Shragge.- Chapter 18. Alinsky Style Organizing;Margaret A. Post.- Chapter 19. Self Help Organized Through Mutual Assistance in Helping Communities; Steven P. Segal.- Chapter 20. Promoting Spatial Inclusion: How Everyday Places Signal Who is Welcome; Amy Hillier.- Chapter 21. Intentional Sub-Communities and Identity Continuity among Baby Boomers: Grateful Dead Fans; Rebecca G. Adams and Justin T. Harmon.- Chapter 22. Hometown Associations and Transnational Community Development; Deepak Lamba-Nieves.- Chapter 23. The Community Resilience Approach to Disaster Recovery: