Community development
According to the information contained in week 2 of the material, community development is simply a measure that allows people to merge efforts through various activities in transforming or changing the whole community. This involves activities that require energy, time, and energy to transform the community’s current status. James’ idea is in regard to what the functionalists are holding (Ife, 2013). With functionalists, a community is compared to the human body and where every aspect of the community must be functional to allow for its development. Therefore, all people are required to contribute towards the overall transformation of the community (Australian Institute of Family Studies) equally. This includes participating in all the activities that transform individual and community lives without posing harm to the rest of the community members. This is true to the human body; all the organs in it have to participate based on their capacity to ensure they develop their well-being and community.
According to James, development is a universal measure that requires all the members to contribute and work towards development. But to him, there have to be also measured, which help these people attain their targets in life. James holds that the community to be helped for it to achieve its developmental goals (Kenny, 1994). An increased number of learners and the rate of unemployment in the community make it harder for the government to support people. According to functionalists, the benefits paid to the unemployed population in the country should never be enough. Making it enough to them will lead to a comfortable life, making them work-shy and discouraging them from getting a job. Having this will make them withdraw their contribution to the community’s effective functioning (Kenny, 1994, p.57; Ife, 2013).
Much of people’s attitude to the community should be regulated well to ensure we all work towards a common goal and not for individual benefits. A community is said to have developed when all its members achieved their targets and scores in life. Therefore, law and order policies dwell on the opinion that there must be value consensus and that people should understand their niche and roles in the community (Kenny, 1994, p.57).
According to Jayda, every member of an individual community should comply with all the developmental measures and should be left out when working. This is in contrast with what James holds. Jayda is making it evident that people should align their efforts towards a typical project and community goals. This reduces conflicts of interest.
Therefore, Jayda is correct when it comes to community development. As argued by the functionalists, we are all responsible for the good things that the community can produce. We all enjoy the benefits, and thus, we should also merge our efforts towards attaining these fascinating features in the community. More so, no one should be left out or discriminated against in any aspect of society. Equity must prevail in all the situations as a measure to ensure we all grow and develop together.