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The origin of the word community comes from the Latin munus, which means the gift, and cum, which means together, among each other. Community literally means to give among each other. Community could be defined as a group of people who share gifts which they provide to all.

When there is a clearly shared-interest (economic or otherwise) among a set of people, the people collectively might be called community. Patients of a serious desease who wish the development of a safer, cheaper, and comfortable treatment, may be referred to as a community in this sense.

In a stricter use of the term, community is a group of people who interact with each other.

A virtual community is a group of people exchanging messages or other types of information and is a community in this sense. Here, the members usually share an interest.

A group of people living in a small local area, such as a dormitory, neighborhood, district, town, city, is often called a community. This is usually a mixture of shared-interest and actual interaction.

Community can be defined using different patterns. A community can be large or small; local, national, international; real or virtual; cooperative or competitive; formal or informal.

An even narrower definition of community has to do with the nature of interaction. In community, interaction is informal and spontaneous rather than procedurally formalized (such as in bureaucracy), an end in itself rather than goal-oriented (such as in interest group or advocacy group). The members form tight-knit web-like structure of relations rather than a hierarchical one. It is relatively popular among social theorists (such as Max WeberThis article is about the economist and sociologist. For the Swiss Federal Councilor, see Max Weber (politician); for the American cubist painter, see Max Weber (artist). Maximilian Weber ( April 21, 1864 June 14, 1920) was a German economist and sociolog, Emile DurkheimDavid Emile Durkheim ( April 15, 1858 November 15, 1917) is known as the founder of modern sociology. He was also the founder of the first journal devoted to social science, the Annee Sociologique which is also the name used to refer to the group of stude, Georg SimmelGeorg Simmel ( March 1, 1858 September 28, 1918) was one of the first generation of German sociologists. Simmel was born in Berlin and lived there most of his life. After the early death of his father a guardian was appointed for him. Simmel studied philo, Ferdinand Tonnies) to conceptualize community in this way especially in contrast to modernityModernity is a relativist term given to a type, mode, or stage of society as being more developed than another. In current contexts, "modernity" may describe the positive aspects of advanced technology, or else is often a characterization of the Western s.

When people describe a group as a community, it typically implies or evokes some sense of harmonious, egalitarianEgalitarianism is the moral doctrine that equality ought to prevail among some group along some dimension. One can best understand various types of egalitarianism by asking "Who is supposed to be equal?" and "In what respect are they supposed to be equal? social form sharing their values and lives. The image is most clear in history, though there are numerous objections that such an idealistic community is hardly a historical reality. A relatively isolated small villageA village is a human settlement commonly found in rural areas. It is usually larger than a hamlet and smaller than a town or city. Villages have been the normal unit of community living in most areas of the world throughout its history, up until the Indus in pre-modern society is often called community.

For example, in the United States, services provided by non-profits, corporations, and others to increase welfareWelfare economically speaking, refers to money paid by the government to persons who are in need of financial assistance, but who are unable to work, or whose circumstances mean the income they require for basic needs is in excess of their salary (e. of some of the local citizens are often called community services, even when it is offered for a limited segment of them. Here, the service is for the community in a sense it pursues the egalitarian goal and make the local society more like a community.