A concept much abused by politicians, market researchers and other necessary evils, but really it's very simple: a community is a group of people with common interests, which recognises and acts upon those interests. Otherwise it's just a random group of people. Communities have historically been defined by geographical location, ethnicity, religion and so on; actually communities can be based on anything from sexual preference to consumer identification to operating system. The key criterion is: if it thinks of itself as a community, and acts like a community, then it probably is one.

A tribe, a community, a social/cultural/religious sphere; any group of people with common interests or goals. May also be people who simply choose to live in proximity to one another for some reason, usually pertaining to the availability of certain resources.

If we're talking about communities as in a neighborhood in a city, then we have a grouping by proximity to resources. People may choose to collect in one neighborhood over another because of the proximity of water, food, work, bus routes, schools, parks, 7-11's. Levels of crime, cost, taxes, and other less tangible things may also be viewed generally as resources, which factor in when considering communities as grouping by resource proximity.

Another, more interesting type of community, is grouping by interests or values. Everything2 is an excellent example of this type of grouping, since it brings together many people interested in voicing their thoughts and opinions, and in hearing what others have to say. We have geeks, nerds, philosophers, and people who just like a good debate. Lots of diverse interests, but a binding interest in sharing knowledge and experience. Interest type communities are everywhere. Clubs are a prime example of this type of community.

Communities also exist to support. Things like organized religion, support groups, and group therapy exist so that people who have experienced something in common (such as cancer) can come together and share their experience. In the case of religion, and many other support oriented groups, leaders help their followers deal with everyday struggles and help give people some common belief structure to base their lives on. People who belong to such communities find that by exchanging experiences and ideas with each other, they are able feel as if they are part of something bigger than themselves, that they are not alone in the world.

This kind of community, while largely positive and beneficial, can also have negative effects. In the case of religion, especially in cult type organizations, we see individuals stripped of their identities and made into sort of drones; people so devoted to the cause dictated by the leader of the community that they are blind to everything else in the world. In the case of mainstream organized religion, or other groups, the organization may prohibit certain ideas or practices by the membership. The effect of this on the community may be evidenced in different ways. It may serve to enforce the values of the community, or it may be a move simply to keep people within the organization, or to keep the organization seemingly infallible. A prime example of this would be the punishment of Copernicus for asserting that the Earth was not the center of the Universe, as was the view of The Church at the time.

Communities may be formed by any commonality between individuals. People who live in a certain country might describe themselves as members of a community, a community of patriots, or maybe just a community defined by citizenship. The idea of community can be loosely applied to any grouping of people.

Good we myst love, and must hate ill,
For ill is ill, and good good still;
But there are things indifferent,
Which wee may neither hate, nor love,
But one, and then another prove,
As we shall find our fancy bent.

If then at first wise Nature had
Made women either good or bad,
Then some wee might hate, and some choose;
But since she did them so create,
That we may neither love, nor hate,
Only this rests, all all may use.

If they were good it would be seen;
Good is as visible as green,
And to all eyes itself betrays.
If they were bad, they could not last;
Bad doth itself, and others waste;
So they deserve nor blame nor praise.

But they are ours as fruits are ours;
He that but tastes, he that devours,
And he that leaves all, doth as well;
Changed loves are but changed sorts of meat;
And when he hath the kernel eat,
Who doth not fling away the shell?

"What is community college? Many of you have heard that it's been called Loser College. A college for remedial teen dropouts, middle-aged divorcées and old people. That's what you've heard. However... I wish you luck!"

Community is a new NBC sitcom about a slick and amoral lawyer named Jeff Winger (played with casual sleaziness by Joel McHale of The Soup) who enrols at the fictional Greendale Community College to get a 'real' diploma after being disbarred for fraud.

Ian: "I thought you got your degree at Columbia?"
Jeff: "Yes. Now I have to get one from America."

The faculty of Greendale includes Dr. Ian Duncan (The Daily Show's John Oliver), an old client of Jeff's. Jeff assumes that Ian will be grateful for having gotten him off a drunk driving charge years earlier, and that Ian will therefore pull whatever strings are necessary to get him an instant degree. But over the course of the pilot episode, everything goes wrong, and it turns out that Jeff has to stay enrolled. He's stuck at this "toilet shaped like a school" for as long as it takes to really get a diploma.

Instantly deciding to make the most of it, Jeff sets his sights on Britta (Gillian Jacobs), a pretty, ambitious student in his Spanish class. He invites her to a fake Spanish study group in an effort to get some time alone with her, but a random group of losers and idiots from the class turn up, and now he is forced to make friends with them -- or at least pretend to do so. Over the course of the following episodes, the gang deals with typical college problems (plagiarism cases, football tryouts, campus protests, psychology experiments) with an astounding lack of panache.

It is the relationships formed in the "study group" that really makes the show. None other than Chevy Chase appears as Pierce Hawthorne, a failed businessman and incompetent lech who totally lacks any trace of self-awareness. Chase reminds me a bit of William Shatner in this role -- and I mean that in the best possible way. As an actor, he's something of a has-been, but he has a brilliant sense of humour about it, and he wears his paunch and his clueless expression with pride.

Besides Britta and Pierce, we have Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown), an oversharing single mom who made some "bad life decisions"; Annie (Alison Brie), a wide-eyed, thin-skinned dropout; Troy (Donald Glover), an idiot football star who could not cut it in "real" college after an injury; and finally, Abed (Danny Pudi), an Aspergers sufferer who cannot communicate except by way of 80s movie references delivered in a monotone.

Jeff: You know what makes humans different from other animals?
Troy: Feet!
Pierce: No, bears have feet.
Jeff: We're the only species on Earth that observes Shark Week. Sharks don't even observe Shark Week.

The chemistry between Jeff and his prison-mates makes this show the funniest new sitcom since Arrested Development. Like the Bluths, this group is catastrophically inept -- socially and otherwise -- but, also like the Bluths, each of them is likeable in his or her own way. I'm always surprised by how much affection the writers show the characters even when they're being complete morons; just when you're about to give up on one of them, they are mistreated by another member of the group, and your alliances imperceptibly change.

The dialogue is snappy and always skates on the knife-edge of political incorrectness.

Jeff: I'm saying, you're a football player. It's in your blood!
Troy: That's racist.
Jeff: Your soul!
Troy: That's racist.
Jeff: Your eyes?
Troy: That's gay?
Jeff: That's homophobic.
Troy: That's black.
Jeff: That's racist.

In every episode so far -- there've been seven as of this writing -- there has been at least one scene in which I've been laughing so hard that I missed the first exchange of the following scene. I'm probably biased, since I myself started working at a community college this year and, like Dr. Ian Duncan, I'm in a state of permanent bafflement about the cultural differences between this place and the ivory tower where I spent my adult life until this moment. But even if you're not interested in "higher" education, I think this show's a keeper.

Com*mu"ni*ty (?), n.; pl. Communities (#). [L. communitas: cf. OF. communit'e. Cf. Commonalty, and see Common.]

1.

Common possession or enjoyment; participation; as, a community of goods.

The original community of all things. Locke.

An unreserved community of thought and feeling. W. Irwing.

2.

A body of people having common rights, privileges, or interests, or living in the same place under the same laws and regulations; as, a community of monks. Hence a number of animals living in a common home or with some apparent association of interests.

Creatures that in communities exist. Wordsworth.

3.

Society at large; a commonwealth or state; a body politic; the public, or people in general.

Burdens upon the poorer classes of the community. Hallam.

⇒ In this sense, the term should be used with the definite article; as, the interests of the community.

4.

Common character; likeness.

The essential community of nature between organic growth and inorganic growth. H. Spencer.

5.

Commonness; frequency.

Eyes . . . sick and blunted with community. Shak.

© Webster 1913.