VIEWING COMMUNITY AS RESPONSIBILITY AS WELL AS RESOURCE: DECONSTRUCTING THE THEORETICAL ROOTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SENSE OF COMMUNITY

The field of scholarship surrounding the construct of psychological sense of community (PSOC) has been dominated by first-order learning processes attending to issues of measurement and prediction of the four-dimensional framework proposed by McMillan, and Chavis (1976). This article seeks to contribute to the conceptual development of PSOC by clarifying the second-order assumptions of PSOC as it is represented in prevailing conception and measurement. We introduce human needs Meaty as a macro framework for representing the definition and study of PSOC to date. Second, we illuminate the limitations of a purely needs theory perspective of PSOC and propose the value of exploring alternative theoretically grounded perspectives. Third, we offer an alternative theoretical base for PSOC-a sense of community as responsibility and highlight how this alternative theoretical lens can suggest new models for understanding the dynamic between PSOC, psychological well-being, and community engagement. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.