The Community Situation and Political Action

Abstract

I F THE SITUATION means the configuration of factors conditioning the behavior reaction,' it is a convenient concept for considering political activity within a community, for political action is peculiarly responsive to the multiplicity of forces in life. This is the case to such an extent that it reflects the degree of integration as well as the quality of the various social processes occurring within a community. It is idle to condemn the nature of political processes without attempting to analyze their origin in situations. This paper, therefore, examines the circumstances in modern life which affect political action and the significant political results that emerge because these circumstances prevail. The term community will be used to indicate a group of people living in a contiguous area having common interests and activities which result from such habitation. Although the word has been used for a long time, this connotation of the term has received increasing emphasis since C. J. Galpin demonstrated the physical reality of the rural communities in Walworth County, Wisconsin, and numerous social surveys were made in different parts of the United States. Due partly to this new connotation of the term and its application to social organization, many adults have only a vague understanding of the nature of life and have even less definite ideas about the social processes occurring within it. They do not think of the situation as being the foundation for the political processes that occur, nor do they see the relationship between the two. This unfamiliarity with life is one characteristic of the situation which affects political action. People understand neither the cause nor the methods used in carrying on their political affairs and hence are unable to control them. Another circumstance which has confused the relationship between the situation and political action is the ecological nature of the community. Its physical boundary varies, depending upon the interests that are being considered and the circumstances affecting the length and shape of the borderline at any particular time. The is in part a product of natural forces, whereas political areas are socially determined and relatively fixed. When governmental or political units were being formed in this country, there was a tolerable degree of correspondence be-