Free Critical Response To The Journal Article, The Adaptation Of Rural Communities Critical Thinking Example

When the source of livelihood for a small community no longer exists, they have to adapt or die out altogether. Many aspects determine whether a community regains its glory or fades. In small communities, the source of livelihood is often singular for a majority of people in the community. The importance of the source of income therefore ranks as the central pillar to the socio-economic health of such a community. The source of livelihood plays a much significant role socially as it does economically.
The problem of continuity in the face of face of adversity is an important one to the survival of the institution, individual, or in this case, the community. The opening paragraphs give an example of two hypothetical villages, and their response to a difficult situation. While the response is critical to the survival of the community, the individual component making up the community is an individual. While the community may possess the excellent understanding amongst each other, the interests of the individual are bound to precede those of the community. In this regard, the author fails to address the options available to the community members in response to crises. In the case of the coalmine shut down, the miners might prefer to move on to another town with a functional mine for their own survival and that of their families. The community might not survive for lack of effort or good will from the residents but in consideration of other opportunities promising a quicker reward than a slow restructuring of economic effort that might not pay off. The ability of the community to work in unison towards achieving a common goal is vital in the revival as the author notes, but he fails to address the opportunity cost foregone by the residents in choosing to work together for the sake of the community rather than for individual preservation.
Social capital is the need for flow of information within the community for effective decision-making. For information to flow freely within the community, infrastructure facilitating, this communication is necessary. This infrastructure, according to (Adger, 2003, p. 389), ‘is the relations that bind people together via certain norms and psychological connections’. The journal employs this view as well noting that a community that engages in social activities together is bound to overcome challenges. While the main problem afflicting these villages is economic, the author fails to assess the impact that engaging in economic activity together has on the social interaction amongst the villagers. Going back to the mining village, the villagers mostly interacted while at work in the mines, and as such, their social life rotated around work, as well. The closure of the mine breaks down this main and crucial melting point of information on matters affecting the society. The villagers not used to interact largely outside of their work areas find it hard to interact in the event that the workplace shuts down. The place of work, therefore, merits consideration as the main social capital in this particular case, where the village depends almost entirely on a single source of income.