Sense of community: Advances in measurement and application

This article summarizes theoretical and methodological advances in the study and application of a SOC, and serves as the introduction to a special issue devoted to this subject. Four themes emerged from the review. The first was that there continues to be a search for additional measures, despite the popularity of the SOC Index (SCI). Current investigations have begun to look at individual and group level effects of a SOC. Research continues to find an important and complicated relationship between the neighborhood (as a residential community) and a SOC, contrary to the proliferation of communities that are not based on place. Research was also discovered investigating the relationship between a SOC and history, attachment, and identity. A SOC was found to be used as a catalyst for community justice and change in several national and local initiatives. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.