Policies Adopted By The Community As A Whole.

Policies can take different forms, depending upon whose policies they are, and what they refer to.......
They may be public or private, official or unofficial, expressed or unexpressed. Some common types of policies:
Policies of the media.

Policies adopted by the community as a whole.

While there may be no discussion or complete consensus about what community policy actually is, communities do have policies on issues and other matters. During the darkest days of the Civil Rights Movement, for example, it was community policy in most communities in the South to maintain segregation, often by any means necessary. In many affluent communities, it is clearly a community policy that education is important, and worth spending money on.

Community policy is made by a combination of factors, but two are by far the most important. One is the opinions of community leaders - not necessarily those elected, but those whose opinions are listened to, because of their economic or political clout, or simply because of the respect they've earned. These may include influential business people, clergy, educators, or directors of organizations, among others.

The second factor is public opinion. Public opinion may be formed partially by the opinions of community leaders, but is also a product of people's own experiences, the media, and the long-time standards and practices of the community. Segregation was unquestioningly accepted because it had been in force for a hundred years. Affluent communities are willing to spend money on schools largely because many of the parents in those communities themselves gained affluence through education.

    A small community can have its policies determined by an elite group that controls the area's economy. People are afraid to challenge them openly because of their control over the livelihoods of community members, who may include themselves or their relatives.