This paper addresses the changing definitions of "community" as addressed in the research literature. Beginning with Tocqueville's description of individuality in the United States, the paper identifies the following designations for the term "community": (1) "Modern Communitarians"; (2) "Communities of Memory"; and (3) "Moral Commitment and Responsibility." The paper also addresses critical views of the problems of power and difference by examining "Communities of Choice" and "Communities and Otherness." The paper reviews the role of civic life and discusses thinkers, such as Arthur Schlesinger, advocating a new covenant and those seeing conflict and ambiguity in developing modern identities. The paper concludes with challenging questions regarding the roles of school in developing community and outlines the social mission of the school to aid students in community participation. (Contains 30 references.) (EH)