ABSTRACT
How can people find their way in a world where the stabilizing influence of culture as a communal project is being transformed into a far more symbolic, personalized panorama of images and dreams, fantasies and illusions, journeys and retreats? The historically unparalleled development of communications technology and the sweep of globalization that surrounds us today are changing the very nature and meaning of culture. Although ‘community’ remains a key characteristic, culture is becoming more an individualistic and highly discursive enterprise now. Moreover, cultural communities themselves are being formed in new ways, signaling a fundamental transformation of human experience. The empirical and imaginary space between the communal and the individual is precisely where much cultural work is undertaken in the Communication Age. A discussion of how that work is accomplished, and what some of the major consequences are, is the main purpose of this writing.
