ABSTRACT
Community members relate to each other through formally structured relations within community institutions such as work organizations, professions, schools, courts, and civic organizations. Both communities and organizations are macrosystems as contrasted with the microsystems of persons, families, and small groups. Ferdinand Tonnies described place and nonplace communities. Communities unsuited to adapt to new economic and transportation networks, or unable to compete with new centers of power, declined or ceased to exist. Certain communities evolve distinctive institutions. Social networking has become popular as a vehicle for "consciousness raising" among disadvantaged populations such as women, gays and lesbians, and racial or ethnic minorities. Social networks can be highly significant in socialization in organizations and communities. Social networks resemble groups and communities in some respects while resembling organizations in other respects. The Internet has become a "virtual community" for some computer users via "chat rooms," social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube, as well as one-to-one simultaneous or "time-shifted" conversations.
