ABSTRACT
The development of the notion of personal communities shifted the unit of analysis from the society and the social area to interpersonal ties and networks. Social network analysis enables people to evaluate typologies such as the Tönniesian belief that densely knit networks have frequent face-to-face contact and high percentages of kin and neighbors. Combined with multivariate analysis, it allows people to consider factors that may make up the elements of communities in various combinations. Factor analysis is a straightforward way to discover how variables combine into the elements of personal communities. The chapter uses it to identify the basic building blocks of the Torontonians' personal communities. The personal communities of Torontonians do not fall along one gemeinschaft-gesellschaft dimension; they are varying combinations of elements. Four elements largely describe the structure and composition of these personal communities: immediate kinship/friendship, contact, range, and intimacy.
