ABSTRACT
We find community in networks, not groups. Although people often view the world in terms of groups (Freeman 1992), they function in networks. In networked societies: boundaries are permeable, interactions are with diverse others, connections switch between multiple networks, and hierarchies can be flatter and recursive. The change from groups to networks can be seen at many levels. Trading and political blocs have lost their monolithic character in the world system. Organisations form complex networks of alliance and exchange rather than cartels, and workers report to multiple peers and superiors. Management by multiple connected network is replacing management by hierarchical tree and management by matrix (Berkowitz 1982, Wellman 1988, Castells 1996). Communities are far-flung, loosely bounded, sparsely knit, and fragmentary. Most people operate in multiple, thinly connected, partial communities as they deal with networks of kin, neighbours, friends, workmates and organisational ties. Rather than fitting into the same group as those around them, each person has his or her own ‘personal community’ (Wellman and Leighton 1979, Wellman 1999a).
