ABSTRACT
The focus of this chapter is the analysis of the symbolic construction of community on Catholic forums. It is concluded that symbolic boundaries were built primarily to integrate and differentiate between various user groups within one forum. The community-building function of forum regulations is discussed, including the bottom-up monitoring of debates, and the negotiations of power and meaning. It is shown that the forum alliances and conflicts are context-dependent and changeable. They are based on the interpretations of sources of knowledge, and formed among users identifying with various worldviews. Thus, belonging to a group is not determined entirely by one’s religious affiliation. The chapter analyses two groups which often dominate the debates with their conflict, the religious rigorists and the (anti)religious rebels. It posits that the processes of user segmentation and polarisation take place “within” the forum, since various groups have their representatives. The analysed discursive construction of a social representation of “ordinary Catholics” created an external out-group, enabling the participants to recognise the qualities they valued and identified with as a collective and to identify the group’s antithesis.
