Communities, Places, and Social Networks

Bibliographic Data

ID3758700
AuthorsFortunata Piselli (University of Trento, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume50
Issue7
Pages867-878
Publication date2007-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0002764206298312
OpenAlexW2046156581
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited17

This article analyzes the concept of community using the network analysis perspective. In opposition to classical studies (sociological and anthropological) that identify communities with particular residential units, it is necessary to study a community as a network of relations rather than as a spatially defined unit. The community is not a "place" but a network of meaningful social relations with friends, neighbors, relatives, and work colleagues who do not necessarily belong to the same residential unit. This article analyzes personal relations and various forms of communication and exchange that take place in different ambits and argues that community studies must be approached from a network analytic perspective. Although social and spatial dimensions may condition and reinforce each other, communities are not places that can be circumscribed spatially. Rather than the spatial dimension, social networks integrate and separate, defining exclusion from or inclusion in particular domains

Community network · Community studies · Dimension (graph theory) · Economic geography · Epistemology · Geography · Opposition (politics) · Perspective (graphical) · Political science · Social network (sociolinguistics) · Social relation · Social science · Sociology · Unit (ring theory) · Computer Science · Law · Mathematics · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Capital and Networks · Social Media and Politics

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