Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Social Capital, Part Two: Is Cyberspace a Social Vacuum?
Community and social capital seem to be inseparable terms. This statement is supported by sociologists, such as Ferlander (2003, p. 64) who states, "[s]ocial capital is the essence of community, as social connections are the aggregations that develop community, sense of identity and belonging." Furthermore, "[c]ommunity can be seen as the arena where social capital can be created and maintained" (ibid, p. 65). Although not as blunt as Ferlander, Putnam (2000) contends the two terms are "conceptual cousins" that are positively related.
A primary concern of Putnam's Bowling Alone is the decline of social capital and community ties in the United States, which Putnam suggests is due in part to more and more Americans withdrawing from their communities and, instead, staying at home to watch television. This withdrawal from public/social involvement has caused some to fear that the Internet will continue what television started: Americans will continue to withdraw from their communities as they devote more of their time to being alone in cyberspace and having virtual social connections, which will further erode real communities. But is cyberspace a social vacuum? Does our time there diminish our community involvement?
An essential link, but not the only link, between the concepts of "social capital" and "community" is "social networks" or "social connections." That this is an essential link is not lost on Wellman (1997, p. 181) who contends that "[b]y definition, people who use computer networks have social relationships with each other that are embedded in social networks." Wellman sees virtual social networks as creating, not destroying, communities:
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Ferlander, Sara. January 2003. THE INTERNET, SOCIAL CAPITAL AND LOCAL COMMUNITY. Doctoral Dissertation. University of Stirling, Department of Psychology. Online at www.crdlt.stir.ac.uk/Docs/SaraFerlanderPhD.pdf.
Pigg, Kenneth E. and Crank, Laura Duffy. 2004. "Building Community Social Capital: The Potential and Promise of Information and Communications Technologies" in The Journal of Community Informatics, Vol. 1, Issue 1, pp. 58 - 73.
Wellman, Barry. 1997. "An Electronic Group Is Virtually A Social Network" in Culture of the Internet. Ed., Sara Kiesler. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers; Mahwah, New Jersey, pp. 179-208.
A primary concern of Putnam's Bowling Alone is the decline of social capital and community ties in the United States, which Putnam suggests is due in part to more and more Americans withdrawing from their communities and, instead, staying at home to watch television. This withdrawal from public/social involvement has caused some to fear that the Internet will continue what television started: Americans will continue to withdraw from their communities as they devote more of their time to being alone in cyberspace and having virtual social connections, which will further erode real communities. But is cyberspace a social vacuum? Does our time there diminish our community involvement?
An essential link, but not the only link, between the concepts of "social capital" and "community" is "social networks" or "social connections." That this is an essential link is not lost on Wellman (1997, p. 181) who contends that "[b]y definition, people who use computer networks have social relationships with each other that are embedded in social networks." Wellman sees virtual social networks as creating, not destroying, communities:
Sitting in the privacy of their homes, people connect online with fellow members of newsgroups and other, usually specialized forms of virtual communities... Such virtual communities inherently connect all directly with all — everyone can read all messages — but their size and fragmentation means that few members are strongly connected. Hence computer-supported social networks are not destroying community but are responding to, resonating with, and extending the types of community that have already become prevalent in the developed Western world.Unlike television, which promotes passivity, the Internet promotes interactivity and social networking. It extends community from the neighborhood into virtual spaces where people come together out of common interest.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
