Virtual Communities: A Sociological Perspective From Pastoral Village t

The technical, functional, and symbolic characteristics of the Internet whitethorn have changed the ways that communities are formed and experienced through a decentralized global conversation network that transcends fleshly time and space. maculation this notion of virtual community is closely associated with the emergence of randomness communication technologies (ICTs), the idea that communities quite a little be seen as series of social ties that vary in density, size and nature is not a novel concept. The skip of cities and urban centers as a outcome of industrialization have capacious concerned sociologists, many of whom (e.g., Wirth, 1938 Woodsworth, 1911) feared that traditional social relations that permeated folk communities may be transformed and even threatened by the growth of contemporaneous metropolis. The development of traditional mass media (e.g., print, radio, and television) had contributed to the process of urbanization by dower as a means of communica tion for both social and moneymaking(prenominal) activities. To understand what the Internet may mean for human communities in todays social and technological context, it is necessary to first explore the ever-changing conception of community before the arrival of computers.While the existence of a community is typically defined by the types of social ties formed by its members (e.g., family or work) and by the physical boundaries that it occupies (e.g., neighborhoods or towns), the idea of community can be traced to ancient social and political thought, ranging from the five fundamental relationships in Confucianism to Platos ideal republic. During the Enlightenment period, philosophers such as Locke (1988/1689) and Rousseau (1998/1762) wrote extensively to the highest degree the ways in which individuals enter t... ...ace of community in the age of digital communication technologies. As a result, it is the person, rather than issues associated with the change in physical envir onment (e.g., urbanization, migration), becomes the new focus of the community research in the information age from a sociological standpoint. For example, what motivates individuals to join virtual communities? In what relative frequency and capacity do individuals interact with multiple social groups? And to maintain what kind-hearted of social relations? These are some of the emerging questions that community scholars depart soon have to answer. It is for this reason that the study of community must effort beyond the realm of sociology and incorporate perspectives from psychology in order to hold back a more compete picture of what has, and what has not, changed as a result of the networked environment at the individual level.