Networks, Neighborhoods, and Communities: Approaches to the Study of the Community Question

Abstract

We propose a network analytic approach to the community question in order to separate the study of communities from the study of neighborhoods. Three arguments about the community question-that "community" has been "lost," "saved," or "liberated"-are reviewed for their development, network depictions, imagery, policy implications, and current status. The lost argument contends that communal ties have become attenuated in industrial bureaucratic societies; the saved argument contends that neighborhood communities remain as important sources of sociability, support and mediation with formal institutions; the liberated argument maintains that while communal ties still flourish, they have dispersed beyond the neighborhood and are no longer clustered in solidary communities. Our review finds that both the saved and liberated arguments proposed viable network patterns under appropriate conditions, for social systems as well as individuals.