How did Barry Wellman describe community as networks of interpersonal ties?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

A woman telephone operator wearing a headset sits at a manual switchboard, connecting calls by plugging cords into rows of jacks, circa 1900. — communication Operator at a telephone switchboard, c. 1900.

Canadian sociologist Barry Wellman defined community as "networks of interpersonal ties that provide sociability, support, information, a sense of belonging, and social identity".1

Wellman’s perspective emphasizes that while individuals often perceive their social world in terms of groups, they actually function within networks. In these networked societies, boundaries are permeable, and individuals interact with diverse others across multiple, often thinly connected, partial communities.1

Rather than being confined to a single, static group, each person operates within their own "personal community," which consists of various ties to kin, neighbors, friends, workmates, and organizations. This shift toward "networked individualism" suggests that connections switch between multiple networks, often resulting in flatter and more recursive hierarchies.1