[Air-l] atomization, groups, networks

[Barry Wellman]

Wendy Robinson wrote:
"We're better connected, yet more atomized."

Barry wonders:
What evidence is there to support this? Other than Bob Putnam's _Bowling
Alone_ which is worth taking seriously, but focuses on the decline of
organized groups.

OTOH,lots of people have provided systematic evidence -- ethnographic and
survey -- that show the continuation of connectivity, although more in
social networks than in densely-knit bounded groups. My web page has both
review articles and my own research on the subject.

For those of you tiring of this thread, I am on the road again for the
next week, and mostly offline. Flying economy class. See some of you
Monday in the NSF-John Robinson Webshop summer institute at U Maryland, and
perhaps others of you at the SSRC-Columbia U ICT meets Int'l Relns summer
institute.

BTW, I forgot to mention the greatest advantage of business class lounges:
they provide abundant electrical outlets for us workaholics. It's sad to
see the scramble among folks in the regular airport waiting rooms to get
the few electrical outlet connections for their laptops. I've taken to
carrying a multi-outlet tap, so I can ask people to share their precious
wall connection. And so it goes ...

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  Barry Wellman        Professor of Sociology       NetLab Director
  wellman at chass.utoronto.ca   http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman

  Centre for Urban & Community Studies        University of Toronto
  455 Spadina Avenue   Toronto Canada M5S 2G8   fax:+1-416-978-7162
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