IngentaConnect Structure, Culture, and Community: The Search for Belonging in 50...

Author: Vaisey, Stephen

Source: American Sociological Review, Volume 72, Number 6, December 2007 , pp. 851-873(23)

Publisher: American Sociological Association

Abstract:

Driven by the popularity of social capital theories, the concept of community is enjoying a renaissance in sociology. Yet much research in this area relies on exclusively “structural” thinking, attributing group identification to mechanisms such as the arrangement of physical space, power relations, or high investment requirements. Often neglected is a strand of theory that attributes gemeinschaft to shared moral order and culture. Using data from the Urban Communes Project, this article directly tests the influence of both structural and cultural mechanisms in producing the experience of community. Although the results show that both structural and cultural mechanisms are positively correlated with gemeinschaft, they also confirm the existence of shared moral order as the most likely proximate mechanism for creating community in these groups. Analyses using fuzzy-set techniques illustrate how culture and structure combine to sustain—or inhibit—the experience of community.

The full text electronic article is available for purchase. You will be able to download the full text electronic article after payment.

$26.00 plus tax Refund Policy

Structure, Culture, and Community: The Search for Belonging in 50 Urban Communes