Communities, places and social networks

This article analyzes the concept of community using the network analysis perspective. In opposition to classical studies (sociological and anthropological) that identify communities with particular residential units, it is necessary to study a community as a network of relations rather than as a spatially defined unit. The community is not a “place” but a network of meaningful social relations with friends, neighbors, relatives, and work colleagues who do not necessarily belong to the same residential unit. This article analyzes personal relations and various forms of communication and exchange that take place in different ambits and argues that community studies must be approached from a network analytic perspective. Although social and spatial dimensions may condition and reinforce each other, communities are not places that can be circumscribed spatially. Rather than the spatial dimension, social networks integrate and separate, defining exclusion from or inclusion in particular domains.