Networks In The Global Village: Life In Contemporary Communities (Paperback)

~ Barry Wellman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Networks in the Global Village examines how people live through personal communities: their networks of friends, neighbors, relatives, and coworkers. It is the first book to compare the communities of people around the world. Major social differences between and within the First, Second, and Third Worlds affect the opportunities and insecurities with which individuals and households must deal, the supportive resources they seek, and the ways in which markets, institutions, and networks structure access to these resources. Each article written by a resident shows how living in a country affects the ways in which people use networks to access resources.

About the Author

Barry Wellman is professor of sociology at the University of Toronto. He is chair of the Community and Urban Sociology section of the American Sociological Association, founder and international coordinator of the International Network for Social Network Analysis, focus area advisor for Virtual Communities of the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Groupware, and coeditor of Social Structures: A Network Approach.

Product Details

• Paperback: 377 pages
• Publisher: Westview Press (August 5, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813368219
• ISBN-13: 978-0813368214
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #796,122 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still Going Strong, March 2, 2003

By	Barry Wellman (Toronto, Ont Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've tried in this book to show what personal communities are like around the world. This is the first book to compare the personal communities of people around the world. The articles are written by residents of the countries described -- this is no view from afar. They show that major social differences between the First, Second and Third Worlds affect the opportunities and insecurities with which individuals and households must deal. The authors and I have also worked hard to make the articles stimulating and readable.

As the Internet moves us away from local neighborhoods, our personal communities -- the friends, relatives, neighbors and workmates we're linked to -- become critically important for using social networks to get social capital, find friendship, develop identities, and get civicly involved. Who we connect with profoundly affects who we are.

1 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars list of chapters, September 5, 1998

By	[e-mail] (Toronto) - See all my reviews

Barry Wellman "The network community". Wellman & Stephanie Potter "The elements of community". Wellman & Milena Gulia "The network basis of social support". Barrett Lee & Karen Campbell "Neighbor networks of Black and White Americans. Alexis Ferrand, Lise Mounier & Alain Degenne "The diversity of personal networks in France". Endre Sik & Wellman "Network capital in capitalist, communist, and postcommunist countries". Vicente Espinoza "Social networks among the urban poor in a Latin American city". Yanjie Bian "Getting a job through a web of guanzi in China". Janet Salaff, Eric Fong & Wong Siu-Lun "Using social Networks to exit Hong Kong". Shinsuke Otani "Personal community networks in contemporary Japan". Wellman & Gulia "Net surfers don't ride alone: Virtual community as community".

3 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars list of contents (by the editor), November 4, 1998

By	[e-mail] (Toronto) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Networks In The Global Village: Life In Contemporary Communities (Hardcover)

Barry Wellman, "The network community". Wellman & Stephanie Potter, "Elements of community ". Wellman & Milena Gulia, "Network basis of social support". Barrett Lee & Karen Campbell, "Neighbor networks of Black and White Americans". Alexis Ferrand, Lise Mounier, Alain Degenne, "The diversity of personal networks in France". Endre Sik & Wellman, "Network capital in capitalist,communist, and postcommunist countries". Vicente Espinoza, "Social networks among the urban poor in a Latin American city". Yanjie Bian, "Getting a job through a web of guanzi in China". Janet Salaff, Eric Fong, Wong Siu-Lun, "Using social networks to exit Hong Kong". Shinsuke Otani, "Personal community networks in contemporary Japan". Wellman & Gulia "Net surfers don't ride alone: virtual community as community"