Naslov
Community Crisis and the Risks of the Virtual Environment

Autori
Peračković, Krešimir ; Milak, Matea

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
Knjiga sažetaka s I. Međunarodne konferencije Atlas: Modernitet i Odgovornost / Čeh, Matija - Zagreb : Hrvatski studiji Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, 2023, 2-2

Skup
I. Međunarodna konferencija Atlas: Modernitet i Odgovornost

Mjesto i datum
Zagreb, Hrvatska, 23.05.2023. - 24.05.2023

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Domaća recenzija

Ključne riječi
sociology of community, local community, urban community, virtual community, virtual environment

Sažetak
If we consider the concept of community from a sociological perspective, we must start from the now-forgotten classical definition of the concept of community (gemeinschaft), as a fundamental form of sociality, as defined by the german sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies back in 1887, where he clearly distinguishes it from the concept of society (gesellschaft). In this presentation, we will first show how these traditional communities (family, neighborhood, relatives, village) gradually transformed due to social changes during the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, caused by the processes of modernization and industrialization as well as the emergence of capitalism and urbanization. That first significant historical crisis of the community resulted in its disintegration and even dissolution and the alienation of its members, because modern industrial society somehow absorbed the community, especially in the countries where the changes first took place. However, during the 20th century marked by world wars and totalitarian regimes, which in fact were some of the unwanted negative consequences of the process of modernization and industrialization, it turned out that precisely those elements of sociability that the community provides, such as empathy, solidarity, closeness and trust, were key internal forces that amortized the effects of all the tragedies of that time. And from the second half of the 20th century, a more intensive search for new urban communities began, which was initiated by mass social movements such as peace, women's, anti-racist and green, with the simultaneous rediscovery of tradition and traditional religions on the one hand, as well as New Age movements and spiritual practices on the other. In that period, the era of postmodernization actually begins with the re-examination of social values and social structures of the previous modern society, and since then new communities of interests and identities have been increasingly created: activist, political, religious, cultural, subcultural and professional. With the development of information technology, virtual communities are also emerging as new forms that have some features of previous communities. Due to the risks of the virtual environment, the main concern here is the challenge of establishing authentic procedures for confirming the identity and reputation of individuals and building trust within the group. As a result, there are also new types of alienation and consequently a new, contemporary community crisis. Therefore, starting from that framework, we also question whether these new virtual communities are truly communities in the classical sense of the meaning of the term, or whether it is some form of networked individualism as one of the indicators of community crisis. Finally, we will present some research results on the challenges brought by virtual communities.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Sociologija

POVEZANOST RADA