Social Cohesion and Community: Technology's Affects on Interaction

Author: Olga Heifets
Graduation Year: 2003
Advisor: Frederick Volk
Reader: D. Linda Garcia
Date: 07 March 2006
Link to Thesis: OlgaHeifets.pdf

People establish communities within which they live, work and socially engage with others. As technologies grow increasingly complex, so too are the effects that these technologies have on the interactions of the people who use them. This thesis intends to explore the relationship between communication technologies and social cohesion. A group's social cohesion is defined as the residents?: (1) notions of community, (2) feelings of trust, (3) willingness to participate in social exchange, and (4) contribution of social capital. A case study is presented where the community's social cohesion before and after the integration of the technology into the community is analyzed. A comparison reveals the technology's effects on the group's interactions, experiences, and the quality of engagement with each other as affected by access to the technology.