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Relying on such theoretical perspectives as the public sphere, social capital, and networked communities, this study proposes a conceptual framework of the electronic community information commons (Levine, 2002) to assess whether previous community computer networks in the U.S. since 1994 are proximate to the prototype of the electronic commons. The analysis of five cases collected through the systematic review method (SR) suggests that previous projects are not proximate to the prototype of the electronic commons, and that moving toward this ideal type involves more than the distribution of technology. The roles that the electronic commons can play for healthier communities to operate in a civil society context are discussed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyze the field of cultural consumption in the United States, drawing on the methods of correspondence analysis employed by Bourdieu (1979, see also Greenacre, 1993). Using the 2000 DDB Lifestyle Study, we analyze a cross section of Americans (N=3,122) in terms of the associations among occupational categories, media usage, consumption practices, social behaviors, and indicators of civic and political engagement. In doing so, we find many parallels to the determinants of taste, cultural discrimination, and choice within the field structure observed by Bourdieu in 1970s French society, though there are also some notable differences. Most notable is the important role occupied by media consumption in defining the field of cultural consumption. The characteristics we map are arrayed along two axes of volume and form of economic and cultural capital. We find striking similarities in the upper ranges of the quadrants mapping a high volume of cultural and economic capital, but substantial differences toward middle and lower levels. Specifically, we find that in terms of the form of cultural capital, the distribution of positions is largely defined by patterns of taste that discriminate between refinement, moderation, nurturance, and a communal orientation, on the one side, and coarseness, excess, aggressiveness, and an individual orientation, on the other. Historical and national differences partly account for this variation, but we hypothesize that a major role is played by the formation of identities around media and consumption, leading to a more gendered and ideological positioning of taste cultures in the U.S. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent national study shows that aggregate levels of civic engagement among high school youth remain relatively high compared to previous generations, while political engagement lags. Authors conducted a large-scale community ethnography in which more than eighty high school aged youth were interviewed about the forms and meaning of their civic and community activities. The results raise questions about the deeper meaning of youth civic engagement. Current high levels of activity may be related more to achievement anxiety and college ambition generated by increasing uncertainty over life-chances than the development of moral motivation and transmission of community social capital. Minority and working-class youth were a significant, if partial, exception, exhibiting motives linked to both achievement and community development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]