The changing nature of 'connectivity' within and between communities

社区之间以及与外部世界的联系方式各不相同。在一些集团中，强大的内部联系可能会排斥外来者，而在另一些集团，这种联系使人们能够以更具包容性的方式对待世界。陷入困境的社区往往拥有更多紧密联系、排外的联系。社会的结构和经济特征可能会影响社区内部联系的性质，需要更多地研究收入梯度陡峭对地方和国家社区性质的影响。社区凝聚力倡议在许多情况下似乎是成功的，但需要进一步研究使社区能够发展交叉形式的联系而不是牢固的内部联系的条件。社交网络和其他通信技术使新类型的虚拟社区连接得以形成，但这些往往会加强现有类型的社区，并可能仅限于特定类型的用户。人们需要与他人建立联系，并在他们建立的联系中找到身份；在联系机会较弱的地方，刑事犯罪就会更高。在不存在其他形式的联系的情况下，帮派可能会达到提供身份的目的。

The ways communities are connected with each other and with the 'outside world' vary. In some groups strong internal bonds may exclude outsiders, while in others the connections enable a more inclusive approach to the world. Troubled communities tend to have more connections of the strongly bonded, exclusive kind. Structural and economic features of a society may affect the nature of connections within communities, and more work is needed on the effects of steep income gradients on the nature of communities locally as well as nationally. Community cohesion initiatives appear in many cases to have been successful, but further research is needed on the conditions that enable communities to develop cross-cutting forms of connectedness rather than strong, internal bonds. Social networking and other communication technology is enabling new kinds of 'virtual' community connections to form but these tend to reinforce existing kinds of community and may be restricted to particular kinds of user. People need to connect with others and to find identity in the connections they make; where opportunity for connection is weak, criminal offending is higher. Gangs may serve the purpose of giving identity where other forms of connection do not exist.