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University of Lethbridge

Capital and stratification within virtual community : a case study of metafilter.com

Abstract

In this thesis, I conduct a case study of a virtual community (Metafilter.com) in order to apply Pierre Bourdieu's theory of capital and class to an online community. The specific goals for this thesis are in mapping the different forms of capital that are active in Metafilter in order to see how they structure its social space. The questions I address are: 1) what forsm of capital are active in the Metafilter community? 2) How are they similar to the forms of capital presented by Bourdieu? Having identified the active forms of capital, 3) do they act to influence stratification in the Metafilter community?

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Authors
  • Lawton, Paul K.
  • University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science

Subjects

dc:subject × 4

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Identifier
hdl:10133/267
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:opus.uleth.ca:10133/267

Chain of custody

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Harvested from
University of Lethbridge
Base URL
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Last updated
2026-07-27
Source record
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citation

Lawton, Paul K.; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science. Capital and stratification within virtual community : a case study of metafilter.com. 2005.