Tavern and the internet sociability: A tomarin

Abstract

Although the tavern as a social institution and the internet as technology do not constitute phenomena of the same kind, comparing them has sociological significance in the context of tavernology. In this paper, such comparison will include comparing the tavern and the internet sociability based on the functions that theorists attach to the one or the other phenomenon. The basic hypothesis is that most functions attributed to the tavern can be applied to the internet and vice versa, which points to the conclusion that what is at the core of the social aspect of the internet use is, in fact, the copying of patterns of sociability from a real into a virtual space. Consequently, the tavern and the internet sociability are not conflicting but complementary concepts. The internet sociability in fact represents 'the version 2.0' of its tavern counterpart, because it is derived from the patterns of social relationships peculiar to the period of modernity which the global social network upgrades, shifts to a virtual space, and at the same time, as each new phenomenon does, creates new controversies and dilemmas.