sometimes pulling in "imagined communities" but fail to really discuss the perception of reality from the point of view from the individual. the problem here is that the concept of an 'imagined community' does not necessitate that there is a 'real' community. You might investigate the book entitled 'Imagined Communities' about this, which put forth the start of much of this related research. One problem of course is that if you focus on the individual you significantly undermine what it means to be in a community because the level of analysis, normative, and otherwise is entirely problematic for the concept, which necessitates a level of analysis where the organic parts of the community are more important than the essential parts(the individuals). The group identity entails the individual identity, not the opposite. Does that help?
jeremy hunsinger jhuns@vt.edu on the ibook www.cddc.vt.edu www.cddc.vt.edu/jeremy www.dromocracy.com