Capitalism and Communities: the Neighborhood of

Bookstores
Christina Hutchinson

Abstract

This paper attempts to explore the way social conditions change conceptions of community. Bookstores are
institutions in a capitalist marketplace that sell community to consumers. Scholars who study bookstores tend to
ignore the spatial location of such institutions and how this complicates ideas about what community is.
Bookstores, rather than vital community institutions may simply be the product of spatial determinism they may be
tied to the neighborhood they reside in and as such are products of a neighborhood rather than community. The
difference between community and neighborhood has long intrigued sociologists because it begs the question of
whether or not community is spatially determined. Through a spatial analysis that locates 81 bookstores across
Toronto, I conclude that chain stores congregate in suburban areas while independents congregate in the central city.
Toronto is a city of neighborhoods but neighborhoods are most abundant in the downtown core. The suburbs have
fewer population densities and therefore fewer neighborhoods, as well as less bookstores and virtually no
independent ones. This implies that a critical mass is needed for independent bookstore survival and that without
chain stores, suburban populations in the city would be without books. I argue that neighborhoods become
communities through the bookstore. Whether it is a Chapters in Scarborough, or an LGBTQ bookstore at Church
and Wellesley, people congregate in these institutions and often form interpersonal ties with others. The bookstore is
a vital community institution but its survival largely depends on its spatial location.

Key Words: Independent, Chain, Bookstores, Community, Neighborhood

Introduction:

The social conditions of the modern capitalist world increasingly appear to foster heterogeneous and disparate social
relations the longing for community amidst this isolation has perhaps never been more commonly expressed. In a
competitive global economy reliant on self-interest, social networks are increasingly tied to the economy;
institutions sell aspects of community and social relationships are commodified. The bookstore is one such example
of an institution that sells community through a shared interest in books. The chain store is commonly classified as
a monolithic enterprise seeking capital over community. The Independent, in contrast, thrives on its established
communal space that is threatened by the ascendancy of the chain store. The independent bookstore, however, has
not been eradicated by the competitive market and neighborhood organizations have donated time and money to
keep Independent bookstores alive. Chain stores have picked up on the consumers desire to be sold community
and market their products within a discourse that attempts to prove it is a site for gathering and belonging. It is clear
that the bookstore has become a vital community institution consumers desire a place to belong. With this desire
to belong comes a desire to be spatially close to others in ones neighborhood. Yelp reviewers describe local
bookstores as meeting spots where those in their neighborhood get together.

Culture, Creativity, and Cities Capstone Course | Dept. of Sociology | University of

Toronto Scarborough
1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario M1C 1A4 Canada
Background:

Tonnies (2001) defines community as a social co-existence that is comfortable and exclusive. It is also
organic and natural, creating a complete unity of human wills (200). This definition distinguishes
neighborhood from community those who live in the same place may form a social co-existence that is natural
and organic, but living in the same neighborhood does not imply comfort or the complete unity of human
wills. Institutions bring people together, and bookstores are places of comfort where one may have a coffee and
delve into conversation with others. Capitalism, with its focus on self-interested competitiveness, however, detaches
individuals from one another. Bookstores are capitalist institutions and therefore are competing in a marketplace as
sites of commerce. Tonnies conception treats society and community as though they are separate. Bookstores, I
argue, are both societal (capitalist) and community institutions that engage in self-interested marketing but still
achieve a goal of bringing people together.

Wellman and Leighton (1979) argue that neighborhoods are spatially determined and that to treat a
neighborhood as thought it were a community implies that community is determined by spatial location as well
(380). While it is insightful to recognize that communities can and are formed beyond the limits of spatial
boundaries, it is also insightful to recognize why sociologists tend to treat community as tied to spaces. Institutions,
like bookstores, are heavily determined by their spatial location and as pillars of community they perhaps form
interpersonal relationships that are directly tied to location. In other words, institutions create spaces that for
communities to form within those spaces. Wellman and Leighton fail to consider the way institutions create spaces
conducive for communities.

Methods:

While I began this research attempting to discover how commercial a bookstore is versus how
community oriented it is, I now recognize that these measures are practically irrelevant. Bookstores, regardless of
how commercial, are enterprises that create community. It is fruitful perhaps to compare the difference between
how consumers view these institutions versus how the institutions market themselves to consumers. This will give
me an idea about how important community is for consumers and likewise, how important it is to sell
community.

I employed a content analysis for 5 random webpages of 5 different bookstores and their respective Yelp
reviews. Each word that signified either community or commercialism was gathered and coded into a point
system that awarded one point for each instance. I then calculated a commercial index by subtracting the community
rating from the commercial rating. The higher the number, the higher the commercialism. The most significant
findings is that chain stores were not considered highly commercial even though their web-pages adhered to a
very high commercial index. Perhaps consumers do not recognize that they are consuming when they go to a
bookstore and will perceive any such institution as a communal one. This highlights my argument communities
are desired by consumers whether or they are sold to them or not.

I also created a zone map of where independents and chains are located. In congruence with my earlier
argument, I found that the outer zone (suburbs) contained chain stores while the inner zones contained more
independent stores. This highlights my argument about there needing to be a critical mass and neighborhood in order

Culture, Creativity, and Cities Capstone Course | Dept. of Sociology | University of

Toronto Scarborough
1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario M1C 1A4 Canada
for independents to be successful and that if not for chain stores locating on the periphery, suburban areas would
have no books.

Culture, Creativity, and Cities Capstone Course | Dept. of Sociology | University of

Toronto Scarborough
1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario M1C 1A4 Canada
Conclusions and Further Research:

Bookstores are capitalist entities that compete for community. They are engaged in a market relationship but
consumers value them for their ability to gather people together, allowing interpersonal ties to emerge.
Neighborhoods become communities through instituions that are valued for their community-making
aspirations. Bookstores are both pillars of community and pillars of neighborhoods.

It would be interesting to consider a market-as-politics approach to gain insight into the internal structures of
power that operate to produce bookstores and govern their markets. This means treating bookstores as
commercial sites, but with governing cultural and political standards that are not created by consumer demand
(Sallaz 2012). When a new chain store opens up nearby an independent, how is the marketplace transformed?
Do chains model independents marketing strategies or do independents model themselves after chains? How
does marketing relate to the culture of these institutions? Is there any specific locality where both may reside
with mutually constitutive competition that drives profit for both? And finally, how do Toronto bookstores
compare nationally and internationally? Independents I believe are useful actors in this approach because they
are legitimized by political and cultural standards, not necessarily as profit-driven institutions. LGBTQ
bookstores are not successes in an economic sense, but they are legitimized because of their political outlook.
Similarly, Another Story is themed by social justice, as LGBTQ is. I want to uncover how this political
outlook is governed internally and how this governing may change the structure of a bookstore and its
relationship to commercial success. Perhaps I could conduct a theme analysis of adornment, similar to what
Sallaz uses in his research on casinos.

Culture, Creativity, and Cities Capstone Course | Dept. of Sociology | University of

Toronto Scarborough
1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario M1C 1A4 Canada
Works Cited;

Wellman, Barry, Barry Leighton. (1979). Networks, Neighborhoods, and Communities: Approaches t the Study of
the Community Question. Centre for Urban and Community Studies. Pp. 363- 390.

Sallaz, Jeffrey. (2012).Politics of Organizational Adornement: Lessons from Las Vegas and Beyond. American
Soicological Review pp. 99-119.

Tonnies, F., & Harris, J. (2001). Community and civil society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Culture, Creativity, and Cities Capstone Course | Dept. of Sociology | University of

Toronto Scarborough
1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario M1C 1A4 Canada