Harrison White's idea of the ``catnet,'' a set of persons
comprising both a category, sharing some common attribute, and a
network.75 Tilly's suggestion that groupness is a joint product of the
``catness'' and ``netness'' ^ categorical commonality and relational con-
nectedness ^ is suggestive.

Second, relational connectedness,
or what Tilly calls ``netness,'' while crucial in facilitating the sort of
collective action Tilly was interested in, is not always necessary for
``groupness.''A strongly bounded sense of groupness may rest on cate-
gorical commonality and an associated feeling of belonging together
with minimal or no relational connectedness. This is typically the case
for large-scale collectivities such as ``nations'': when a diuse self-
understanding as a member of a particular nation crystallizes into a
strongly bounded sense of groupness, this is likely to depend not on
relational connectedness, but rather on a powerfully imagined and
strongly felt commonality.