Sociology 712

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Sociology 712 Seminar on Social Networks
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Introduction
Overview Expectations for the course Seminar Home
work Final paper Go over the Syllabus Overview of
Social Network Analysis Theory Methods Linked by
Barabási History by Freeman
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Introduction
What are the expectations for the course?

• 1) This is a Seminar
• High level of class participation
• Critical evaluations of reading

• 2) Homework
• Reading -- lots of it. Read smart.
• These are methods exercises, designed to make
  sure you know how to do the procedures. Not
  complicated, and usually very short.

• 3) Final Paper
• Goal is to get something interesting published.
• Paper need to use either the ideas or the methods
  of this course
• Can be a revision of another paper (MA, course
  paper, etc.)
• Can be co-authored (up to 3 authors).

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Introduction
Class Overview
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Introduction
We live in a connected world
To speak of social life is to speak of the
association between people their associating in
work and in play, in love and in war, to trade or
to worship, to help or to hinder. It is in the
social relations men establish that their
interests find expression and their desires
become realized. Peter M. Blau Exchange and
Power in Social Life, 1964
"If we ever get to the point of charting a whole
city or a whole nation, we would have a picture
of a vast solar system of intangible structures,
powerfully influencing conduct, as gravitation
does in space. Such an invisible structure
underlies society and has its influence in
determining the conduct of society as a
whole." J.L. Moreno, New York Times, April 13,
1933
These patterns of connection form a social space,
that can be seen in multiple contexts
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Introduction
Source Linton Freeman See you in the funny
pages Connections, 23, 2000, 32-42.
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Introduction
High Schools as Networks
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Introduction
And yet, standard social science analysis methods
do not take this space into account. For the
last thirty years, empirical social research has
been dominated by the sample survey. But as
usually practiced, , the survey is a
sociological meat grinder, tearing the individual
from his social context and guaranteeing that
nobody in the study interacts with anyone else in
it. Allen Barton, 1968 (Quoted in Freeman
2004) Moreover, the complexity of the relational
world makes it impossible to identify social
connectivity using only our intuition. Social
Network Analysis (SNA) provides a set of tools to
empirically extend our theoretical intuition of
the patterns that compose social structure.
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Introduction
Why do Networks Matter?
Local vision
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Introduction
Why do Networks Matter?
Local vision
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Introduction

• Social network analysis is
• a set of relational methods for systematically
  understanding and identifying connections among
  actors. SNA
• is motivated by a structural intuition based on
  ties linking social actors
• is grounded in systematic empirical data
• draws heavily on graphic imagery
• relies on the use of mathematical and/or
  computational models.
• Social Network Analysis embodies a range of
  theories relating types of observable social
  spaces and their relation to individual and group
  behavior.

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Introduction
What are social relations?
A social relation is anything that links two
actors. Examples include Kinship Co-membership
Friendship Talking with Love Hate Exchang
e Trust Coauthorship Fighting
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Introduction
What properties relations do we study?
The substantive topics cross all areas of
sociology. But we can identify types of
questions that social network researchers
ask 1) Social network analysts often study
relations as systems. That is, what is of
interest is how the pattern of relations among
actors affects individual behavior or system
properties.
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Introduction
What properties of relations do we study?
Other system examples include Social Cohesion
Relational (as opposed to property) notions of
class Hierarchy and Domination Inter-group
relations
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Introduction
What properties of relations do we study?

• 2) Networks as social contexts
• How does the network environment affect an
  actors behavior?
• Examples
• Peer influence on delinquency
• Corporate interlocks and political participation
• International trade and war

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Introduction
What properties of relations do we study?

• 3) Conduits for diffusion
• Relations are like wires or pipes risks and
  resources flow through relations. This can have
  very wide implications
• Diffusion of innovations (fads, rumors, etc.)
• Disease diffusion (STDs)

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Introduction
Where does SNA fit in the overall scheme of
Social Science?
Fast growing, dynamic field. Interdisciplinary
Freeman (fig 1.1) shows that the Networks are
showing up in many more substantive areas each
year
Articles with social network in title or
abstract in Sociological Abstracts. Borgatti
Foster JoM 2003 29991-1013
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Introduction
How do we analyze networks?
Three Levels Ego-Networks, Partial Networks, and
Total (global) networks Two Questions Networks
as dependent or independent variables
Well describe this more formally in the next
class
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Introduction
Analyzing networks
Ego - Networks A respondent and the set of
people they have relations with.
Measures Similarity Size Types of relations
Density Pattern of ties
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Introduction
Analyzing networks
Total (global) - Networks The connections among
all members of a population.
Measures Graph properties Density Sub-groups
Positions
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Introduction
Scientific Importance of Networks
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Introduction
Scientific Importance of Networks

• Where do networks matter?
• Where wouldnt they matter?
• What is a (the?) key feature of network Barabasi
  identifies?
• Is Barabasi over-stating his point?

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Introduction
Scientific History of Networks
The Development of Social Network Analysis by
Linton Freeman

• Prehistory
• Theory Comte, Spenser, Durkheim, and most
  importantly Simmel
• Data A number of early anthropologists (1800s)
  and developmental psychologists (1920s).
• Graphic Imagery Very early in describing descent
  systems kinship. Hobson (1894) showed
  overlapping directors
• Mathematics Computation Probabiltiy and formal
  algebra on relational data (1870s)
• All of these were fits and starts that did not
  lead to anything systematic

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Introduction
Scientific History of Networks
The Development of Social Network Analysis by
Linton Freeman

• Birth I Sociometry (1930s)
• Jacob Moreno is credited with the first
  systematic use of SNA-like techniques, though
  evidence suggests he was aided strongly by
  Jennings. The mathematical/probability treatment
  came from Lazersfeld (1938).
• The thrust died out. Freeman attributes this
  largely to Morenos idiosyncratic personality.
• Birth II First Harvard Thrust
• Grounded in the community structure literature of
  Warner and Lunt.
• Bank wiring room data
• Southern Women data
• Homans work on interaction leading to The Human
  Group
• William Foote Whyte Street Corner Society
• With one exception, most of this work failed to
  do the math needed to make it really SNA. More
  importantly, it didnt provide a general frame
  for others to work within. The actors also moved
  apart, making progress difficult.

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Introduction
Scientific History of Networks
The Development of Social Network Analysis by
Linton Freeman

• Dark Ages I 1940s
• Bavelas, Festinger, Harary, Cartwright, Heider,
  Katz, all made strong contributions.
• The work was fundamental, but did not take off to
  other substantive areas.
• Dark Ages II 1950s
• -Work in Lund, Sweden, looking at innovation
  diffusion
• Work in Chicago, including Rapoports famous
  studies, the work was killed by the Communist
  scare in the 50s
• Columbia had Merton and Lazarsfeld, who developed
  centers doing network research, providing a model
  but not a strong start
• Everett M. Rogers (from Iowa, through OSU, to
  Michigan State) started his work.
• Radcliff-Brown identified the importance of
  algebreic models for any social science (see
  quote on p.103)
• Freeman, Fararo, Sunshine worked from
  Northwestern and Syracuse to make progress.

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Introduction
Scientific History of Networks
The Development of Social Network Analysis by
Linton Freeman

• Dark Ages III 1960s
• Ed Laumann, Peter Blau, James Davis, all started
  work at this time.
• each succeeding contribution introduced a new
  segment of the social science community to the
  structural perspective. But, at the end of the
  1960s, no version of network analysis was yet
  universally recognized as providing a general
  paradigm for social research. By then, however,
  the broad community of people engaged in social
  research were ready to embrace a structural
  paradigm. (p.120)

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Introduction
Scientific History of Networks
The Development of Social Network Analysis by
Linton Freeman

• Harvard Renaissance
• - The key idea here is that things took off under
  Harrison White at Harvard.

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Introduction
Scientific History of Networks
The Development of Social Network Analysis by
Linton Freeman

• Power of Organizations
• In the end, Freeman attributes the success of SNA
  to both technical changes (UCINET, in particular)
  and organizational changes, particularly a series
  of conferences that culminated in the formation
  of INSNA and the Sunbelt Social Network
  Conference.