Biased networks and social structure theorems: Part II

It was shown in a previous paper (Fararo 1981) that the part of Peter Blau's theory of social structure bearing on heterogeneity could be embedded within the framework of biased net models, providing a conceptual and mathematical basis for its central theorems. This paper continues this project. It begins by indicating certain revisions of the earlier work and then turns to the part of Blau's theory that deals with inequality and shows how the simplest inbreeding bias model, through a series of derivations and constructive generalizations, permits the derivation of basic theorems that relate the Gini inequality (of a population) to what we term the relational Gini (of a network). The central idea is to construct theoretical models that yield specific forms of transformation of the population Gini into the relational Gini.     

Random and biased networks: simulations and approximations

Work by Rapoport and his colleagues in the 1950s and early 1960s developed the idea of biased/random nets as a theory of social network structure. It aims to explain variation in aggregate network patterns by appeal to differences in local properties affecting linkages between nodes and how these differences cascade to affect the overall structure of the total network. While the theory is set out mathematically and uses formal logic to analyze the general model, the complexity of the compound outcome makes exact theory impossible. Consequently, plausible approximations and approximation formulas are used to link up the local properties to global structure. Research reported in this paper attempts to check these approximations through simulation studies. Programs are developed which generate specific networks over a reasonably large (S=100) population consistent with certain parametric specifciations which govern (coal patterns of connection. Properties of these networks are then compared with those predicted from the approximation arguments in an effort to refine those arguments to the point at which they can be used with confidence in other theoretical inquiries, such as recent applications of biased net theory to Blau's influential ideas on the social structural determinants of relational patterns.     

Hypernetwork sampling: Duality and differentiation among voluntary organizations

One of the recurrent problems in the study of social organization is that survey researchers are forced to study individuals, while they are often interested in hypotheses about organizations or systems of organizations. This paper offers some methods which allow survey researchers to address hypotheses about the relations generated among individuals by organizations, the organizations themselves, and the relations among organizations. Estimators are developed for the number and size distribution of organizations in communities, the density of relations among individuals generated by organizations, the number and density of interorganizational linkages, and the amount of membership overlap among organizations. This approach combines Granovetter's idea of network sampling with Breiger's notion of the duality of persons and groups to produce a quantitative approach to the study of voluntary organization. We provide an illustration of the methods we develop by testing two of Blau's structural hypotheses on data concerning voluntary organizations. The hypotheses that structural differentiation increases with system size and that this increase is at a decreasing rate are strongly supported. The paper closes with some suggestions for further elaborations of the hypernetwork approach.     

A test of structural features of granovetter's strength of weak ties theory

Granovetter's ‘strength of weak ties’ theory offers a satisfying approach to the study of integration in networks of face-to-face interaction consisting of multiple subgroups. The present paper tests five hypotheses of this theory in the setting of a multidisciplinary social network of biological scientists. Considerable support for the theory is indicated: the local bridges and intergroup ties in the network are disproportionately weak ties.     

Health and social support networks: A case for improving interpersonal communication

Presented here is an analysis of research findings documenting the apparently obvious hypothesis that people need people and that when ties between people are interrupted or modified consequences on people's health and wellbeing can often be observed. Ways in which social support networks contribute to people's health and societal characteristics that inhibit development of such networks are discussed. Some approaches that emphasize the importance of networks are suggested.     

Socio-economic status and high-school friendship choice: Elmtown's youth revisited

Whereas Hollingshead's 1942 study of Elmtown High found socio-economic status homophily to be a prime criterion in students' friendship and dating choices, the present study, a secondary analysis of James Coleman's 1958 Elmtown data, finds socio-economic status homophily unimportant for friendship and dating choices. This decline in status homophily occurred at a time when class distinctions were becoming blurred in Elmtown and the “rating-and-dating” system was losing in national importance. Status homophily is not a constant, but a variable: clear class distinctions facilitate status homophily, while shifting class and occupational systems make for class-heterogeneous social networks.     

Social support and social structure

The burgeoning study of social support in relation to social stress and health would benefit from increased attention to issues of social structure. Three aspects of social relationships, all often referred to as social support, must be more clearly distinguished—(1) their existence or quantity (i.e., social integration), (2) their formal structure (i.e., social networks), and (3) their functional or behavioral content (i.e., the most precise meaning of social support)—and the causal relationships between the structure of social relationships (social integration and networks) and their functional content (social support) must be more clearly understood. Research and theory are needed on the determinants of social integration, networks, and support as well as their consequences for stress and health. Among potential determinants, macrosocial structures and processes particularly merit attention.     

Innovation as a structural interest: rethinking the impact of network position on innovation adoption

The act of adopting an innovation is argued to be a type of structural interest. The proposed conception of innovation as a structural interest describes how a potential adopter perceives utility in innovating as a function of his position in network(s) of relations with other potential adopters. Implications of the concept are in accord with diffusion research describing the linkage between social structure and innovation in terms of a potential adopter's social integration. The proposed concept avoids, however, three ambiguities in translating social integration into a structural concept stated in terms of network position. Moreover, it extends the scope of earlier work to suggest new connections between social structure and innovation.In order to make empirical implications explicit, hypotheses for a reanalysis of the classic Medical Innovation data are described. The proposed conception of innovation states the utility a doctor should perceive in prescribing a new drug as a function of his position in professional and social networks among other doctors in his community. The hypotheses predict when a doctor should begin prescribing a new drug and the relative importance of his personal characteristics versus network position as the determinant of when he begins prescribing the new drug.     

Bridging ties at the neighborhood level

This paper examines the relevance of the “strength of weak ties” model (Granovetter 1973) in devising community development strategies for urban neighborhoods. The policy implications of this model for activities designed to promote neighborhood identification and cohesion are outlined, and Granovetter's specific assumptions about the structure and functioning of urban neighborhood social networks are assessed in light of existing research. Little support is found for the presumed absence of bridging weak ties among urban neighbors, or for the assumption that strong ties create an obstacle to effective political mobilization in working-class neighborhoods. An alternative model of local-level integration is suggested, which retains Granovetter's concept of dense clusters of network ties linked by “local bridges”, but re-examines the role of weak ties in effecting such bridges.     

Measuring social dynamics in a massive multiplayer online game

Quantification of human group-behavior has so far defied an empirical, falsifiable approach. This is due to tremendous difficulties in data acquisition of social systems. Massive multiplayer online games (MMOG) provide a fascinating new way of observing hundreds of thousands of simultaneously socially interacting individuals engaged in virtual economic activities. We have compiled a data set consisting of practically all actions of all players over a period of 3 years from a MMOG played by 300,000 people. This large-scale data set of a socio-economic unit contains all social and economic data from a single and coherent source. Players have to generate a virtual income through economic activities to ‘survive’ and are typically engaged in a multitude of social activities offered within the game. Our analysis of high-frequency log files focuses on three types of social networks, and tests a series of social-dynamics hypotheses. In particular we study the structure and dynamics of friend-, enemy- and communication networks. We find striking differences in topological structure between positive (friend) and negative (enemy) tie networks. All networks confirm the recently observed phenomenon of network densification. We propose two approximate social laws in communication networks, the first expressing betweenness centrality as the inverse square of the overlap, the second relating communication strength to the cube of the overlap. These empirical laws provide strong quantitative evidence for the Weak ties hypothesis of Granovetter. Further, the analysis of triad significance profiles validates well-established assertions from social balance theory. We find overrepresentation (underrepresentation) of complete (incomplete) triads in networks of positive ties, and vice versa for networks of negative ties. Empirical transition probabilities between triad classes provide evidence for triadic closure with extraordinarily high precision. For the first time we provide empirical results for large-scale networks of negative social ties. Whenever possible we compare our findings with data from non-virtual human groups and provide further evidence that online game communities serve as a valid model for a wide class of human societies. With this setup we demonstrate the feasibility for establishing a ‘socio-economic laboratory’ which allows to operate at levels of precision approaching those of the natural sciences.All data used in this study is fully anonymized; the authors have the written consent to publish from the legal department of the Medical University of Vienna.     

In Search of Social Structure*

Frederick L. Bates' career has been characterized by a single quest, the creation of an internally consistent theoretical model through which sociologists can conceptualize and analyze social structure from the simplest group structures to complex networks of groups and organizations. The basic elements of this model of social structure are examined and the model's theoretical foundations, assumptions and applications are discussed. Included are perspectives on structural modeling, self- referential systems theory and the concepts of social structure, social organization, culture, norms, and society as a non-system.     

Stratification and prestige among elite experts in methodological and mathematical sociology circa 1975

This discussion has two purposes. One is to describe the social differentiation of experts within an élite invisible college devoted to methodological and mathematical work circa 1975. The other is to illustrate the positional approach in network analysis. After introducing the invisible college to be considered, the form of stratification within it is described. Although completely interconnected to one another, experts are stratified across five structurally unique statuses. The form of stratification is given greater empirical meaning by considering its content. There is a subtle linkage between the extent to which a status is defined by substantive and methodological influence relations. The most prominent experts have merged their methodological concerns with specific substantive concerns. The most prestigious status is occupied by a “social statistics élite” to whom a “mobility élite” exists as a satellite status. Methodology leaders among social psychologists divide into a group pursuing the study of three-person groups, a “triads élite”, and a group with more general interests, a “social psychology élite”. Finally, a “mathematical sociology élite” jointly define no status since they have highly dissimilar substantive relations with one another and other experts. The last question addressed concerns the distribution of prestige in the college. As would be expected under a norm of universalism, the relative prestige of experts within the college is uniquely determined only by an expert's record of publishing in the college's core journals. The discussion concludes with comments.     

Confidence and action: a comment on Barbalet

John Maynard Keynes is widely recognized as one of the greatest economists of the 20^th century. For a growing number of his interpreters, Keynes’s emphasis on uncertainty and on the psychological aspects of expectations about the future are among his most significant contributions. References to Keynes’s notions of confidence and animal spirits, for example, have increasingly appeared in the economic literature. In sociology, a stimulating recent book by Jack Barbalet (1998) tries to improve our understanding of social structure by redefining the role of emotions in social life. Barbalet also wants to correct what he understands as an insufficient attention to time on the part of social theorists. This double objective leads him to deal with confidence and some of Keynes’s ideas. His book represents a most valuable contribution to the sociology of emotions, time and uncertainty.The purpose of this paper is to comment on Barbalet’s discussion of confidence and the theory of action, and to contrast it with an alternative approach. Both Barbalet’s position and the alternative presented here involve an interpretation of Keynes’s theory of economic behavior under uncertainty, but go beyond doctrinal-historical issues and formulate original theoretical propositions. The present paper is intended as a positive contribution to the interaction between economists and sociologists interested in these issues. Barbalet’s book already represents an important step in this direction, for his social analysis considers, and incorporates insights from, the work of several economists, in addition to conveying well-founded criticisms of standard economic theory.As far as Barbalet’s interpretation of Keynes is concerned, the paper points out Keynes’s ambiguity regarding important issues and identifies interesting points of Keynes’s theory that Barbalet does not discuss or emphasize. The paper produces evidence against Barbalet’s equation of confidence and animal spirits in Keynes. It also shows that Keynes distinguished between expectations and confidence, a distinction not explicitly made by Barbalet. In addition, the paper enriches Barbalet’s discussion of Keynes’s monetary theory by relating uncertainty to the precautionary motive for liquidity preference.Moving from the history of thought to theory, the paper proposes an alternative analysis of confidence and action, and contrasts it with Barbalet’s approach. This alternative approach distinguishes between confidence and expectations, and suggests that these two elements are ultimately determined by three factors: knowledge, animal spirits (redefined as an optimistic disposition to face uncertainty) and creativity. The first two factors are seen as determinants of confidence through their influence on what is called uncertainty perception and willingness to face uncertainty (or uncertainty aversion). The paper is organized as follows. It begins by summarizing some aspects of Barbalet’s views on confidence, in section 1. It proceeds, in section 2, by presenting Barbalet’s interpretation of Keynes and discussing it. The next step is to present, in section 3, another theory of action in which confidence plays a crucial role. This alternative approach, which uses Keynes’s insights but goes beyond his work, is then contrasted with Barbalet’s views.     

Infectious Innovations? The Diffusion of Tactical Innovation in Social Movement Networks,the Case of Suffragette Militancy

This paper explores the diffusion of a tactical innovation – militancy – within the British Suffrage Movement, 1905–1914. It concentrates upon the influences that arise from personal social networks and which affect ego's decision about whether to adopt the new tactic. UCINET is used to map and visualise the activist networks of two suffragettes who made different adoption decisions. This reveals that ‘weak ties’ to ‘innovation champions’ (i.e. suffragette ‘travelling organisers’) connected both women to opportunities to learn about, observe and adopt militancy. In order to explain why one suffragette adopted the tactic and the other did not, however, there is a need to link structural and cultural analyses of social networks together. Here, I do this by following up empirically what Fuhse [Fuhse, J. (2009). The meaning structure of social networks. Sociological Theory, 27, 51–73] has called the ‘meaning structure of the network’ consisting of interpersonal expectations and network culture. I propose that the ‘meaning structure’ of the network is linked to the structural patterning of social ties – and the subjective meanings of ego – through the communicative interaction in which they both are rooted [Mische, A. (2003). Cross-talk in movements: Rethinking the culture-network link. In M. Diani & D. McAdam (Eds.), Social movements and networks: Relational approaches to collective action (pp. 258–280). Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press]. Focusing on communicative interaction and intersubjective meanings indicates that there is value in approaching personal networks as socio-cultural ‘lifeworlds’ [Habermas, J. (1987). The theory of communicative action, volume 2: System and lifeworld. Boston, MA: Beacon Press; Passy, F., & Giugni, M. (2000). Life-spheres, networks, and sustained participation in social movements: A phenomenological approach to political commitment. Sociological Forum, 15, 117–144.). This approach is particularly valuable in highlighting the construction of a ‘moral point of view’ within networks, which fundamentally shapes the symbolic legitimacy of culturally controversial tactics.     

Does structure find structure?: A critique of Burt's use of distance as a measure of structural equivalence

This paper examines some of the assumptions and consequences of the use of distance as a measure of structural equivalence, as implemented in Burt's STRUCTURE program. We take the general perspective that for a measure to be useful it should not confound separate types of information which are theoretically and mathematically independent. The mathematical relationship between distance and the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient is presented. We show that use of distance as a measure of similarity without proper attention to appropriate standardization procedures confounds information on differences between means and differences between variances with information on the similarity of the patterns between pairs of individuals, e.g. correlation. A detailed examination of Burt and Bittner's analysis of Bernard, Killworth and Sailer's Ham radio operator group is presented, and it is demonstrated that use of distance as a measure of structural equivalence led to nonsensical results.     

Structural equivalence: Meaning and definition,computation and application

This paper presents a generalization of the concept of “structural equivalence”, the key concept in algebraic approaches to the study of social networks. Two points in a graph or set of relations will be called “structurally related” if they are connected in the same ways to structurally related points.It is suggested that this new definition suitably weakens Lorrain and White's categorical approach, and is more appropriate than CONCOR. Structural relatedness is compared to these approaches via several simple examples.     

The Contribution of Social Movement Theory to Understanding Terrorism

The study of terrorism and political violence has been characterized by a lack of generalizable theory and methodology. This essay proposes that social movement theory can contribute a necessary conceptual framework for understanding terrorism and thus reviews the relevant literature and discusses possible applications. Terrorism is a form of contentious politics, analyzable with the basic social movement approach of mobilizing resources, political opportunity structure, and framing. Cultural perspectives call attention to issues of collective identity that allow for sustained militancy, and movement research recommends alternative conceptions of terrorist networks. Previous research on movement radicalization, repression, and cycles of contention has direct bearing on militancy. Emerging perspectives on transnational collective action and the diffusion of tactics and issues informs an understanding of contemporary international terrorism. Research on movement outcomes suggests broader ways of considering the efficacy of political violence. Finally, methodological debates within the study of social movements are relevant for research on terrorism. In sum, a social movement approach to terrorism has much to contribute, and research on terrorism could have important extensions and implications for social movement theory.     

Payroll taxes for social security in the United States: The future of fiscal and social policy illusions

This paper examines the validity of common assumptions about the basis of public support for the U.S. social security program. Various rationales for the social insurance approach are summarized and critically assessed. A review of public opinion surveys from 1935–1981 shows: (1) the distinction between social insurance and public assistance was not regarded as important by the public in the program's early years; (2) most Americans are now aware that the system operates on a pay-as-you-go basis; (3) there is widespread feeling that social security payroll taxes are too high, but at the same time a majority of the population thinks program benefits should be maintained or increased; and (4) serious doubt about the program's future is widespread, with many workers believing that there will not be sufficient money left for their own pensions when they retire. The paper concludes that the explanation of social security's enduring popular appeal and the phenomenon of mass toleration of rising payroll taxes is more closely tied to the perception that the program serves a deserving clientele, rather than a result of the social insurance approach.     

Goal specific social capital and job satisfaction: Effects of different types of networks on instrumental and social aspects of work

This paper addresses the question “To what extent can job satisfaction be explained as the revenue of social capital?” By conceiving someone’s social network as social capital we specify conditions under which social ties do lead to job satisfaction. We inquire into the idea of goal specificity of social capital, which implies that a network with a given structure and content will have different impacts on various aspects of job satisfaction. If the content of the ties and the structure of the network at the job engender material well-being or produce social approval, satisfaction with the corresponding job aspects increases. Data were collected in 1993 using written questionnaires in two Dutch governmental agencies, one with 32 and the other with 44 employees. These workers’ networks were charted using nine name-generating questions.Social capital, it turns out, is not an all-purpose good but one that is goal specific, even within a single domain of life such as work. Three effects stand out: First, the structure of the network and the content of the ties do matter. Networks of strategic, work-related ties promote an employee’s satisfaction with instrumental aspects of the job, like income, security, and career opportunities. Second, closed networks of identity-based solidarity ties improve an employee’s satisfaction with social aspects of the job, like the general social climate at work and cooperation with management and colleagues. Third, a network with a bow–tie structure (i.e., where a focal actor is the link between two or more mutually exclusive cliques) generally has strong negative effects on satisfaction with the social side of the job; although a bow–tie type network of trusting ties does increase satisfaction with the social side. This implies that Krackhardt’s hypothesis on the unpleasant feelings produced by bow–tie type networks has to be specified for the content of the ties that constitute such a network. The most important conclusion of our analysis is that goal specificity of social capital has implications for both structure and content of social networks. Achievement of a particular goal, such as satisfaction at work, requires not only networks of a certain structure or ties with a particular content, but specifically structured networks of ties with a particular content.     

A goodness-of-fit index for blockmodels

The ‘fit’ between blockmodels and data networks is extended from a binary to a continuous concept. An index of goodness-of-fit for α-fit blockmodels is proposed, based on the purity (density of 1's or 0's) of the submatrices of the data matrix(es) after the blockmodel partition is imposed. The characteristics of this index are compared with those of correlation coefficient. Some applications are described.