Networked lives

Social network analysis has grown tremendously across a wide range of disciplines and is now regarded as a road‐map in strengthening links with the life‐course perspective. ‘Linked lives’ is often cited as a key principle of life‐course theory, but there is still much to be learned about the significance of these links for the life course. Network theory refines our understanding of the properties of these links, their emergence as structures in daily life, and the mechanisms underlying the inequalities that arise from social relationships. This paper clarifies why networks can be conceptualised as meso‐level structures that bridge the micro‐macro gap. It thus addresses four processes of particular interest for the integration of life‐course and network research: (a) the problem of tie formation; (b) the activation of ties as social capital; (c) their resilience through segments of a life course; and finally, (d) the problem of their loss. In so doing, we highlight innovative approaches for each of these issues in order to propose a research agenda we call ‘Networked Lives’, which emphasises promising avenues for advancing the integration of these two important fields in the social sciences.     

社会工作专业实践教育模式研究

随着国家对社会工作者人才队伍建设的重视,社会工作人才培养成为社会工作教育领域的重中之重,人才培养过程中,对实务能力建设的专业实践教育提出了更高要求。因此,需要探索一种与行业俱进、有针对性的实践教育模式来满足新时期社会工作专业教育的需要,本文构建并详细阐述了宏观、中观、微观三个层次支持网络的实践教育模式。     

“共建”：社会网络变迁中的结构和理性 ——基于E市建筑散工网络的研究

本文以新制度主义框架为基础,以湖北省E市一个装修散工群体为个案,探讨农民工社会网络建构、维持和变迁的机制。结果表明,社会结构限制了社会网络的建构,但当经济机会结构改变之后,个人会理性地、有选择地复制传统社会结构以再造社会网络。同时,传统制度结构也会“同构”再造的社会网络,这也是社会网络得以维持,进而得以稳定化和制度化的机制。所以,在社会网络变迁中,“理性”在社会网络建构中扮演重要的角色,“结构”则在社会网络的维持中扮演重要角色。总之,社会网络变迁中的社会结构和经济关系是“共建”的,“差异化复制”和“制度化同构”是“共建”的两个重要机制。     

Nested or Networked? Future Directions for Ecological Systems Theory

Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory (EST) is among the most widely adopted theoretical frameworks for studying individuals in ecological contexts. In its traditional formulation, different levels of ecological systems are viewed as nested within one another. In this article, we use Simmel's notion of intersecting social circles and Bronfenbrenner's earlier writing on social networks to develop an alternative ‘networked’ model that instead views ecological systems as an overlapping arrangement of structures, each directly or indirectly connected to the others by the direct and indirect social interactions of their participants. We redefine each of the systems discussed by EST—micro, meso, exo, macro, and chrono—based on patterns of social interaction, and then illustrate how this alternative model might be applied in the classic context of the developing child. We conclude by discussing future directions for how the networked model of EST can be applied as a conceptual framework, arguing that this approach offers developmental researchers with a more precise and flexible way to think about ecological contexts. We also offer some initial suggestions for moving a networked EST model from theory to method.     

Volunteering and its impact on self-identity: results from Chaoyang District in Beijing

Ageism has a negative influence on older peoples’ self-identity and behaviour, forming stereotyped attitudes toward the older population that further aggravate ageism. Volunteerism may reduce ageism by improving older adults’ self-identification. This study examined the association between community volunteering and self-identity, and further explored the relationship between participation level and self-identity among Chinese older adults in Beijing. Logistic regression modelling was applied. After controlling for demographic characteristics, financial security and self-rated health, volunteerism was significantly associated with youthful self-identity. Older people who volunteer at least once a week for no more than two hours at a time are the least likely to identify themselves as being of old age.     

Pavlova and pineapple pie: Selected identity influences on Samoan‐Pakeha people in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Abstract

This paper examines influences on the increasing numbers of those with one Pakeha parent and one Samoan parent in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It is based on a small, qualitative study and utilises a narrative approach. It describes selected influences at macro, meso, and micro levels of social structure as a framework for examining how this population view themselves and construct their identities. At the macro level, post‐colonial dynamics of requiring “authenticity” from minority groups is explored, as it demands high standards of legitimacy from those of both Samoan and Pakeha ancestry. Essentialist and one drop rule theories of ethnic identity tend to classify this population as belonging solely to the Samoan category. At the meso level, these people as children are uncritically treated as if they are only Samoan. At the micro level, the influences of their nuclear and extended families tended to encourage a Samoan identity in most participants. There was a marked variation in the ways the participants interpreted their lives, despite some similarities of experience.     

Measuring Young Children's Perceptions of Support, Control, and Maintenance in Their Own Social Networks

Thirty‐eight children (aged 3;7–7;6) and one of their parents took part in a study concerning children's perceptions of their social networks. The study made use of a newly developed instrument—the Support, Control and Maintenance Pictures Interview (SCAMPI). The SCAMPI offers an individualized testing environment, employing computer presentation of questions based on photographs of significant persons familiar to the child. SCAMPI is designed to allow data analysis to be carried out with the aid of built‐in statistical procedures based on permutation and bootstrap techniques that are optimally adapted to the requirements of individualized testing. The study examines the differentiations young children make between persons in their social networks and the functions they fulfil, the level of agreement between children and their parents and the stability of the children's responses.     

中国农民工社会网络的凝聚子群结构分析

本文采用深圳农民工调查的整体网络数据,分析了农民工社会支持网（包括实际支持网、情感支持网、社会交往支持网）和社会讨论网（包括婚姻讨论网、生育讨论网、避孕讨论网和养老讨论网）的凝聚子群结构。研究发现,农民工社会网络中普遍存在子群现象,且子群之间有较大程度的重叠。农民工社会支持网和社会讨论网的子群重叠结构既有利于农民工群体的城市社区融合,也有利于新的婚育、养老文化的传播。     

中国老年歧视的制度性根源与老年人公共政策的重构

老年歧视的产生原因包括个体、社会、制度、文化、历史传承等不同层面。本研究在分析老年歧视制度性根源和制度性老年歧视结构特征的基础上,运用内容分析方法对我国老年人公共政策体系进行系统评价。研究认为,老年歧视的制度性根源将社会对老年人群体的偏见和歧视以制度的形式固化和合理化,直接制约了老年人平等获得资源和机会的途径。因此,应以公平、平等的价值理念重建老年人公共政策,为积极老龄化提供制度保障。     

社会网络对健康行为的影响

个人社会网络对健康的积极作用已得到诸多研究的验证。研究认为,社会网络能推动人们的健康行为,从而提升健康水平,但这一影响机制尚需经验研究的支持。本研究利用一项大规模社会调查数据,检验了社会网络对“母乳喂养”这一健康行为的影响机制。研究结果发现,新生儿母亲社会网络中强关系比例越高,越可能在新生儿成长的早期为母亲提供实际的帮助和社会支持,从而提高母亲提供母乳喂养的可能性;她们的社会网络中如果有医务人员,能更有效地传递相关知识和信息,也可提高母乳喂养的可能。因此,社会网络主要通过提供社会支持与信息来促进健康行为,从而提高健康水平。     

Racial Differences in Networks: Do Neighborhood Conditions Matter?*

Objectives. This study examines which of five neighborhood conditions help account for racial differences in social networks. Methods. The data set is the Urban Poverty and Family Life Survey, a survey of blacks, whites, Mexicans, and Puerto Ricans clustered in Chicago Census tracts, matched to 1990 Census data. I estimate HGLM models predicting five indicators of social isolation and five indicators of number of social ties as a function of race, controls, and the following neighborhood conditions: neighborhood poverty, proportion black, residential stability, ethnic heterogeneity, and population density. Results. Although initial estimates confirm the existence of racial differences in network size, most of these differences are not robust to controls for neighborhood conditions. Among the neighborhood variables, only neighborhood poverty is consistently associated with size of social networks. Conclusions. Findings suggest that while residential segregation has created conditions in which some races are more likely to live in high‐poverty neighborhoods, it is the poverty, not the racial composition, of the neighborhoods that is significantly associated with weaker social ties.     

企业社会资本的概念与测量：一个综合理论分析框架

本文采用“网络闭合”和“结构洞”两种社会资本的理论视角,提出“信任”和“网络位置”是企业社会资本的最主要特征的观点,并从组织和群体两个层面及企业内部和外部两个部分对企业的社会资本测量进行了分析。在本文所提出的企业社会资本测量的分析框架中,在组织层面上,将企业看作是网络中的节点,关注企业的正式关系以及网络结构特征;在群体层面上,将企业社会资本看作是企业“班底”的内部信任程度以及在他们在人际关系网络中的位置。     

关系网络与地下经济——基于上海一个自行车黑市的研究

本文以一个自行车黑市为案例,考察关系网络与地下经济活动相互作用的动态过程。研究表明,自行车黑市活动衍生的关系网络促进了信息传递,提升了信任水平,降低了安全风险,增加了黑市的效益,塑造出互惠的交易模式。随着黑市的运作,关系网络继续演化,当信息和信任积累到一定程度时,黑车贩子间达成了关于货源收购和价格同盟的卡特尔协议,黑市的运作方式再一次被改变。关系网络对潜在违规力量产生威慑,起到维护市场秩序的作用。     

The Associations between income,informal social networks,and health among older adults in South Korea: A multi‐group analysis based on the level of age‐friendly environments

The aim of the present study was to empirically investigate the role of age‐friendly environments (AFE) on the associations between income, informal social networks, and health among South Korean older adults. We used data from the “2017 Age Integration Survey” collected nationally and ultimately analyzed 615 older adults over 50 years of age. Structural equation modeling and multi‐group analysis were used to test the hypothesis. Specifically, two groups of perceived levels of AFE (top 25%, bottom 25%) were compared in order to examine the moderating effects. The results indicated that poor income and scarce informal social networks each had a significantly adverse impact on health. However, the effect of income on health was no longer significant for older adults living in environments that were more age‐friendly. In both groups, the presence of fewer informal social networks adversely impacted health, although the sizes of the effects decreased when the level of AFE perceived by older adults was improved. Finally, several implications of the study findings were discussed.     

Dealing with the wicked issue of child poverty: Inter-organizational networks as forums for collective debate and reflection

In the international realm, inter-organizational networking is perceived as a highly relevant instrument in social policy that enables welfare organizations to deal with “wicked issues.” In this article, we discuss the central empirical findings acquired from a recent qualitative research project that focuses on inter-organizational networks that were formed at the local level to deal with the wicked issue of child poverty as a complex and multidimensional social problem. We explore how the network discussions about normative value orientations in four inter-organizational networks evolve, and identify three central fields of tension that illustrate the complexity for local welfare actors in and across networks to create network strategies in dealing with child poverty: (a) selective versus universal provision, (b) conditional versus unconditional strategies, and (c) instrumental versus lifeworld-oriented approaches. Our findings show that networks can function as valuable forums for collective debate and reflection, since different approaches and perspectives to tackle the problem of child poverty can be confronted with each other. Creating such a forum has the potential to challenge dominant conceptualizations and undesirable assumptions of complex social problems that are present in welfare practices and policies.     

The Role of Social Networks in the Maintenance of Schizophrenic Patients

Summary The levels of social support available to the nearest relativesof a sample of 45 outpatient schizophrenics are measured interms of both the structure of their social networks and thequality of their network relationships. It is hypothesized thatthe level of social support available to the closest associateof the schizophrenic patient is linked to the level of functioningfound in the patient. Good social performance in the patient is found with the structuralaspects of the nearest relative's social network whereas goodclinical performance in the patient is related to the interactionalaspects of the relative's network. The results indicate that a view of maintenance in schizophrenicpatients which incorporates both social and clinical functioningneeds to consider the structural as well as the interpersonalcharacteristics of the networks of their closest associates.     

The Continuing Consequences of Segregation: Family Stress and College Academic Performance*

Objectives. We seek to determine whether the high levels of African‐American residential segregation experienced have continuing academic consequences. Because segregation works to concentrate poverty and the social problems associated with it, the friends and relatives of African‐American students face an elevated risk of stressful life events, which undermine grade performance. Methods. We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen to measure the frequency with which members of students' social networks experienced stressful events during their freshman and sophomore years of college, comparing whites, Asians, Latinos, and African Americans from integrated neighborhoods with those coming from segregated neighborhoods. Results. African‐American students from segregated neighborhoods experience higher levels of family stress than others. This stress is largely a function of violence and disorder in segregated neighborhoods. Students respond by devoting more time to family issues and their health and grades suffer as a result. Conclusions. Racial segregation is a structural feature of U.S. society that has continuing power to undermine the academic achievement of students long after they have seemingly left segregated living behind.     

北京城市贫困家庭的社会支持网

本文在问卷抽样调查的基础上对北京城市贫困家庭社会支持网的规模、功能、关系构成及各类关系的支持作用进行了分析。研究发现,社会支持网的平均规模为2.21;社会支持网的功能以无偿经济援助和精神支持为主,在劳务支持方面有一定作用,但在为贫困家庭解决就业问题方面,作用十分有限;以近亲(父母、兄弟姐妹)为主的亲属是贫困家庭获取社会支持的最主要来源,其他亲戚在各种支持中的作用都很弱,而非亲属在就业支持方面有较大作用。     

自雇过程的社会网络分析

本文基于2009年八城市调查数据,分析自雇者的社会网络及效用。分析重点包括自雇者群体构成特征、获得资金与生意过程中对社会网络使用情况和“生意联系网”对经营绩效的影响。研究发现,自雇者在中国市场化进程中扮演着重要角色。自雇者的社会网络与受雇者相比具有一定的特殊性;社会网络对自雇者创业资金与创业生意获得的作用具有差异性;自雇经营中形成了特殊的自雇生意联系网,并对自雇者经营绩效产生积极影响。     

Segregation and African-American imprisonment rates for drug offenses

Scholars argue that the dramatic increase in the African-American incarceration rate that occurred after the civil rights era was in part a reflection of the declining utility of residential segregation as a modern form of social control. Existing research has not thoroughly investigated the association between racial segregation and prison admission rates. Using 2002 data for 198 metropolitan counties, this research examines the relationship between two dimensions of racial residential segregation and African-American prison admission rates for drug offenses. The results from a multivariate regression analysis reveal that the prison admission rates of African-Americans for drug offenses are lower in counties where White residents are more residentially isolated from African-Americans. The admission rates are unaffected by the dissimilarity index. Consistent with recent research on the level of coercive control, the findings suggest that the effect of the percentage of African-Americans residing in an area is nonlinear.