Network items and the general social survey

This is an argument for obtaining network data in the General Social Survey (GSS). The proposal requires a discussion of how and why at least minimal network data ought to be obtained in a probability sample survey of attitudes and behaviors.I begin with general concerns; briefly describing the proposal, available experience with the proposed items in large probability samples, how the proposed items are different from existing GSS items, kinds of variables that the proposed items would generate, and kinds of research questions that could be addressed if the proposed items were included in the GSS.I then address comparatively focused questions likely to arise in deliberations over the proposal; explaining how much interview time the proposed items are expected to require, why one rather than multiple name generators are proposed, why recording five alters is proposed, why intimacy is proposed as the name generator criterion content, why a short form is proposed for obtaining formal data, how priorities among name interpreter attribute items were established, how the proposed items elicit data on the strength and content of relationships, and how the proposed data might be coded for easy access by GSS users.     

The content of the General Social Survey discussion networks: an exploration of General Social Survey discussion name generator in a Chinese context

This study focuses on the discussion network name generator used in the 1985 General Social Survey (GSS). Based on the data from a Chinese survey, it explores the content of the discussion networks by examining the overlapping of names generated by the GSS discussion name generator and the exchange name generators. It finds that the GSS discussion question has generated a range of social ties, which accounts for an important part of a Chinese personal network. Specifically, the people with whom the Chinese respondents discussed important matters are also likely to spend leisure time with the respondents and to be the confidants for personal matters. Some of them are expected to offer substantial help or to possess important social resources; however, they are least involved in what are considered family affairs.     

Social capital,guanxi and political influence in Chinese government relations

Social capital has emerged as a promising theoretical approach to understanding political influence in the public relations literature. However, the rationale of using social capital to influence corporate government relations in authoritarian societies is indistinct. To remedy this, we integrate Bourdieu’s (1986) and Lin’s (2001) social capital theories to explore how applying a variant form of social capital (e.g., guanxi) might shape corporate government relations in authoritarian China. A multi-method, qualitative approach was employed involving 44 interviews, participant observation and document review. The findings highlighted an underexamined “vertical” dimension of social capital (i.e., links with authority in a hierarchy), which enables corporations to exercise agency over the pre-existing and often vague regulatory environment. This study adds a new perspective to social capital with hierarchical guanxi that enriches our understanding of guanxi-based political influence in Chinese corporate government relations.     

Science against modernism: the relevance of the social theory of Michael Polanyi

Science, as an institution, is widely taken by sociologists to exemplify the modern tendency towards vesting trust and authority in impersonal offices and procedures, rather than in embodied human individuals. Such views of science face an important challenge in the social philosophy of Michael Polanyi. His work provides important insights into the continuing role of embodied personal authority and tradition in science and, hence, in late modernity. I explicate Polanyi's relevance for social theory, through a comparison with Weber's essay 'Science as a Vocation'. An understanding of the personal dimensions of trust and authority in science suggests practical limits to the position of Giddens on the disembedding of social relations and on the scepticism and reflexivity of modernity.     

Network diversity,contact diversity,and status attainment

We propose that diversity in social relations measured by network diversity and cross-race/cross-gender contacts affords job seekers higher contact status that in turn brings better status attainment outcomes. Controlling for traditional strength of tie measures and other confounders, the empirical study confirms that (1) network diversity in race and gender are significantly associated with actual utilization of cross-race/cross-gender contacts in job search, (2) use of cross-race/cross-gender contacts is significantly related to higher contact status for nonwhite and female job seekers, but (3) contact status (activated social capital) partially provides jobs of higher SEI scores for white job seekers. Similarly, male job seekers obtain better jobs through female contacts, but the same does not apply to female job seekers. These findings show relative return deficits of social capital experienced by racial minorities and females even when they exert extra effort to obtain heterogeneous social relations and contacts.     

Bridge decay

This paper is about three points: network bridges are critical to the advantage known as social capital, bridges relative to other kinds of relationships show faster rates of decay over time, and the faster decay in bridges has implications for the stability of social capital. A bridge connects people not otherwise connected; in other words, it spans a structural hole in the surrounding organization. I have 4 years of data on the social networks of bankers in a large organization. I show that bridge relations are associated with more positive peer reputations and higher compensation, but bridges decay at an alarming rate. Out of 10, 9 bridges this year are gone next year. I describe factors in the rate of decay, find slower decay in the networks of bankers experienced with bridge relationships, and conclude that social capital accrues to those who already have it. An appendix is included on the kinked decay functions observed in contractual bridge relationships.     

Transnational social capital: the socio‐spatialities of civil society

Civil society remains a contested concept, but one that is widely embedded in global development processes. Transnationalism within civil society scholarship is often described dichotomously, either through hierarchical dependency relations or as a more amorphous networked global civil society. These two contrasting spatial imaginaries produce very particular ideas about how transnational relations contribute to civil society. Drawing on empirical material from research with civil society organizations in Barbados and Grenada, in this article I contend that civil society groups use forms of transnational social capital in their work. This does not, however, resonate with the horizontal relations associated with grassroots globalization or vertical chains of dependence. These social relations are imbued with power and agency and are entangled in situated historical, geographical and personal contexts. I conclude that the diverse transnational social relations that are part of civil society activity offer hope and possibilities for continued civil society action in these unexpected spatial arrangements.     

Networks of social capital: Extending a public relations model of civil society in Peru

Scholars have argued that public relations can and indeed must be used to improve society. This article builds on the work of Taylor and Doerfel (2005), who advocated for the continued study of civil society through the lens of public relations theory. This study contributes to a normative public relations model of civil society by examining how interorganizational relationships, which may initially be established for purposes of resource exchange, benefit civil society through the creation and maintenance of social capital. The study examined a segment of Peruvian civil society dedicated to media development, as media is a key partner in building civil society (Taylor, 2009). The results of the study help to explain how interorganizational relationships contribute to the creation of social capital in a civil society network, and how certain network positions are integral to maintaining the social capital of a community of actors. Implications for the role of public relations in building and maintaining networks of interorganizational communities are discussed.     

Testing the validity of social capital measures in the study of information and communication technologies

Social capital has been considered a cause and consequence of various uses of new information and communication technologies (ICTs). However, there is a growing divergence between how social capital is commonly measured in the study of ICTs and how it is measured in other fields. This departure raises questions about the validity of some of the most widely cited studies of social capital and ICTs. We compare the Internet Social Capital Scales (ISCS) developed by Williams [2006. On and off the ’net: scales for social capital in an online era. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(2), 593–628. doi: 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2006.00029.x] – a series of psychometric scales commonly used to measure ‘social capital’ – to established, structural measures of social capital: name, position, and resource generators. Based on a survey of 880 undergraduate students (the population to which the ISCS has been most frequently administered), we find that, unlike structural measures, the ISCS does not distinguish between the distinct constructs of bonding and bridging social capital. The ISCS does not have convergent validity with structural measures of bonding or bridging social capital; it does not measure the same concept as structural measures. The ISCS conflates social capital with the related constructs of social support and attachment. The ISCS does not measure perceived or actual social capital. These findings raise concerns about the interpretations of existing studies of ‘social capital’ and ICTs that are based on the ISCS. Given the absence of measurement validity, we urge those studying social capital to abandon the ISCS in favor of alternative approaches.     

The rationality of social structure: Cooperation in social dilemmas through investments in and returns on social capital

We develop a game-theoretic model of how social structure in the sense of a network of relations between actors helps to mitigate social dilemmas. We simultaneously endogenize the network by modeling actors’ incentives to establish the network. Since the network of relations helps to mitigate social dilemmas, it constitutes social capital. We thus analyze investments in and returns on social capital in social dilemmas and characterize the value of social capital. Our model covers a class of social dilemma games including the Trust Game, the Investment Game, the Prisoner's Dilemma, the two-actor Public Goods Game, and others.     

Question-order effects in social network name generators

Social network surveys are an important tool for empirical research in a variety of fields, including the study of social capital and the evaluation of educational and social policy. A growing body of methodological research sheds light on the validity and reliability of social network survey data regarding a single relation, but much less attention has been paid to the measurement of multiplex networks and the validity of comparisons among criterion relations. In this paper, we identify ways that surveys designed to collect multiplex social network data might be vulnerable to question-order effects. We then test several hypotheses using a split-ballot experiment embedded in an online multiple name generator survey of teachers’ advice networks, collected for a study of complete networks. We conclude by discussing implications for the design of multiple name generator social network surveys.     

Are respondents more likely to list alters with certain characteristics?: Implications for name generator data

Analyses of egocentric networks make the implicit assumption that the list of alters elicited by name generators is a complete list or representative sample of relevant alters. Based on the literature on free recall tasks and the organization of people in memory, I hypothesize that respondents presented with a name generator are more likely to name alters with whom they share stronger ties, alters who are more connected within the network, and alters with whom they interact in more settings. I conduct a survey that presents respondents with the GSS name generator and then prompts them to remember other relevant alters whom they have not yet listed. By comparing the alters elicited before and after prompts I find support for the first two hypotheses. I then go on to compare network-level measures calculated with the alters elicited by the name generator to the same measures calculated with data from all alters. These measures are not well correlated. Furthermore, the degree of underestimation of network size is related to the networks’ mean closeness, density, and mean duration of relationships. Higher values on these variables result in more accurate estimation of network size. This suggests that measures of egocentric network properties based on data collected using a single name generator may have high levels of measurement error, possibly resulting in misestimation of how these network properties relate to other variables.     

An exploratory comparison of name generator content: Data from rural India

Since the 1970s sociologists have explored the best means for measuring social networks, although few name generator analyses have used sociocentric data or data from developing countries, partly because sociocentric studies in developing countries have been scant. Here, we analyze 12 different name generators used in a sociocentric network study conducted in 75 villages in rural Karnataka, India. Having unusual sociocentric data from a non-Western context allowed us to extend previous name generator research through the unique analyses of network structural measures, an extensive consideration of homophily, and investigation of status difference between egos and alters. We found that domestic interaction questions generated networks that were highly clustered and highly centralized. Similarity between respondents and their nominated contacts was strongest for gender, caste, and religion. We also found that domestic interaction name generators yielded the most homogeneous ties, while advice questions yielded the most heterogeneous. Participants were generally more likely to nominate those of higher social status, although certain questions, such as who participants talk to uncovered more egalitarian relationships, while other name generators elicited the names of social contacts distinctly higher or lower in status than the respondent. Some questions also seemed to uncover networks that were specific to the cultural context, suggesting that network researchers should balance local relevance with global generalizability when choosing name generators.     

Fostering social capital in an international multi-stakeholder issue network

Scholars have theorized that public relations contributes to societies and communities by bringing attention to pressing public issues and fostering social capital in civil society networks. However, the extant research has studied civil society networks of NGOs, donors, and the media in transitional countries. This study extends the public relations model of civil society in two ways. First, it broadens the scope to an international context. Second, it draws from the multi-stakeholder issue network perspective to conceptualize a civil society network as a space where stakeholders of an issue mix their interests as they collectively address a pressing public issue. The literature on international and multi-stakeholder networks suggest that the international scope and the mixing of interests across sectors may restrict the production of social capital. The results from the social network analysis suggests that the mixing of interests across sectoral and geopolitical boundaries did not restrict the production of social capital. Rather, the patterns of the relationships among those on the core and those on the periphery of the network restricted the production of social capital. Such finding demonstrates how public relations’ functions like relationship building can have profound influences on social capital and civil society networks. The implications for public relations theorizing and research are discussed.     

Protecting ecosystems: network structure and social capital mobilization

The research reported here explores a community that amassedsocial capital in effective and diverse ways, enabling it tofight a corporate giant and protect critical, large watersheds.We explore how the dynamic interaction between network formationand network structure augmented community social capital, particularlybridging, for increased access to human and economic capital.Network structure(s) can create enabling conditions for themobilization of social capital within communities and for peopleto feel empowered to act. The research suggests that there isan opportunity for policy-makers to learn what kinds of policiescan enhance or destroy existing social capital in a community.     

Eliciting representative samples of personal networks

In this paper we introduce and evaluate a method for eliciting a representative sample of total personal networks. First names were used as a cue to elicit a sample of 14 alters from 712 respondents through a telephone interview. Network characteristics for each respondent were calculated as averages and proportions across the 14 alters. These were compared to other studies using more specialized network generators. Our method produced results which are logically consistent with those expected from a generator that elicits a sample from the total rather than a specialized subset of the total network. The proportions of kin relations, average tie strength and frequency of contacts are found to be lower than network generators designed to elicit networks of social support. Given our conclusion that the sample is representative of the total network, we examine the varying characteristics of respondents and their networks based on the domination of a particular relation type in their network. This analysis provides answers to such questions as ‘What characteristics of respondents account for the proportion of family relations in their network?‘ and ‘What are the similarities between respondents whose networks are made up of mostly work-related relations?’     

Urban Nightlife,Social Capital,and the Public Life of Cities1

Sociologists and urban scholars emphasize how nightlife establishments contribute to the social capital and public life of cities. In the interests of tempering this line of argument, I suggest three generalizable empirical findings that provide grounds for skepticism on this score: (1) the racial and class barriers to participation imposed by urban nightlife enterprises; (2) the normalization of gender differences and the routine harassment of women within such scenes; and (3) the lack of inclusiveness surrounding local nightlife in urban neighborhood communities. These findings suggest that nightlife scenes may function more efficiently as generators of bonding rather than bridging social capital.     

Continuity and change in a patronage society: the social mobility of British autobiographers, 1600–1750

Abstract This article describes rates and modes of intergenerational social mobility among the middle sort of people, using data derived from analysis of a sample of British autobiographical texts from the period 1600–1750. It adduces evidence indicating a strong propensity for social reproduction between generations within the group, and accounts for this propensity by looking at the ways in which individuals pursued careers throughout their lifetimes. The article shows how a network of social associations comprised largely of family and effective kin was the decisive factor in making a career, and how the basic framework of this network rarely extended beyond a person's native social-cultural milieu. I conclude that because the network was so limited, there was little opportunity for significant social mobility among the middle sort in early modern Britain.     

Socioeconomic Inequality in Decoding Instructions and Demonstrating Knowledge

Qualitative Sociology - Cultural capital may contribute to socioeconomic achievement gaps by shaping how students engage with authority in schools. However, social class shapes academic skills and...     

Subject to Evaluation: How Parents Assess and Mobilize Information from Social Networks in School Choice

A rich literature examines how information spreads through social networks to influence life opportunities. However, receiving information does not guarantee its use in decision making. This article analyzes information evaluation as a fundamental component of social network mobilization. The case of school choice, where the value of information may be more uncertain, brings this evaluative dimension to the forefront. Interviews with 55 parents in Boston show how parents selecting schools assess their social network ties as information sources, privileging information from those they perceive to have affinity and authority. These evaluative criteria map onto disparate networks to engender unequal mobilization of this information. The findings illuminate mechanisms sustaining inequality in social network mobilization and reorient scholars to consider processes underlying information use alongside information diffusion to attain a more complete understanding of how network resources are mobilized in action.