Using multiple network analytic tools for a single social network

A variety of data analytic network tools are used to study the structure of a social network where the properties of these tools rest on specific conceptualizations of some aspect of structure. Further, these tools have, in structural terms, ill-defined operationalizations and algorithmic details. As a result, they can lead to distinct characterizations of structure. The appropriate task in using multiple methods is not the use them all to see what they converge on, but to select the structural properties of critical interest and use the tools most appropriate for those properties.     

Dimensions of informal social network structure: Toward a contingency theory of informal relations in organizations

A method for inductively characterizing the dimensions of informal structure in organizations is developed and applied. Results are presented which suggest close parallels between contingency theories of formal organization and the informal structure case. These results are interpreted in light of the informational and other characteristics of informal networks in organizations.     

Network centrality and social movement media coverage: A two-mode network analytic approach

This article examines the relationship between structural location (namely, degree centrality) and news media coverage. Our central hypothesis is that the network centrality of social movement actors is positively associated with the prevalence of actors being cited in the print news media. This paper uses two-mode data from a communication network of environmentalists in British Columbia, and examines the relationship between their structural location and the frequency by which they are cited in newsprint media with regard to particular frames (about forest conservation, environmental protest, and related issues). We asked a sample of social movement participants about their ties to a target list of relatively high profile actors (environmental activists). We turned the resulting network matrix into a bipartite graph that examined the relationships amongst the target actors vis a vis the respondents. Next we calculated point in-degree for the target actors. For the target actors we also have data from a representative sample of 957 print news articles about forestry and conservation of old growth forests in British Columbia. We compare the effects of network centrality of the target actor versus several attributes of the target actors (gender, level of radicalism, leadership status) on the amount of media coverage that each of the target actors receives. We find that network centrality is associated with media coverage controlling for actor attributes. We discuss theoretical implications of this research. Finally, we also discuss the methodological pros and cons of using a “target name roster” to construct two-mode data on social movement activists.     

Citizenship on the margins: Citizenship,social work and social action

Drawing on a critical synthesis of the two main citizenship traditions, so as to construct citizenship as both a status and a practice, linked through the notion of human agency, the article explores citizenship's exclusionary and inclusionary sides within both a national and international framework. Within a national framework, the implications of citizenship's ‘false universalism’ are explored as the basis for a recasting of citizenship in a way that addresses the tension between universalism and particularity or difference. Within an international framework, a human rights perspective is introduced as a means of challenging citizenship's exclusion of nation state outsiders, most notably immigrants and asylum-seekers. This approach draws upon a multi-tiered conceptualisation of citizenship stretching from the local through to the global.

Some implications for social work practice and policy are then discussed in relation to support for active citizenship in deprived communities and anti-poverty action in which poor people themselves have a voice. This includes a brief consideration of political exclusion; the potential of self-help groups and community social work and development work; and user-involvement. The article concludes that citizenship offers social work a framework that embraces anti-poverty work, principles of partnership and anti-discriminatory practice and an inclusionary stance.     

Guanxi,social capital theory and beyond: toward a globalized social science

Western theoretical traditions can benefit from systematic engagement with non‐Western concepts: This is shown through an analysis of the Chinese concept guanxi. After considering the general nature of guanxi, including its possible association with corrupt practices and its particular cultural characteristics, the paper goes on to identify the elements of its general form which have universal representation. The possibility of conceiving guanxi as a variant form of social capital is explored. This shows the way in which both the expressive and instrumentalized forms of guanxi indicate otherwise neglected aspects of social and economic relationships not always recognized and addressed by analogous terms current in social theory but which are none the less important for its advancement.     

Toward a normative social media theory for public relations

Social media might represent the greatest social innovation/revolution in the history of communication, fundamentally altering how humans communicate, and the practice of public relations, journalism, advertising, marketing, and business. Dozens of theories and concepts including dialogue, engagement, identification, social presence, uses and gratifications, conversational human voice, and many others inform social media. However, what has commonly taken place in social media contexts and public relations has been the importation and application of other theories and concepts, rather than exploring and clarifying the unique features and capabilities of social media per se. This essay argues that social media represent a new communication paradigm, and this essay takes up the challenge of building social media theory for public relations by identifying features of social media that have emerged from existing research as fundamental to understanding social media, and eventually developing a theory(s) of social media for public relations.     

Network social capital as an outcome of social movement mobilization: Using the position generator as an indicator of social network diversity

In the social mobility literature, the position generator (PG) has been used to examine the relationship between the structural location of individuals, and outcomes such as obtaining a high status job. Diversity of occupational ties (as measured by the PG) is also a significant predictor of an individual's cultural capital. A great deal of work has also been done in the field of social movements examining the relationship between networks and mobilization. However, only limited attention has been given to the position generator in this literature. Also, while past research has demonstrated that prior network ties to activists is one of the most important predictors of current activism, relatively little research has been devoted to examining network structure as an outcome of activism. The present paper builds upon these insights by utilizing data collected with the position generator on a sample of environmental movement members, and examining the relationship between individual activism (as an independent variable) and diversity of occupational ties (as a dependent variable). The result of key theoretical significance is that those who are more active in the environmental movement develop a greater diversity of occupational ties to other environmentalists. Results suggest that this process occurs over time. These findings provide evidence that social capital (as indicated by network diversity) is one outcome of social movement mobilization.     

How to search a social network

We address the question of how participants in a small world experiment are able to find short paths in a social network using only local information about their immediate contacts. We simulate such experiments on a network of actual email contacts within an organization as well as on a student social networking website. On the email network we find that small world search strategies using a contact’s position in physical space or in an organizational hierarchy relative to the target can effectively be used to locate most individuals. However, we find that in the online student network, where the data is incomplete and hierarchical structures are not well defined, local search strategies are less effective. We compare our findings to recent theoretical hypotheses about underlying social structure that would enable these simple search strategies to succeed and discuss the implications to social software design.     

Evidence in action: a Thompsonian perspective on evidence-based decision-making in social work

Evidence-based practice presupposes evidence-based decision-making. In the debate it is argued that a social work fashioned after evidence should be more rational, less authoritarian, and built on scientific knowledge, respect and ethics. Yet the empirical evidence that this idea works is weak. In fact, the difficulties met during efforts to implement evidence could be a sound reaction. Indeed, difficulties experienced could be a defensive organizational reaction to a new, disturbing technology. In this article, James D. Thompson's classical study Organizations in Action from 1967 is applied to evidence-based decision-making in social work. It shows, to date, that many problems have been given, at best, tenuous attention. It is argued that a focus on evidence will raise ambiguity and complexity levels within organizations, and that new professional specialists will emerge. Further, new constellations of power will appear, leading to a change of balance within the domains of social work.     

Reflection on action: The process of helping social work students to develop their use of theory in practice

Over the years, college and practice-based social work teachers have been expected to help social work students to relate or integrate theory and practice, to transfer knowledge and/or to be a reflective practitioner. This paper first seeks to unpick and clarify what integrating theory and practice actually means and then goes on to suggest a model for exploring the use of theory in practice which a practice teacher could use with students in supervision.     

Generalizing from social media data: a formal theory approach

ABSTRACT

Researchers increasingly draw on social media data to answer big questions about social patterns and dynamics. However, as with any data source, social media data present both opportunities and significant challenges. One major critique of social media data is that the data are not generalizable outside of the platforms from which the data originate. Problems of generalizability stem from non-universal participation rates on various platforms, demographically biased samples, as well as limited access to data based on infrastructural constraints and/or user privacy practices. We suggest that instead of empirical generalizability, social media data are theoretically generalizable in the formal theory tradition. Through a case example in which we use YouTube comments to test and extend a key tenet of identity theory, we show how social media data can instantiate theoretical variables and thus generalize to theoretical propositions. Mediated through formal theory, social media data maintain the capacity to address broad social questions while upholding methodological integrity.     

A concluding comment: Toward a critical social network analysis

The authors of articles in this special issue on “Ethics in SNA” contribute to enriching the continuing discussion of major ethical dilemmas that social network analysts need to confront. These articles encourage us to replace silence with thoughtful consideration and innovative paths forward. I highlight three themes that emerged in my own reading of these contributions: moving beyond “ethics versus science,” deepening reflexivity, and possible approaches toward a critical SNA.     

Practice theory for clinical social work

It is suggested that practice theory for clinical social work practice is in a state of disarray. Six new books on clinical social work practice are reviewed, with an identification of their contributions to the development of clinical practice theory. The expanded societal functions of clinical social work have resulted in major changes in method and in practice activities, without commensurate development of appropriate theory, as about environmental-situational interventions. Good theoretical advances have been made, as about a basic ecological systems model, though with need for a greater openness to new theories and to an eclectic approach. Advances have also been made in clinical research and knowledge building, handicapped though this may be by current critical inadequacies in the professional schools, particularly in the continued resistance to the development of clinical doctorate programs.