The structure of global centrality measures |
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Authors: | Carlos Lozares Pedro López-Roldán Mireia Bolibar |
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Affiliation: | Centre d’Estudis Sociològics sobre la Vida Quotidiana i el Treball (QUIT), Departament de Sociologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain |
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Abstract: | The aim of this article is to identify and analyse the logic and structure of centrality measures applied to social networks. On the basis of the article by Borgatti and Everett, identifying the latent functions of centrality, we first use a survey of personal networks with 450 cases to perform an empirical study of the differences and correspondences between degree, closeness and betweenness centrality in personal networks. Then, we examine the correspondences between the three global indicators in each type of centrality: the maximum value, the mean value and the hierarchy or centralization. The results provide a better understanding of the centrality indicators of networks and the reality that they express in an empirical context. |
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Keywords: | personal networks centrality degree betweenness closeness latent centrality functions |
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