Network constraints on social action: preliminaries for a network theory

The network approach to social reality lacks a theoretical body that backs up the assumption of the working of structural rules. This contribution is an attempt toward investigation of the possibility of a theory of the effects of network properties on social action. The structure and effects of social networks vary along with the aims put forward in the relations of which they are composed. Considering those aims, three different sorts of networks can be distinguished — sentiment-, interest- and power-networks — involving distinct action logics. When the nature of the ties is known, predictions about the structure of the resulting social networks, type of social control and type of exchange taking place within them, can be made.