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Summary articles Social Networks
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Summary of of the articles for the exam of the course: Social Networks in Theory and Empirical Research.
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InhoudFeld: The focused organization of social ties......................................................................................1
Höllinger & Haller...............................................................................................................................5
Martinovic, Tubergen, & Maas...........................................................................................................7
Collins & Chow....................................................................................................................................9
Dodds, Muhamed, & Watts................................................................................................................9
Milgram............................................................................................................................................10
Watts & Strogatz...............................................................................................................................11
Chase, et al.......................................................................................................................................12
Cook, et al.........................................................................................................................................12
Mintz & Schwartz.............................................................................................................................13
Savin-Williams..................................................................................................................................14
Harrigan & Yap..................................................................................................................................17
Ellward et al......................................................................................................................................19
Faris & Felmlee.................................................................................................................................21
Centola.............................................................................................................................................23
Coleman...........................................................................................................................................25
Bond et al.........................................................................................................................................27
Kramer et al......................................................................................................................................28
Salganik et al.....................................................................................................................................30
Lewis et al.........................................................................................................................................31
Feld: The focused organization of social ties
Research question and general information:
Theory of the social organization of friendship ties Focus theory.
,To explain interrelationships between networks and other aspects of social structure.
Concepts of activities, interactions, and sentiments and upon the concept of extra-network foci
organizing social activities and interaction.
Focus theory is contrasted with the Balance theory. Balance theory is psychological: the process
takes place within the heads of the actors. Focus theory is sociological: the process depends upon the
behaviours and interactions of individuals in a social context.
Context and individual characteristics are important to explain social network structures extra-
network sociological bases for friendship ties.
Focus theory foci around which individuals organize their social relations. Focus a social,
psychological, legal, or physical entity around which joint activities are organized. For example:
workplaces, voluntary organization, hangouts, families, etc.
As a consequence of interaction associated with their joint activities, individuals whose activities are
organized around the same focus will tend to become interpersonally tied and form a cluster.
To analyse you have to know each individual’s relations to extra-network foci context.
Social context consist of a number of different foci and individuals, where each individual is
related to some foci and not to others. A group’s activities are organized by a particular focus to the
extent that two individuals who share that focus are more likely to share joint activities with each
other than two individuals who do not have that focus in common.
Activity, interaction and sentiments.
Shared relations to foci create positive sentiments indirectly through the generation of positively
valued interaction. Shared relations to foci bring people together in a mutually rewarding situation
which encourages the development of positive sentiments.
It is important to know how big the group of a focus is and the extent to which this group organizes
activities.
Foci produce a pattern of ties, but not all ties arise from foci. A relationship between two people
does not necessarily arise from activities that are organized around a focus. People can meet by
chance.
The focused organization has a structural significance. Foci can be persons, places, social positions,
activities and groups. Similarity brings individuals together in interactions and sentiments. But this is
not sufficient. All those related to a particular focus tend to form a separate cluster. Interaction is
typically focused rather than uniform. Similarities need not lead to focused interaction, and focused
interaction can exist apart from similarities of individual characteristics.
Focus theory is about the focused organization of the social context rather than similarities of
individual characteristics.
Two individuals who share a focus are more likely to share joint activities than two random people.
Not all individuals who share a focus do interaction with each other. Foci where everyone is forced to
interact much and often (families), all of the individuals associated with that focus will be tied to each
other. Foci that are less constraining on interaction (city neighbourhoods), only a slightly higher
proportion of individuals will be tied than would be tied in the general population.
The more constraining a focus, the greater is the likelihood that two individuals associated with that
focus will be tied. Where there is no constraint at all, there is no focus.
Foci vary in size. Larger foci (activities for many people) will be less constraining, because it is difficult
to arrange for many people to have frequent joint activities.
The structure of a network is dependent on the constraint and size of the underlying foci. Highly
constraining foci will create close-knit clusters of various sizes depending upon the size of the foci.
, Formation of social networks and relations to foci are interdependent. Once there is a tie, the
individuals will tend to find and develop new foci around which to organize their joint activity. The
more severe the restrictions on time, effort and emotion, the more individuals will experience
pressures to combine their interactions with various member of their network by finding and
developing new foci around which to bring more of them together.
The more compatible(combineerbaar) the foci, the more likely it is that the individual can find or
invent some focus that can organize joint activities (family, neighbourhood).
The more ties within a set of individuals, the more likely it is that a common focus will be developed,
and, consequently, previously unties pairs within the set will become tied.
Simply focused situation ideal type in which there are multiple foci, but each individual is related
to a single focus. Clusters organized around each focus. Individuals from different foci that interact
provide random links between the clusters.
Most situations are more complex than simply focused situations, because each individual’s activities
and interactions are organized around a number of different foci simultaneously. There are loose
connections between clusters. It depends upon the linking focus. The larger and more constraining
the linking focus, the more alternative paths there will be. Connections between clusters are
expected wherever a connecting focus is relatively small and weakly constraining.
Two individuals who are both tied to a third to also be tied to each other a tendency toward
transitivity. Conditions under which clusters are formed: two individuals who are both tied to a third
may share a focus with the third. The more foci someone shares with a person, the more likely to be
tied to that person. Focus theory states that the main causes of transitivity are the number and types
of pre-existing foci underlying the relationships.
Local bridge ties which connect two individuals who do not share ties to other individuals. Perfect
transitivity says there are no local bridges, because than every two individuals who are tied to each
other must also be tied to all of the same others. Local bridges will be likely where transitivity is
unlikely.
The more others to whom two people share ties, the less bridging is a tie between them. Ties based
upon foci are less bridging than other ties. The larger the focus and the more constraining the focus
the more ties to others will be shared. And the more foci the two people share, the more chance
they are both tied to other people.
The fewer, less constraining and smaller the foci underlying a tie, the more bridging is the tie.
If there are a lot of local bridges then the density is very low, but if there is perfect transitivity, then
the network is completely dense. If the density is high, then there is a cluster.
Definition 1.-A "focus" is any social, psychological, or physical entity around which joint activities of
individuals are organized.
Definition 2.-A focus is "constraining" to the extent that it leads each pair of individuals to devote
time and energy to participating in joint ac-tivities associated with that focus.
Definition 3.-Two foci are "compatible" with each other to the extent that the types of activities and
interactions that they involve are similar.
Definition 4.-A focus is "smaller" (larger), the smaller (larger) the number of people who share it.
Assumption 1.-There exist foci in the social world.
Assumption 2.-(Borrowed from Homans) The more frequently individuals have valued social
interaction with each other, the more likely it is that they will develop positive sentiments toward
each other.
Assumption 3.-Individuals can find or invent a focus around which to combine activities of various
others with whom they are tied. A schematic representation of the dynamic process described by the
theory is presented in figure 2.
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