Hoorcolleges Social Networks
Week 1
Hoorcollege 1, 9 februari 2021
Networks consist of nodes and edges:
Networks can represent many things, for
instance friendships networks, brain, food, web or email network.
How do social networks emerge?
1. Focus theory
Who interacts with whom is not a question of preferences but of extra-individual conditions such as
meeting opportunities and foci for contacts.
This a theory on the supply of contacts; that is essentially sociological.
All those related to a focus tend to form a cluster; loose connections between clusters are either
based on less constraining foci, or not on foci at all.
A focus is defined as a social, psychological, legal, or physical entity around which joint activities are
organized” (Feld, 1981).
“individuals whose activities are organized around the same foci will tend to become interpersonally
tied and form a cluster”
So, if individuals share the same focus they tend to become related to each other. And when
individuals are related, they tend to create foci to organize their joint activities. Thus networks
emerge within foci and across foci that are shared by individuals.
Controlled for focused interaction, similarity on certain attributes may lead to selective development
of ties. However, structural features determine much more where interaction will arise.
Why is the study of contextual restrictions important?
- ‘meeting’ comes chronologically before ‘mating’
, - Opportunities can be manipulated
- Without understanding restrictions, individual choices that are structured by these
restrictions cannot be understood.
Yet: in many scientific studies there is more attention for individual preferences (the demand side of
ties)
Characteristics of foci:
- Restrictions, such as:
o Degree of forced interactions,
o Time spent
o Compatibility with other foci
- Size: a foci can differ in size (4 people or 12 people)
- Degree of local boundedness: if you have a neighborhood watch (local) it doesn’t make sense
you join that foci when you don’t live in that neighborhood
- Degree to which boundaries exist: some foci are open for all and others restrict people to
join the foci
- Foci can also overlap, e.g. if people work in their neighborhood
2. Balance theory
Individuals strive for (cognitive) balance, also in relationships.
- A network is balanced if the product of the signs of the relationship is
positive
- Therefore: networks have a tendency for closure
- Balance theory starts from triads (triadic closure), but more
complicated networks are possible (eg 4-cycles).
Focus theory and balance theory give different answers to the question: when does network closure
emerge (or where do new ties form)?
Balance: the focal actor strives for cognitive balance
Focus theory: actors become involved in relationships because they become involved in one focus.
Focus vs balance theory:
Focus theory can be applied to larger networks. Balance theory fits best in the analysis of small
networks (triads).
Focus theory argues for instance that when network members are all in the same focus, and if this
focus is more restrictive, the network members will be more interconnected – balance theory does
not take into account any contextual condition.
Bridge: edge that connects two separate networks, that were not connected before. Bridges are very
rare, because we are all connected in many ways and rarely not connected before.
- Local bridges: without the local bridge, the distance between the – now connected – nodes
would be much larger.
,Social capital
A theory on the creation and returns of relationships.
- L.J. Hanifan (1916: state supervisor of rural schools in West Virginia)
o Was the one who introduces the term social capital:
o “I do not refer to real estate, or to personal property or to cold cash, but rather to
that in life which tends to make these tangible substances count for most in the daily
lives of people: namely good will, fellowship, sympathy, and social intercourse
among the individuals and families who make up a social unit…
The individual is helpless if left to himself. If he comes into contact with his neighbor,
and they with other neighbors, there will be an accumulation of social capital, which
may immediately satisfy his social needs (…).”
Different forms of capital are resources for individuals for achieving a good life. These resources are
also dimensions of social stratification.
- Financial capital
- Human capital
- Symbolic/cultural capital
Modern sociologists in the line of Weber added the term: social capital
- Resourced are a necessity to guarantee and safeguard living conditions- and, more general,
to attain individual goals
- Social resources are 2nd order resources – they consist not of own resources but the
resources of those one knows
- Important difference between social capital and other forms of capital: the rights of
ownership of social capital are not by one person, yet at least two persons.
The value of social capital depends on the value of 2 nd order resources and is related to the costs
which would have been made to achieve the goal via/with other resources.
The theory of social capital is in particular important because it gives networks a ‘meaning’…
Assumption:
• Individuals are the producers of their own well-being and to produce that wellbeing they
employ their social capital
People invest in relationships with other while taking expected future benefits into account.
Social capital is based largely on allege reciprocity.
, Dimensions/elements of social capital
- No matter what kind of help is provided – social capital can be described in the following
dimensions:
o The presence of others
o Their ability to help
o Their willingness to help
o The structure of the network, e.g. the particular position of the focal actor ‘ego’
(“structure is an asset in its own right” Ron Burt, 2001)
Differences countries:
There is no comprehensive encompassing explanation for these country level differences.
Plausible arguments:
- Modernization/technology
- Socio-cultural differences
- Economy/resources
- Political regime/institutions
More contextual arguments are provided, than arguments on preferences.
Third reading:
Forms of immigrant integration:
- Economic of structural integration incorporation of immigrants in the education & job
market
- Cultural integration adoption of the values/customs/language of the receiving society
- Social integration contacts between immigrants and natives (“interethnic contacts”)
Why study social integration:
- Social integration can have implications for the economic and cultural integration of
immigrants:
Interethnic contacts are a form of social capital (resources, information)
- Contacts between immigrants and natives decrease prejudice/conflict and increase social
cohesion?
Strong and weak ties:
Strong: best friends
Weak: acquaintances
The smaller the group size, the less likely are people to have a best friend of the same racial
background.
Week 1
Hoorcollege 1, 9 februari 2021
Networks consist of nodes and edges:
Networks can represent many things, for
instance friendships networks, brain, food, web or email network.
How do social networks emerge?
1. Focus theory
Who interacts with whom is not a question of preferences but of extra-individual conditions such as
meeting opportunities and foci for contacts.
This a theory on the supply of contacts; that is essentially sociological.
All those related to a focus tend to form a cluster; loose connections between clusters are either
based on less constraining foci, or not on foci at all.
A focus is defined as a social, psychological, legal, or physical entity around which joint activities are
organized” (Feld, 1981).
“individuals whose activities are organized around the same foci will tend to become interpersonally
tied and form a cluster”
So, if individuals share the same focus they tend to become related to each other. And when
individuals are related, they tend to create foci to organize their joint activities. Thus networks
emerge within foci and across foci that are shared by individuals.
Controlled for focused interaction, similarity on certain attributes may lead to selective development
of ties. However, structural features determine much more where interaction will arise.
Why is the study of contextual restrictions important?
- ‘meeting’ comes chronologically before ‘mating’
, - Opportunities can be manipulated
- Without understanding restrictions, individual choices that are structured by these
restrictions cannot be understood.
Yet: in many scientific studies there is more attention for individual preferences (the demand side of
ties)
Characteristics of foci:
- Restrictions, such as:
o Degree of forced interactions,
o Time spent
o Compatibility with other foci
- Size: a foci can differ in size (4 people or 12 people)
- Degree of local boundedness: if you have a neighborhood watch (local) it doesn’t make sense
you join that foci when you don’t live in that neighborhood
- Degree to which boundaries exist: some foci are open for all and others restrict people to
join the foci
- Foci can also overlap, e.g. if people work in their neighborhood
2. Balance theory
Individuals strive for (cognitive) balance, also in relationships.
- A network is balanced if the product of the signs of the relationship is
positive
- Therefore: networks have a tendency for closure
- Balance theory starts from triads (triadic closure), but more
complicated networks are possible (eg 4-cycles).
Focus theory and balance theory give different answers to the question: when does network closure
emerge (or where do new ties form)?
Balance: the focal actor strives for cognitive balance
Focus theory: actors become involved in relationships because they become involved in one focus.
Focus vs balance theory:
Focus theory can be applied to larger networks. Balance theory fits best in the analysis of small
networks (triads).
Focus theory argues for instance that when network members are all in the same focus, and if this
focus is more restrictive, the network members will be more interconnected – balance theory does
not take into account any contextual condition.
Bridge: edge that connects two separate networks, that were not connected before. Bridges are very
rare, because we are all connected in many ways and rarely not connected before.
- Local bridges: without the local bridge, the distance between the – now connected – nodes
would be much larger.
,Social capital
A theory on the creation and returns of relationships.
- L.J. Hanifan (1916: state supervisor of rural schools in West Virginia)
o Was the one who introduces the term social capital:
o “I do not refer to real estate, or to personal property or to cold cash, but rather to
that in life which tends to make these tangible substances count for most in the daily
lives of people: namely good will, fellowship, sympathy, and social intercourse
among the individuals and families who make up a social unit…
The individual is helpless if left to himself. If he comes into contact with his neighbor,
and they with other neighbors, there will be an accumulation of social capital, which
may immediately satisfy his social needs (…).”
Different forms of capital are resources for individuals for achieving a good life. These resources are
also dimensions of social stratification.
- Financial capital
- Human capital
- Symbolic/cultural capital
Modern sociologists in the line of Weber added the term: social capital
- Resourced are a necessity to guarantee and safeguard living conditions- and, more general,
to attain individual goals
- Social resources are 2nd order resources – they consist not of own resources but the
resources of those one knows
- Important difference between social capital and other forms of capital: the rights of
ownership of social capital are not by one person, yet at least two persons.
The value of social capital depends on the value of 2 nd order resources and is related to the costs
which would have been made to achieve the goal via/with other resources.
The theory of social capital is in particular important because it gives networks a ‘meaning’…
Assumption:
• Individuals are the producers of their own well-being and to produce that wellbeing they
employ their social capital
People invest in relationships with other while taking expected future benefits into account.
Social capital is based largely on allege reciprocity.
, Dimensions/elements of social capital
- No matter what kind of help is provided – social capital can be described in the following
dimensions:
o The presence of others
o Their ability to help
o Their willingness to help
o The structure of the network, e.g. the particular position of the focal actor ‘ego’
(“structure is an asset in its own right” Ron Burt, 2001)
Differences countries:
There is no comprehensive encompassing explanation for these country level differences.
Plausible arguments:
- Modernization/technology
- Socio-cultural differences
- Economy/resources
- Political regime/institutions
More contextual arguments are provided, than arguments on preferences.
Third reading:
Forms of immigrant integration:
- Economic of structural integration incorporation of immigrants in the education & job
market
- Cultural integration adoption of the values/customs/language of the receiving society
- Social integration contacts between immigrants and natives (“interethnic contacts”)
Why study social integration:
- Social integration can have implications for the economic and cultural integration of
immigrants:
Interethnic contacts are a form of social capital (resources, information)
- Contacts between immigrants and natives decrease prejudice/conflict and increase social
cohesion?
Strong and weak ties:
Strong: best friends
Weak: acquaintances
The smaller the group size, the less likely are people to have a best friend of the same racial
background.
