SOC 6108: SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS Fall 2001, 2.0a Barry Wellman

SOC 6008: SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS Fall 2001, 2.0a
Barry Wellman
wellman@chass.utoronto.ca
455 Spadina Ave, 4^th Floor
www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman

Much social organization no longer fits the standard group model. Work, community and domesticity have moved from hierarchically arranged, densely knit, bounded groups to social networks. In networked societies, boundaries are more permeable, interactions are with diverse others, linkages switch between multiple networks, and hierarchies are flatter and more recursive. Hence many people and organizations communicate with others in ways that ramify across group boundaries. Rather than relating to one group, they cycle through interactions with a variety of others, at work or in the community. Their work and community networks are diffuse, sparsely-knit, with vague, overlapping, social and spatial boundaries. Their computer-mediated communication has become part of their everyday lives, rather than being a separate set of relationships.

Social network analysis is a way to understand fundamental social questions. Network analysts study the relations linking persons, organizations, interest groups, states, etc. They analyze the structure of these relations, and they study how such structures allocate scarce resources, constrain behaviour, and channel social change. Their methods are both quantitative and qualitative.

This course discusses the application of the concepts and methods of network analysis to sociological questions. It focuses on open, unbounded systems -- be they communities or sets of nations. No previous experience is necessary.

Among the questions we will examine are:

• Why supportive communities have flourished in the teeth of urbanization, bureaucratization, capitalism, socialism, industrialization and technological change?

•In what ways do computer networks become social networks? What kinds of social structures and activities take place on computer supported social networks?

•How do networks organize collective political activity, non-violent and violent?

•How do interlocking corporate and government ties operate in formal bureaucracies, link ruling elites, and organize large-scale social structures?

•How do relations of power and dependency structure world systems?

To provide flexible tailoring to interests, the reading list contains more readings than any one person can cover. In the first class we will discuss how to focus our work and what books you might want to buy.

Social Structures: A Network Approach, edited by Barry Wellman & S.D. Berkowitz (JAI Press)
Barry Wellman, ed., Networks in the Global Village (Westview Press)
Nan Lin, Karen Cook and Ronald Burt, Social Capital: Theory and Research (Aldine de Gruyter)

Other Useful Books.

John Scott: Social Network Analysis (Sage)
David Knoke & John Kuklinski, Social Network Analysis (Sage)
Nan Lin, Social Capital (Cambridge University Press)
Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone (Simon and Schuster)
Manuel Castells, The Rise of the Network Society, second edition (Blackwells)
Stanley Wasserman and Katherine Faust, Social Network Analysis (Cambridge University Press)

Presentations 15% [content, depth, organization, visual aids, clarity]

Participation 10% [thoughtfulness, originality, activity]

Paper Proposal 10% [statement of problem, state of art on problem; research design; 5 pp.]

Term Paper 65% [Term papers should combine literature review and original research. In this case, 25% of the grade will be based on the first draft and 40% on the final draft.]

THE NETWORKED WAR
Bonnie Erickson, "Secret Societies and Social Structure" Social Forces 60 (1981): 188-210
Articles by Joel Garreau (Washington Post) on "How the U.S. Marines Train for Networked War" Email reprint
Joel Garreau, "Disconnect the Dots". Washington Post, Sept 17, 2001. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41015-2001Sep16.htm
Valdis Krebs, "Using Network Analysis to Disrupt Terrorist Organizations." Email + other writings
Peter Killworth, H Russell Bernard, et al: two 1998 papers in Social Networks 20:23-50 and in Evaluation Review 22:289-308.
Charles Tilly, "Predictions". Email
Kathleen Carley, "Comment on `Predictions." Email.
Charles Tilly,, Collective Violence, Chap. 6 , "Opportunism" (draft)
Phil Agre, "Imagining the Next War" On RRE Newservice and email

Barry Wellman and S.D. Berkowitz, "Introduction" to Social Structures, edited by Barry Wellman & S.D. Berkowitz.
Barry Wellman and S.D. Berkowitz, "Preface to Updated Edition." in Wellman & Berkowitz
*Barry Wellman, "Structural Analysis: From Method & Metaphor to Theory & Substance." In Wellman & Berkowitz.
Georg Simmel, "The Web of Group Affiliations" in Conflict And The Web Of Group Affiliations. Glencoe: Free Press, 1955
*David Tindall and Barry Wellman, "Canada as Social Structure: Social Network Analysis and Canadian Sociology." Special issue on "The Legacy of Canadian Sociology," edited by Harry Hiller. Canadian Journal of Sociology 26 (3), Fall, 2001: 265- 308.

CLASSICAL STATEMENTS Oct 4

J.A. Barnes, "Classes and Committees in A Norwegian Island Parish" in Samuel Leinhardt, ed., Social Networks: A Developing Paradigm.
Elizabeth Bott, "Urban Families: Conjugal Roles and Social Networks," in Leinhardt.
Nancy Howell, "Understanding Simple Social Structure: Kinship Units and Ties." Pp. 62-82 in Wellman & Berkowitz.
Bonnie Erickson, "The Relational Basis of Attitudes," Pp. 99-122 in Wellman & Berkowitz

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE ON PROCESS Ovidiu, Oct 11

Mark Granovetter, "The Strength of Weak Ties," American Journal of Sociology, 1973
Mark Granovetter, "Weak Ties Revisited" in Sociological Theory 1983, edited by Randall Collins.
Scott Feld, "The Focused Organization of Social Ties," American Journal of Sociology 86
Scott Feld, "Social Structural Determinants of Similarity among Associates," American Sociological Review 47 (12/82): 797-801.
Ronald Breiger, "The Duality of Persons & Groups," Pp. 83-98 in Wellman & Berkowitz..
*Barry Wellman, "An Electronic Group is Virtually a Social Network" In Sara Kiesler, Culture of the Internet (1997).

SOCIAL CAPITAL (Guest leader: Bonnie Erickson) Oct 18

Nan Lin. 2001. "Building a Network Theory of Social Capital." Pp. 3-30 in Social Capital: Theory and Research, edited by Nan Lin, Karen Cook and Ronald S. Burt. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
Nan Lin, Yang-chih Fu, and Ray-May Hsung, "The Position Generator: Measurement Techniques for Investigations of Social Capital." Pp. 57-81 in Lin, Cook and Burt.
Nan Lin & Mary Dumin, "Access to Occupations through Social Ties," Social Networks 8 (1986): 365-85.
Bonnie Erickson, "Culture, Class and Connections," American Journal of Sociology 102 (7/96): 217-51
Bonnie Erickson, "Good Networks and Good Jobs." In Lin, Cook and Burt.
Bonnie Erickson, "Mirrors in the Fun House." Working Paper
*Portes, Alejandro and Patricia Landolt. 1996. The Downside of Social Capital. The American Prospect 26:18-21. http://www.prospect.org/archives/26/26-cnt2. html

Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone, chaps. 6, 15.
Barry Wellman, Peter Carrington & Alan Hall, "Networks as Personal Communities," Pp. 123-84 in Wellman & Berkowitz.
Barry Wellman, "The Community Question Re-evaluated," Pp. 81-107 in Power, Community And The City, edited by Michael Peter Smith.
*Barry Wellman & Scot Wortley, "Different Strokes from Different Folks," American Journal of Sociology 96, 11/90.
*Barry Wellman, "Men in Networks." Pp. 74-114 in Men's Friendships, edited by Peter Nardi.
*Barry Wellman and Kenneth Frank, "Network Capital in a Multilevel World." Pp. 233-4 in Lin, Cook & Burt.
Peter Marsden and Karen Campbell. "Measuring Tie Strength." Social Forces 63 (12/84):482-501.
Peter Marsden, "Core Discussion Networks of Americans," American Sociological Review 52 (2/87): 122-31.
*Barry Wellman, "How to Use SAS to Study Egocentric Networks." Cultural Anthropology Methods Newsletter, 6/92: 6-9, 12.

Stanley Milgram, "The Small-World Problem," Psychology Today 1 (3/67): 62-67.
H. Russell Bernard, Gene Ann Shelley and Peter Killworth. 1987. "How Much of a Network does the GSS and RSW Dredge Up?" Social Networks 9 (March):49-63.
Nancy Howell Lee, The Search for an Abortionist. Chapters 5 & 8.
Thomas Valente, Network Models of the Diffusion of Innovations, Chapters 3 & 4.
Miller McPherson, Lynn Smith-Lovin and James Cook, "Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks." Annual Review of Sociology 27 (2001): 415-44.
Jeffrey Boase and Barry Wellman. 2002. "A Plague of Viruses: Biological, Computing and Viral." Current Sociology, 2001: forthcoming.

*Barry Wellman and Milena Gulia, "Net Surfers Don't Ride Alone: Virtual Community as Community." In Barry Wellman, ed. Networks in the Global VillageAmerican Behavioral Scientist, Nov 2001 issue (selections)
*Keith Hampton and Barry Wellman, "How the Internet Built Local Community in Netville." City and Community, forthcoming (latest draft)
*Barry Wellman, "Physical Place and Cyber Place: The Rise of Personalized Networking" International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 25, 2 (2001): 227-52.

COMPUTER NETWORKS ARE SOCIAL NETWORKS Nov 15
(guest leader, Janet Salaff; readings likely to be modified)

*Caroline Haythornthwaite and Barry Wellman, "Work, Friendship and Media Use in a Networked Organization," Journal of the American Society for Information Science (1998).
Michael Schwartz and David Wood. "Discovering Shared Interests Using Graph Analysis." Communications of the ACM 36 (8/93): 78-89.
Smith, Marc. 1999. Invisible Crowds in Cyberspace: Mapping the Social Structure of the Usenet. Pp. 195-219 in Communities in Cyberspace, edited by Mark Smith and Peter Kollock. London: Routledge.
*Barry Wellman, et al., "Computer Networks as Social Networks" Annual Review of Sociology 22 (1996)
*Barry Wellman, Laura Garton and Caroline Haythornthwaite."Studying Online Social Networks" Journal of Computer Mediated Communication 3 (1), June, 1997.
*Barry Wellman, "Computer Networks as Social Networks." Science, Sept 2001
*Bonnie Nardi., Steve Whittaker and Heinrich Schwartz. 2000. "It's Not What You Know, It's Who You Know: Work in the Information Age." First Monday 5 (5): http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issues5_5/nardi/index.html
Deborah Hardwick and Janet Salaff, "Work, Family and the Internet Generation of Technologies. Forthcoming in The Internet in Everyday Life, edited by Barry Wellman and Caroline Haythornthwaite. Oxford: Blackwell, 2002.

Peter Monge and Noshir Contractor. 2000. "Emergence of Communication Networks." In Handbook of Organizational Communication, 2d ed. edited by Peter Monge and Noshir Contractor. (long - skim)
Rob Cross, "More Than an Answer: How Seeking Information Through People Facilitates Knowledge Creation." Presented to the Academy of Management conference, Toronto, 2000.
Joel Podolny and James Baron. 1997. "Social Networks and Mobility in the Workplace." American Sociological Review 62, 5 (Oct): 673-93.
Ivan Chase. 1991. "Vacancy Chains." Annual Review of Sociology 17: 133-54.
Mark Mizruchi & Joseph Galaskiewicz, "Networks of Interorganizational Relations," Sociological Methods & Research 22, 1 (8/93): 46-70.
Karl Weick, "Educational Organizations as Loosely-Coupled Systems." Administrative Science Quarterly 21 (1976): 1-19.
Ronald Burt, "Structural Holes versus Network Closure as Social Capital." Pp. 31-56 in Lin, Cook & Burt.
Granovetter, Mark. 1985. "Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness." American Journal of Sociology 91: 481-510. (Somewhat condensed version in Wellman & Berkowitz)
Uzzi, Brian. 1996. "The Sources and Consequences of Embeddedness for the Economic Performance of Organizations: The Network Effect." American Sociological Review 6: 674-698.

Harriet Friedmann, "Form and Substance in the Analysis of the World Economy" in Wellman & Berkowitz
Ronald Breiger. 1981. "Structures of Economic Interdependence Among Nations." Pp. 353-80 in Continuities in Structural Inquiry, edited by Peter Blau and Robert K. Merton.
Edward Kick and Byron L. Davis. 2001. "World-System Structure and Change." American Behavioral Scientist 44 (10): 1561-1578.
Vicente Espinoza. 1999. "Social Networks Among the Urban Poor: Inequalities and Integration in a Latin American City." Pp. 147-184 in Networks in the Global Village, edited by Wellman.
Endre Sik and Barry Wellman. 1999. "Network Capital in Capitalist, Communist, and Postcommunist Countries." Pp. 225-254 in Networks in the Global Village, edited by Wellman.
Alexis Ferrand, Lise Mounier and Alain Degenne. 1999. "The Diversity of Personal Networks in France: Social Stratification and Relational Structures." Pp. 185-224 in Networks in the Global Village, edited by Wellman
Manuel Castells, The Rise of the Network Society, 2d ed.(2000) Chaps 2, 7.

PRESENTATIONS OF RESEARCH PAPERS (PRELIMINARY) Dec 6

OPTIONAL WORKSHOP ON UCINET AND KRACKPLOT at an agreed date