Sociology 380–Political Science 350: Networks and Social Structure

Fall 2020

Tuesday (F02) / Thursday (F01) 12:00–2:50 pm

In Person: Eliot 314 (Tuesday) / ETC 205 (Thursday)

LIVE SYLLABUS (DRAFT 2020-08-31)

Contact Information:

Course Description:

Social network dynamics influence phenomena from communities, neighborhoods, families, work life, scientific and technical innovation, terrorism, trade, alliances, and wars.  Network theories of social structure view actors as inherently interdependent, and examine how social structure emerges from regularities in this interdependence.  This course focuses on the theoretical foundations of structural network dynamics and identifies key analytical questions and research  strategies for studying network formation, organization, and development.  Attention is paid to both interactionist and structuralist traditions in network analysis, and includes a focus on the core principles of balance and centrality; connectivity and clustering; power and hierarchy; and social structure writ large.  Substantive topics include social mobility and stratification, group organization and mobilization, patterns of creativity and innovation, resource distributions, decision-making, the organization of movement and belief systems, conflict and cooperation, and strategic interaction.  This course couples theoretical and substantive themes with methodological applications.  Approximately one-third of course time is spent on the methodology of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting social network data.

Learning Outcomes:

After successfully completing this class, a student will:

• learn the theoretical underpinnings of network analysis as well as sociological and political contributions to its founding and growth
• understand network measures and be able to apply them in a variety of contexts and fields, including contemporary applications
• know how to collect network data and analyze it using R or Pajek
• apply the above to a final project

Distribution Requirements:

This course can be used towards your Group II “History and Social Sciences” requirement. It accomplishes the following learning goals for the group:

• Evaluate data and/or sources
• Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other
• Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.

Along with SOC 211, SOC 380 also fulfills half of the History and Social Sciences divisional requirement for non-Sociology HSS students; along with any POL Introductory course, POL 350 fulfills half of the History and Social Sciences divisional requirement for non-Political Science HSS students. It is also an ICPS course.

Course Materials:

The following books can be purchased from the Reed College Bookstore; a PDF of the required text is also available in Week 1 of the EReadings for those who cannot access the books in other formats.

Required

• Christakis, Nicholas A., and James H. Fowler. 2009. Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives. 1st ed. New York: Little, Brown and Co. A hardcopy is available from the Reed library.

Optional and/or Required only for Some

• Tuesday section: Kolaczyk, Eric D., and Gábor Csárdi. Statistical Analysis of Network Data with R. Vol. 65. Use R! New York, NY: Springer New York, 2014. (Free online) https://link-springer-com.proxy.library.reed.edu/book/10.1007%2F978-1-4939-0983-4
• Thursday section: De Nooy, Wouter. 2018. Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek. 3rd ed. Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences, 34. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

(free online) https://doi-org.proxy.library.reed.edu/10.1017/9781108565691

• (Optional for all)  Stack, Carol B. 2008. All Our Kin: Strategies For Survival In A Black Community. Basic Books.

Good books to keep in mind for further information (on reserve):

• Degenne, Alain, and Michel Forse. Introducing Social Networks. London: SAGE Publications, Ltd, 1999. doi:10.4135/9781849209373 or http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/reed/detail.action?docID=343950.
• Scott, John. Social Network Analysis: A Handbook. 2nd ed. London ; Thousands Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications, 2000. We will use a newer version of one chapter in this course.
• Wasserman, Stanley, and Katherine Faust. 1994. Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

All readings have been placed on reserve at the library (books) or as Ereadings (books, chapters and articles) available either through Google Drive or by joining the Zotero Group, instructions for which are on the course moodle and Slack. In addition, the articles are available through journal databases available online from the library, hyperlinked when possible on the moodle. Students should bring a copy of the readings to class each day.

Software (Both Sections):

Slack

We will be making use of Slack, a message and discussion forum and hub for conversation, questions, comments, and related content to this course. See Appendix: Getting to Know Slack at the end of this document. The nice thing about Slack is that you can easily communicate from a mobile or computer application (or via a URL), and you do not have to go through a painful login to Moodle and navigation to the forums in order to share thoughts, gain or give advance on coding or software challenges, etc.  Essentially, you can talk across platforms and reach others through the mechanism most convenient to them.  You can also post snippets of code, documents, or web links, etc, easily.  Learning Slack is also an important and marketable skill for many potential future jobs.  We will discuss the nature of Slack, how to use it, and our collective rules regarding its use, in class.  Our course Slack workspace is https://2020fnetworks.slack.com/.  We will invite you to join and will give you a handout with more details.  Please go through the motions to do so when you see the email.

Software (Tuesday Section):

In this class you will learn how to use network software to utilize empirical network data.  We will use R through RStudio, drawing from multiple software libraries to visualize our networks and calculate basic statistics on them. R can run on Windows, Mac, or Linux environments if you wish to use your own machine; for this class, we will be using Reed’s RStudio server, http://rstudio.reed.edu — you may wish to log in prior to the class to get comfortable with the environment. You should run through R, RStudio, RMarkdown, and SNA in R before the second class.

Software (Thursday Section):

In this class you will learn how to use network software to utilize empirical network data.  We will use two software packages to visualize our networks and calculate basic statistics on them.  You should strive to have the software on your own machine if it can be configured to do so.   Pajek and UCInet can also be accessed from ETC 205, the classroom we are meeting in this semester.  Both run only in a Windows environment, or through a virtual server put together by the college that can be found here.

UCInet

Individual students pay $40 for a permanent copy of this program.  This can be done at the following link:  https://sites.google.com/site/ucinetsoftware/home.  Choose the download option to avoid paying an extremely hefty shipping fee. The download page is at: https://sites.google.com/site/ucinetsoftware/downloads.

That said, the full program can be downloaded and used free for 90 days, which is a good chunk of the semester.   If you wait to download it closer to the time we start using it, you will draw out this timeline for which you could use the software for free for course purposes.  [Whether you buy or just try it, you'll download the same program.  Buying it just gets you the registration code that you'll need at the end of the 90 days.]

Pajek

This program is free, and can be downloaded at the following URL: http://mrvar.fdv.uni-lj.si/pajek/.  If you are using a Mac machine, my recommendation is to use the virtual server to access the software outside of class (the required text for this class has a chapter on how to install Pajek on Mac (Appendix 3), but I have been told the virtual server is much faster). Note also that if you are running macOS 15 (Catalina) this will require a different set of complicated steps that you should only undertake if you are very comfortable with administering your own Mac.

Assignments:

Class participation and Memos

Class participation matters in this course a great deal.  We expect that everyone will arrive to class with questions, topics, and issues to discuss.  If you do not participate, it will be impossible for you to receive an A in this class, and very difficult to receive a B.  If you are having trouble with this, come see us and we will brainstorm about ways to make it work. In addition, you cannot miss more than two classes and pass the course without documentation and approval from us.  To be clear, this policy is not at all related to COVID and illness considerations, for which the attendence policy is waived.  Please see the section below about this.  We do not want you to come to in-person instruction ill or quarantining in any way.

Either a tablet with a keyboard or a laptop (we recommend the latter) is required for the lab portion of the Tuesday section since we will be holding class in a room without desktops. If you do not have access to either, please take advantage of the Student Technology Equipment Program, which has been expanded this year due to COVID-19. The Thursday classroom is fully equipped with desktops, and so laptops are not required.  If at any point we move online only, access to a computer will be needed to complete the course.

Memos and Discussion Questions

In addition to your class participation, each class period you will submit a reading memo in reaction to the assigned readings.  These memos are not meant to be summaries of the articles.  Instead they are intended to help you organize your ideas and to help situate the readings as a collective and in terms of the course thus far.  Writing the memo should not be a particularly onerous task.  However, it should be thoughtfully attended to and viewed as an organizing element of your preparation for the discussion.  It is also a signal to us that you are thoughtfully considering the work at hand.  It should include the following elements:

1.       a brief statement or set of statements about what you understand to be the driving theoretical mechanisms presented in the set of readings for the outcomes observed.  (Social scientific analysis is built on a premise that authors are generating or bringing to the table an argument or set of theoretical arguments that explain the factor or factors, dynamics, or processes responsible/important/critical for an outcome to be observed.  In this consider the driving questions/outcomes of interest and the primary explanations for these offered by the authors for the day’s readings;

2.       an idea or ideas that you appreciated;

3.       a puzzle regarding ideas that you did not fully understand and/or a thoughtful critique of one or two particular arguments that you did not find persuasive, and;

4.       an unanswered question or thought for discussion that arose while you were doing the reading.

These elements should not be “numbered” or in bullet points – rather, discuss them in an integrated manner in paragraph form.  Also please address the combined reading set by not focusing solely on just one article or a subset.  

Memo format and deadline

• Not more than one page, 12 pt font, 1-1.5 spaced (i.e., no more than 500 words)
• Memos are due by 10pm the day before class.
• Please upload your memo to the Moodle in Word doc format only (no pdfs or google doc sharing please), in the space provided for each week.
• We will read your memo before class and return it to you with some comments at the beginning of class – you do not have to print it out or turn it in.   Memos will not be given extensive comments - this is really a way to begin a conversation with us - and we will use an internal check/check plus/check minus grading scheme. Late memos will not be accepted.

Leading Discussion

Along with a classmate or two, you will be responsible for leading discussion during the semester.  A signup sheet will be collected and posted with dates for these assignments.  Leaders help shape the discussion by formulating 2–3 questions in advance of our discussion that you could raise for the class, and by taking an active role in facilitating the discussion during conference.  In your preparations for leading class, plan to meet briefly before class with your partner(s), discuss the readings, and formulate questions to share with the class. This is also due by 10pm the day before class, posted to the Moodle Announcements for your section. Pro tip: Also, leaders please do not simply share questions in an email or doc—the intent is to meet face-to-face/zoom-to-zoom, and discuss together a plan of action and appropriate discussion approach.  We will join you in leading the class that day.

Class Lab Assignments

Every week we will use 1 of our roughly 3 hours to work with empirical network data.  You will complete a series of lab assignments during lab and after class.  Many, if not all, of these lab assignments will be handed in to be graded and for comments and feedback from us. Labs are due by 10pm five days after class (two days before the next class).

Midterm Paper

For this assignment you will analyze your own personal network. You will begin by completing a social network survey.  For this portion of the assignment you will be both survey respondent and interviewer.  This will give you a taste of both what it is like to conduct a social network study and what it is like to be a respondent in a social network survey.

For the second portion of the assignment you will act as network analyst.  You will calculate some simple measures of the composition and structure of your network and from this get a sense of what your network looks like.  Then you will write a short analysis of what you find.

This assignment will be handed out during Week 3 and is due Week 5. You should submit a hard copy of your analysis (the paper) with your survey and calculations stapled on the back.  Please also upload your analysis to the moodle at the appropriate link.

Term Paper

Lastly, during the course of the class you will conduct a final research project. This project will explore some aspect of an empirical social network. This project is open-ended and may incorporate network data that you collect, or we may provide options to use already-existing network data (such as our own, or that of others available for download).

In the past, students have analyzed such topics as music collaborations, relationships among bloggers, Reed networks (student study, committee membership relations, etc.), organization interlocks, international trade, citation analysis, and a host of other interesting topics.  Regardless of the topic you choose, your project should be anchored by a substantive or theoretical research question, and based on a general sociological/political understanding of network theory and analysis as presented in the class readings and laboratory sessions.

This analysis will count for a significant part of your final grade, so it should be given a great deal of thought and effort.  The project process will go in stages.  We will introduce the project near the middle of the semester, you will make decisions about your intended approach, and we will have an opportunity to discuss the project with each other in class.  We will devote some of our lab time to work on these projects near the end of the semester.   You must complete the term paper project to pass this course.

Some Final Notes:

You will be expected to strike a healthy balance in conference between arguing your own position on these issues, listening to others, and helping the class to collectively explore how the authors you read defend their approaches. Each member of the class is expected to abide by the Reed Honor principle, according to which you must both take responsibility on yourself to think about how your actions and words affect others, and share responsibility with your peers for enabling the class as a whole to achieve its highest intellectual aims without alienating or marginalizing anyone. Your regular attendance and active participation in conference are necessary for the class to work. Themes and approaches will shift considerably from one week to the next, and in-class discussions will be necessary for you and your colleagues to demonstrate to each other how they fit together.

COVID Class Policies and Guidelines:

Face Masks

All members of the class (students, faculty, staff) are expected to wear face masks during class. If a student does not wear a mask, a faculty member will ask them to leave. If a student continues to not wear a face mask in future classes, a faculty member could dismiss (drop) them from the course.

Health Checking

Students, staff, and faculty are expected to complete a health self-assessment each day to check for symptoms of COVID-19. This assessment tool will be available as a Qualtrics survey.  Those experiencing COVID-19 symptoms should not attend an in-person course (see details below).

Reporting

Currently, only close contacts of positive COVID-19 cases will be notified. “Close contact” is defined as 15 or more minutes within 6 feet of another person. Since we will be at (or greater than) 6 feet, classes will not be automatically notified. We wish this were otherwise.  Consequently, we urge you to notify one of the instructors, who can then let alert the appropriate section without sharing your identity. We have also added an anonymous reporting method to the #covid Slack channel if you don’t want to identify yourself.

In-person course attendance

Each community member has an individual responsibility to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Following public health guidance is part of living in an honorable community.  If you are ill, self-isolating and/or quarantining due to possible exposure to coronavirus or to other infectious diseases, your in-person attendance in class is not required (and you will not be penalized for not attending in-person classes). The following recommendations should guide your decision to come to class:

• Self-isolation is the recommended course of action for anyone experiencing flu-like symptoms, whether due to possible coronavirus or to other illnesses.  Please stay at home if you feel sick, and most especially if you think you may have an infectious disease.
• You should not attend class if you have tested positive for COVID-19, or if you have received notification or advice from the college or a health professional (including HCC staff) to quarantine or self-isolate.
• The CDC suggests that people with the following symptoms may have COVID: fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea.  As always, please consult a medical professional (members of the HCC or otherwise) if you have any questions about your health or health safety.

To the extent that they are healthy and able, and do not pose a risk of infection to their classmates, students are expected to participate in-person. Students who are quarantining are expected to participate in remote course activities, which will be provided. Students who are self-isolating should participate in remote activities to the extent that their health allows.

If you need to miss a class, or series of classes, due to illness, self-isolation, and/or quarantine, you are responsible for emailing us to let us know as soon as possible.  You are also responsible for coordinating with us to complete work that you might miss due to absences. It can be challenging to catch up after some time out of class, so let’s collaborate to make a plan for getting up to speed.  

Students with disability-related attendance-accommodations (or any other kind of accommodation) should contact us individually to determine a plan for implementation.

Finally, please let us know right away about any technical issues you are having with respect to accessing material provided to you during a period away from in person class attendance.

Reading List

Week 1 – Introduction to the Course

September 1 (Tuesday section)/3 (Thursday section)

• Christakis, Nicholas A., and James H. Fowler. 2009. Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives. 1st ed. New York: Little, Brown and Co. Chapters 3-4, 6, and 9. (Purchased Book)
• Marin, Alexandra, and Barry Wellman. “Social Network Analysis: An Introduction.” In The SAGE Handbook of Social Network Analysis, edited by John Scott and Peter J. Carrington, 11–25. SAGE, 2011.
• Modeling the Spread of COVID-19 in UCLA Classrooms.    https://stack.dailybruin.com/2020/05/12/covid-model/.  Read entire article and also watch the short video at the bottom of the page titled, “The Making of The Stack’s COVID 19 Graphic”.

Optional good introductions

• Barry Wellman, "Structural analysis: from method and metaphor to theory and substance," pp. 19-61 in Wellman, Barry and S. D. Berkowitz, eds. 1988.  Social Structures: A Network Approach. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. (e-reserves linked on moodle)
• Pool, Ithiel De Sola, Manfred Kochen. 1978. “Contacts and influence.” Social Networks 1: 5-51 (through page 25) - early writing about social networks
• Scott, John. 2000. Social Network Analysis: A Handbook. London: Sage. Chapters 2-4 for history of social networks (On reserve)
• Emirbayer, M. 1997. "Manifesto for Relational Sociology." American Journal of Sociology103:281-317. (JSTOR) - another classic
• Wasserman and Faust.  Social Network Analysis.  Pages 3-22 and 55-59 in Chapter 1. (On reserve)
• Barabasi, Albert Laszlo.  2003.  Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means. New York: Plume.
• Blau, Melinda. “The Ascendance of Consequential Strangers.” In Consequential Strangers: The Power of People Who Don’t Seem to Matter-- but Really Do, 1st ed., xv–xxi, 1-27. New York: WWNorton & Co, 2009.

Week 2 - Origins of Network Theory

September 8 (Tuesday section)/10 (Thursday section)

• Simmel, Georg. 1908. “The Problem of Sociology.” In On Individuality and Social Forms: Selected Writings, 23–35. University of Chicago Press.
• ———. 1950. “The Triad.” In The Sociology of Georg Simmel, 145–69. Simon and Schuster.
• ———. 1955. “The Web of Group-Affiliations.” In Conflict and the Web of Group-Affiliations, 138–67. Free Press.
• Lynn, Freda, and Joel Podolny. 2011. “Homophily and the Focused Organization of Ties.” The Oxford Handbook of Analytical Sociology, January. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199215362.013.22.
• Victor, Jennifer Nicoll, Alexander H. Montgomery, and Mark Lubell. 2017. “Introduction.” The Oxford Handbook of Political Networks, August. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190228217.013.1. Pages 3-12, 22-29.

Lab

• De Nooy et al. Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek.  Chapter 1. SKIM Appendix 1 and 2 so that you are generally aware of the options in terms of the topics discussed.

Optional and/or for term paper purposes

• Bott, Elizabeth. 1955.  “Urban Families: Conjugal Roles and Social Networks”, Human Relations 8: 345-384. (e-reserves linked on moodle).
• Nadel, Siegfried. F. 1957. The Theory of Social Structure. London: Cohen and West. Chapters 1 and 6, or pages 1-19, 125-152.
• Wellman, Barry. 1979. "The Community Question: The Intimate Networks of East Yorkers." American Journal of Sociology Vol. 84, No. 5 (Mar., 1979), pp. 1201-1231 http://www.jstor.org/stable/2778222
• Feld, Scott. 1981. "The Focused Organization of Social Ties."  American Journal of Sociology , Vol. 86, No. 5 (Mar., 1981), pp. 1015-1035 http://www.jstor.org/stable/2778746

Week 3:  Local Networks

September 15 (Tuesday section)/17 (Thursday section)

• Marsden, Peter V. “Core Discussion Networks of Americans.” American Sociological Review 52, no. 1 (February 1987): 122. doi:10.2307/2095397.
• Bearman, P., and P. Parigi. “Cloning Headless Frogs and Other Important Matters: Conversation Topics and Network Structure.” Social Forces 83, no. 2 (December 1, 2004): 535–57. doi:10.1353/sof.2005.0001.
• Brashears, Matthew E. “Small Networks and High Isolation? A Reexamination of American Discussion Networks.” Social Networks 33, no. 4 (October 1, 2011): 331–41. doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2011.10.003. Follow-up to Marsden.
• DiPrete, Thomas A., Andrew Gelman, Tyler McCormick, Julien Teitler, and Tian Zheng. “Segregation in Social Networks Based on Acquaintanceship and Trust.” American Journal of Sociology 116, no. 4 (January 2011): 1234–83. doi:10.1086/659100. Long appendix, skip formulas.

Lab

• De Nooy et al. Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek,  Chapter 2.

Optional/Background Reading on Topic

• Wellman and Wortley. 1990." Different Strokes from Different Folks." American Journal of Sociology , Vol. 96, No. 3 (Nov., 1990), pp. 558-588  http://www.jstor.org/stable/2781064
• Theodore Caplow, “Christmas Gifts and Kin Networks,” American Sociological Review 47:383-92
• Moore, G. 1990. "Structural Determinants of Men's and Women's Personal Networks." American Sociological Review 55:726-35. (JSTOR)
• Claude Fischer.  To Dwell Among Friends. Chapters 1-3, 7-10, 12-16.

Further reading on the isolation-discussion networks debate

• McPherson, Miller, Lynn Smith-Lovin, and Matthew Brashears.  2006.  “Social Isolation in America: Changes in Core Discussion Networks over Two Decades”.  American Sociological Review 71: 353-375. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30038995
• Fischer, CS (2009) “Comment: The 2004 GSS Finding of Shrunken Social Networks: An Artifact?” Claude S. Fischer American Sociological Review 
• McPherson, Smith-Lovin, Brashears (2009) “Reply: Models and Marginals: Using Survey Evidence to Study Social Networks” (American Sociological Review)
• Paik, Anthony, and Kenneth Sanchagrin. 2013. “Social Isolation in America: An Artifact.” American Sociological Review 78 (3): 339–60. doi:10.1177/0003122413482919.
• Small, Mario Luis, Vontrese Deeds Pamphile, and Peter McMahan. 2015. “How Stable Is the Core Discussion Network?” Social Networks 40 (January): 90–102. doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2014.09.001.
• Small, Mario Luis. 2017. Someone To Talk To. 1 edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Week 4. Centrality

September 22 (Tuesday section)/24 (Thursday section)

• Short discussion of different measures here: http://www.analytictech.com/networks/centrali.htm
• Scott, John. “Popularity, Mediation and Exclusion.” In Social Network Analysis, 4th edition., 96–111. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2017.
• Baker, Wayne E., and Robert R. Faulkner. “The Social Organization of Conspiracy: Illegal Networks in the Heavy Electrical Equipment Industry.” American Sociological Review 58, no. 6 (December 1993): 837. doi:10.2307/2095954.
• Ehrenberg, Rachel. “Information Flow Can Reveal Dirty Deeds.” Science News, September 23, 2013. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/information-flow-can-reveal-dirty-deeds.
• Krebs, Valdis E. “Mapping Networks of Terrorist Cells.” Connections 24, no. 3 (2002): 43–52.
• Rossman, Gabriel, Nicole Esparza, and Phillip Bonacich. “I’d Like to Thank the Academy, Team Spillovers, and Network Centrality.” American Sociological Review 75, no. 1 (February 2010): 31–51. doi:10.1177/0003122409359164. For this article, try not to worry too much about understanding the full empirical models.

Lab

• De Nooy et al. Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek, Chap. 6.

Additional Readings that Deal with Centrality and its Mechanisms (Optional Background)

• More on organized crime networks:   Smith C.M., Papachristos A.V. Trust Thy Crooked Neighbor: Multiplexity in Chicago Organized Crime Networks. American Sociological Review. 2016;81(4):644-667.
• Wasserman and Faust, Chapter 5.
• Bonacich, Phillip.  1987.  “Power and centrality, a family of measures” The American Journal of Sociology. 5: 1170-1182. (JSTOR)
• Friedkin, N. E. 1993. "Structural Basis of Interpersonal Influence in Groups: A Longitudinal Case Study." American Sociological Review 58:861-72. (JSTOR)
• Friedkin, N. E. 1991. "Theoretical Foundations for Centrality Measures." American Journal of Sociology 96:1478-504. (JSTOR)
• Cook, Karen, Richard Emerson, Mary Gillmore, and Toshio Yamagishi.  1983.  “The Distribution of Power in Exchange Networks: Theory and Experimental Results” The American Journal of Sociology.  89(2): 275-305. (JSTOR)
• Feld, Scott. 1991. “Why your friends have more friends than you do?” American Journal of Sociology 96: 1464-1477. (JSTOR)
• Aldersen and Beckfield 2004. “Power and Position in the World City System” American Journal of Sociology 109:811-851 (JSTOR)

FIRST PROJECT DUE:  

Tuesday Section:  Wednesday, September 30, 2020 by 5pm

Thursday Section:   Friday, October 2, 2020 by 5pm

Week 5 - Brokerage and Structural Holes

September 29 (Tuesday section)/October 1 (Thursday section)

• Granovetter, Mark S. “The Strength of Weak Ties.” American Journal of Sociology 78, no. 6 (1973): 1360–80.
• Burt, Ronald S. “Structural Holes and Good Ideas.” American Journal of Sociology 110, no. 2 (2004): 349–399.
• THURSDAY SECTION only:  Burt, R. 1998.  "The Gender of Social Capital".  Rationality and Society. 
• Fernandez, Roberto M., and Roger V. Gould. “A Dilemma of State Power: Brokerage and Influence in the National Health Policy Domain.” American Journal of Sociology 99, no. 6 (1994): 1455–91.
• TUESDAY SECTION only:  Goddard, Stacie E. “Brokering Peace: Networks, Legitimacy, and the Northern Ireland Peace Process.” International Studies Quarterly 56, no. 3 (September 1, 2012): 501–15. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2478.2012.00737.x.

Lab

• De Nooy et al. Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek, Chapter 7.

Other Readings that Deal with Brokerage and its Mechanisms (Optional Background)

• Burt, R. Brokerage and Closure: An Introduction to Social Capital (Oxford University Press, 2005).  Chapter 1 and Chapter 3.
• Padgett, John F., and Christopher K. Ansell. 1993. “Robust Action and the Rise of the Medici, 1400-1434.” American Journal of Sociology 98: 1259-1319. (JSTOR).
• Blok, Anton. 1974. The Mafia of a Sicilian village, 1860-1960. A study of violent peasant entrepreneurs. New York: Harper & Row.
• Gould, Roger. 1989. “Power and Social Structure in Community Elites.” Social Forces 68: 531-552. (JSTOR)
• Gould, Roger V., and Roberto M. Fernandez. 1989. “Structures of Mediation: A Formal Approach to Brokerage in Transaction Networks.” Sociological Methodology 19: 89-126. (JSTOR)
• Lee, Nancy Howell (1969) The search for an abortionist. University of Chicago Press.
• Granovetter, Mark. (1974) Getting a job; a study of contacts and careers. Harvard University Press.   
• Brian Uzzi, “The Sources and Consequences of Embeddedness for the Economic Performance of Organizations: The Network Effect,” American Sociological Review 61:674-9

Week 6 – Relations through Associations

October 6 (Tuesday section)/October 8 (Thursday section)

• Burris, Val. “Interlocking Directorates and Political Cohesion among Corporate Elites.” American Journal of Sociology 111, no. 1 (2005): 249–283.
• Fernandez, Roberto M., and Doug McAdam. “Social Networks and Social Movements: Multiorganizational Fields and Recruitment to Mississippi Freedom Summer.” In Sociological Forum, 3:357–382. Springer, 1988.
• Montgomery, Alexander H. “Centrality in Transnational Governance: How Networks of International Institutions Shape Power Processes.” In The New Power Politics: Networks and Transnational Security Governance, edited by Deborah D Avant and Oliver Westerwinter. Oxford University Press, 2016.
• Wasserman, Stanley, and Katherine Faust. “Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications.” In Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications, 291–307. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Lab

• De Nooy et al. Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek, Chapter 5.

Background Reading on Duality (Optional)

• This is the article that Burris is riffing off of:  Mark S. Mizruchi, "What Do Interlocks Do? An Analysis, Critique, and Assessment of Research on Interlocking Directorates", Annual Review of Sociology , Vol. 22, (1996), pp. 271-298. 
• Cornwell and Harrison, 2004.  "Union Members and Voluntary Associations" 69: 862.
• Ronald Breiger, “The Duality of Persons and Groups,” Social Forces 53:181-90. (JSTOR)
• Moody, James. 2004. “The Structure of a Social Science Collaboration Network” American Sociological Review 69:213-264.  (JSTOR)
• Bearman, Peter S. 1991. “The Social Structure of Suicide.” Sociological Forum 6: 501-524. (JSTOR)
• Stephen P. Borgatti and Martin Everett, “Network Analysis of 2-Mode Data,” Social Networks 19:243-69
• Katherine Faust, “Centrality in Affiliation Networks,” Social Networks 19:157-91
• Georg Simmel, “The Web of Group Affiliations,” in his Conflict and the Web of Group Affiliations (Free Press, 1955)
• Lots of great work on director interlocks, such as that by Mizruchi:  Mizruchi, M.S. & L.B. Stearns. 1988. A Longitudinal Study of the Formation of Interlocking Directorates. Administrative Science Quarterly 33: 194-210. (JSTOR).
• McPherson, Miller.  1982.  “Hypernetwork Sampling.” Social Networks. 3(4):225-249.

Week 7 –   NO CLASS THIS WEEK

Week 8 - Social Capital

October 20 (Tuesday section)/October 22 (Thursday section)

Part 1:  Social capital as it relates to individuals and communities, facilitated by organizations

• Stack, Carol B. All Our Kin: Strategies For Survival In A Black Community. Basic Books, 2008. Chapter 2-4, 6 and 8 (Don’t worry, this is a quick read, and for all who have taken Intro Soc, a review). (Purchased Book)
• Small, Mario.  Unanticipated Gains. Pages 3-27 (Chapter 1) and pages 51-156 (Chapters 3-6).  The link to the ebook through the Reed College Library is here: https://catalog.library.reed.edu/permalink/f/13d334c/TN_cdi_askewsholts_vlebooks_9780199888856.

Part 2:  Social capital as it relates to civil society

• Putnam, Robert D. “Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital.” Journal of Democracy 6, no. 1 (January 1, 1995): 65–78. doi:10.1353/jod.1995.0002.

Lab

• In-class discussion of final project

Optional

• Sandra Susan Smith.  "'Don't put my name on it': (Dis)Trust and Job-Finding Assistance among the Black Urban Poor." American Journal of Sociology 111(1):1-57, 2005. Volume 5, No. 2, 2005.
• Berman, Sheri. “Civil Society and the Collapse of the Weimar Republic.” World Politics 49, no. 3 (1997): 401–29.
• Cranford, Cynthia.  “Networks of Exploitation: Immigrant Labor and the Restructuring of the Los Angeles Janitorial Industry .“ Social Problems Vol. 52, No. 3 (August 2005) (pp. 379-397)  (JSTOR)
• James S. Coleman, "Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital," American Journal of Sociology Supplement 94 (1988): S95-S120.
• Roberto M. Fernandez, Emilio J. Castilla, and Shyon Baumann, “Social Capital at Work: Networks and Employment at a Phone Center,” American Journal of Sociology 105:1288-1356
• Wejnert, Barbara. 2005. “Diffusion, Development, and Democracy, 1800–1999.” American Sociological Review 70: 53-81.
• Smilde, David. 2005. “A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Conversion to Venezuelan Evangelicalism: How Networks Matter.” American Journal of Sociology 111: 757-796.

Week 9 - Connectivity: Small Worlds

October 27 (Tuesday section)/October 29 (Thursday section)

• Travers, Jeffrey, and Stanley Milgram. “An Experimental Study of the Small World Problem.” Sociometry 32, no. 4 (December 1969): 425. doi:10.2307/2786545.
• Watts, Duncan.  "Network Dynamics and the Small World Problem"  AJS.  (Try to stick with it throughout the mathematics).
• Uzzi, Brian, and Jarrett Spiro. “Collaboration and Creativity: The Small World Problem.” American Journal of Sociology 111, no. 2 (2005): 447–504. doi:10.1086/432782.  (Application of small world dynamics).
• Kim Weeden and Benjamin Cornwell. 2020. “The Small-world networks of college classes: Implications for Epidemic Spread on a University Campus.”  Sociological Science.  
• Optional:  Barabasi, Albert-Laszlo. 2003. Linked: How Everything is Connected to Everything Else and What it Means for Business, Science, and Everyday Like.  Chapter 3 and 4 (pages 25-54).

Lab

• De Nooy et al. Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek, Chapter 13.

Additional Background Reading (Optional)

• Fleming, Lee, Charles King, and Adam Juda.  “Small Worlds and Regional Innovation” Organization Science. Vol 18. No. 6, pp 938-954.
• Killworth, Peter and HR Bernard.  1978. “The reverse small world problem”.  Social Networks 1:159-92.
• Newmann, M. E. J. 1999. Models of the Small World: A Review. Online: http://nicomedia.math.upatras.gr/courses/mnets/mat/Newman_Models_of_the_SW.pdf(online access via link).
• Rapoport, A. and W. J. Horvath. 1961. "A Study of a Large Sociogram." Behavioral Science 6:279-91.
• Amaral, L,A.N., Scala, A. Berthelemy M, and Stanley H, E.  2000.  Classes of small world networks.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.  97(2): 11149-11152.
• Lee, Nancy Howell. 1969. The search for an abortionist. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Esp. chapters 1, 5, and 8.
• Brudner, Lilyan A., and Douglas R. White. 1997. “Class, Property, and Structural Endogamy: Visualizing Networked Histories.” Theory and Society 26: 161-208. (JSTOR).
• M. E. J. Newman (2000) Who is the best connected scientist? A study of scientific coauthorship networks. Santa Fe Institute working paper 00-12-064.
• Watts, Duncan J. 1999. Small Worlds: The Dynamics of Networks between Order and Randomness. Princeton University Press.
• Pool, I. d. S. and M. Kochen. 1978. "Contacts and Influence." Social Networks 1:5-51.

Week 10 - Connectivity and Cohesion

November 3 (Tuesday section)/November 5 (Thursday section)

• Bearman, Peter S., James Moody, and Katherine Stovel. “Chains of Affection: The Structure of Adolescent Romantic and Sexual Networks.” American Journal of Sociology 110, no. 1 (July 1, 2004): 44–91. doi:10.1086/386272.
• Morris, Martina, and Mirjam Kretzschmar. “Concurrent Partnerships and the Spread of HIV.” AIDS 11, no. 5 (1997): 641–48.
• Mojola, Sanyu. “Fishing in Dangerous Waters: Ecology, Gender, and Economy in HIV risk” Social Science and Medicine, 2011. 72. 149-156.
• Moody, James, and Douglas R. White. “Structural Cohesion and Embeddedness: A Hierarchical Concept of Social Groups.” American Sociological Review 68, no. 1 (2003): pages 103–27, although the following are optional: 103-109 (end at Cohesive Blocking).

Lab

• De Nooy et al. Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek, Chapter 3.

Background Reading (Optional)

• Moody, James. “The Structure of a Social Science Collaboration Network: Disciplinary Cohesion from 1963 to 1999.” American Sociological Review 69, no. 2 (April 1, 2004): 213–38. doi:10.1177/000312240406900204.
• Erickson, Emily, and Peter Bearman. 2006. “Malfeasance and the Foundations for Global Trade: The Structure of English Trade in the East Indies, 1601–1833.” American Journal of Sociology 112: 195-230. (JSTOR).
• John Scott, Social Network Analysis, Chapter 6 (Purchased Book).
• Wasserman and Faust, Chapter 7 through to page 267  (book on reserve)
• Bearman, Peter, Robert Faris, & James Moody, "Blocking the Future" Social Science History 23:501-533.
• Frank, Ken and Jeffrey Yasumoto.  1998.  “Linking Action to Social Structure within a System: Social Capital within and Between Groups”, American Journal of Sociology. 104(3): 642-686. (JSTOR).
• Baker, Wayne. 1984. “The social structure of a national securities market”, American Journal of Sociology. 89(4): 775-811. (JSTOR).
• Klovdahl, A. S. 1985. "Social Networks and the Spread of Infectious Diseases: The AIDS Example." Social Science Medicine 21:1203-16.
• Moody, James.  2001.  “Peer influence groups: Identifying Dense Clusters in Large Networks”.  Social Networks. 23: 261-283.
• James R. Lincoln and Jon Miller, “Work and Friendship Ties in Organizations,” Administrative Science Quarterly 24:181-99
• Moody, James.  2001.  “Race, School Integration, and Friendship Segregation in America” American Journal of Sociology.

Week 11 - Roles and Structural Equivalence

November 10 (Tuesday section)/November 12 (Thursday section)

• Alderson, Arthur S., and Jason Beckfield. “Power and Position in the World City System.” American Journal of Sociology 109, no. 4 (2004): 811–851.
• Herman, Nancy J. “Conflict in the Church: A Social Network Analysis of an Anglican Congregation.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 23, no. 1 (March 1984): 60.
• Please consider the case you are doing for your term paper project.  Spend a moment or two jotting down some ideas about how principles of blockmodeling and structural equivalence could inform your project.  Do you have data (or will you have data) that would lend itself to blockmodeling techniques?  Describe in what way.

Lab

• De Nooy et al. Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek.  Read section 12.3 on the concept of structural equivalence [pp.322-325 only – skip the clustering application], then continue with sections 12.4-12.5 on blockmodels [pp.331-345].

Additional Background Reading (Optional)

• Padgett, John F., and Christopher K. Ansell. 1993. “Robust Action and the Rise of the Medici, 1400-1434.” American Journal of Sociology 98: 1259-1319. (JSTOR).
• Friedkin, N. E. 1984. "Structural Cohesion and Equivalence Explanations of Social Homogeneity." Sociological Methods and Research 12:235-61.
• Brieger, Ronald L. 1976. Career Attributes and Network Structure: A Blockmodel Study of a Biomedical Research Specialty American Sociological Review, Vol. 41: 117-135. (JSTOR).
• Burt, Ronald S. 1976. “Positions in Networks.” Social Forces 55: 93-122. (JSTOR).
• Bearman, Peter and Kevin Everett, “The structure of social protest, 1961-1983”  Social Networks, 15(2): 171-200. (linked here)
• John Scott, Social Network Analysis, Chapter 7 (Purchased Book).
• Michael, Judd H. 1997. “Labor Dispute Reconciliation in a Forest Products Manufacturing Facility.” Forest Products Journal; Madison 47 (11/12): 41–45.

Week 12.  Dynamic Networks, Diffusion, and Peer Influence

November 17 (Tuesday section)/November 19 (Thursday section)

• Moody, James, Daniel McFarland, and Skye Bender‐deMoll. “Dynamic Network Visualization.” American Journal of Sociology 110, no. 4 (January 1, 2005): 1206–41. Read pages 1206-1222. OPTIONAL.
• Christakis, Nicholas A., and James H. Fowler. “The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social Network over 32 Years.” N Engl j Med 2007, no. 357 (2007): 370–379.
• Aven, Brandy L. “The Paradox of Corrupt Networks: An Analysis of Organizational Crime at Enron.” Organization Science 26, no. 4 (August 2015): 980–96. doi:10.1287/orsc.2015.0983.
• Moody, James. “The Importance of Relationship Timing for Diffusion.” Social Forces 81, no. 1 (September 1, 2002): 25–56. doi:10.1353/sof.2002.0056.

Optional or further reading

• Powell, Walter.W., D.R. White, K.W. Koput, and Jason Owen‐Smith 2005. ―Network Dynamics and Field Evolution: The Growth of Interorganizational Collaboration in the Life Sciences.‖ American Journal of Sociology 100:1132-1205   (this paper has a really long appendix and is really about 60 pages).
• Craig M. Rawlings Daniel A. McFarland Linus Dahlander Dan Wang.  “Streams of Thought: Knowledge Flows and Intellectual Cohesion in a Multidisciplinary Era”.  Social Forces, Volume 93, Issue 4, 1 June 2015, Pages 1687–1722,https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/sov004
• Schaefer, David R., John Light, Laura D. Hanish, Carol L. Martin and Richard A. Fabes. 2010. “Fundamental Principles of Network Formation among Preschool Children.” Social Networks 32:61-71.
• Powell, Walter Kenneth Koput, and Laurel Smith-Doerr. 1996.  “Interorganizational Collaboration and the Locus of Innovation: Networks of Learning in Biotechnology.”  Administrative Science Quarterly 41: 116-45. (JSTOR).
• Stark, David, and Balazs Vedres.  2006.  “Social Times of Network Spaces: Network Sequences and Foreign Investment in Hungary”.  American Journal of Sociology. 111:1367-1411. (JSTOR).
• DiMaggio & Garip. “How Network Externalities can Exacerbate Intergroup Inequality” American Journal of Sociology 116:1887-1933.
• Centola, Damon. 2010. “The Spread of Behavior in an Online Social Network Experiment” Science 2010: 1194-1197.
• Abbott, Andrew, and Alexandra Hrycak. 1990. “Measuring Resemblance in Sequence Data: An Optimal Matching Analysis of Musicians' Careers.” American Journal of Sociology 96: 144-185.  (JSTOR).
• Stovel, Katherine. 2001. “Local Sequential Patterns: The Structure of Lynching in the Deep South, 1882-1930.” Social Forces 79: 843-880. (JSTOR).
• Akbar Zaheer, Giuseppe Soda. (2009) Network Evolution: The Origins of Structural Holes. Administrative Science Quarterly 54:1, 1-31
• Hughes et al (2009) “Power and Relation in the World Polity: The INGO Network Country Score, 1978-1998” Social Forces
• Christakis, Nicholas A. and Fowler, James H. 2008.  “The Collective Dynamics of Smoking in a Large Social Network” N Engl J Med 2008; 358:2249-2258.
• Klovdahl, A. S. 1985. "Social Networks and the Spread of Infectious Diseases: The AIDS Example." Social Science Medicine 21:1203-16.
• Stovel, Katherine, Michael Savage, and Peter Bearman. 1996. “Ascription into Achievement: Models of Career Systems at Lloyds Bank, 1890-1970.” American Journal of Sociology 102: 358-399. (JSTOR).
• Mayhew, Bruce H., and Roger L. Levinger. 1976. “On the Emergence of Oligarchy in Human Interaction.” American Journal of Sociology 81: 1017-1049.  (JSTOR).
• Schelling, Thomas. C. 1978. Micromotives and macrobehavior. New York, Norton.

Week 13 - Thanksgiving Break, no class

Week 14 - Presentations/final discussions (REMOTE)

December 1 (Tuesday section)/December 3 (Thursday section)

• Paper Presentations, No Reading Assigned

Further Reading: Critiques of Network Theories of Social Structure

Read the following, skimming sections of the articles that contain a review of network theory and methods that are already deeply familiar to you:

• Emirbayer, Mustafa, and Jeff Goodwin. 1994. “Network Analysis, Culture, and the Problem of Agency.” American Journal of Sociology 99: 1411-54. (JSTOR).
• Ann Mische. 2011. "Relational Sociology, Culture, and Agency" in The Sage Handbook of Social Network Analysis. 
• Pachucki and Breiger, 2010. "Cultural Holes: Beyond Relationality in Social Networks and Culture".  Annual Review of Sociology.  36:205-24.
• McFarland, Daniel, Kevin Lewis, and Amir Goldberg.  “Sociology in the Era of Big Data: The Ascent of Forensic Social Science”.  The American Sociologist.  March 2016, Volume 47, Issue 1, pp 12–35.  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12108-015-9291-8.
• OPTIONAL:  Scott, John. 2011. “Social Physics and Social Networks.” In The SAGE Handbook of Social Network Analysis, edited by John Scott and Peter J. Carrington, 55–66. SAGE.
• NOTE:  Respond to the articles and also feel free to bring in new critiques of your own, besides those of the authors. 

Additional Background Reading (Optional)

• Steven Brint, “Hidden Meanings: Cultural Content and Context in Harrison White’s Structural Sociology” Sociological Theory, 1992, 10:194-208; (JSTOR).
• Read also White’s reply: Harrison C. White, “Reply to Steven Brint,” Sociological Theory, 1992, 10:209-213 (JSTOR)
• Ann Swidler. 1986. “Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies,” American Sociological Review, 51:273-286. (JSTOR).
• Peter Hedstrom. 1998. “Rational Choice and Social Structure: On Rational Choice Theorizing in Sociology” in Social Theory and Human Agency, edited by Bjorn Wittrock.
• Big Data and Society: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2053951715602495

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Appendix: Getting to Know Slack

Background: In our course this semester we will also be making use of Slack, a message and discussion forum and hub for conversation, questions, comments, and related content to this course. The nice thing about Slack is that you can easily communicate from a mobile or computer application (or via a URL), and you do not have to go through the painful login to Moodle and navigating to the forums in order to share thoughts, gain or give advice on coding or software challenges, etc. Essentially, you can talk across platforms and reach others through the mechanism most convenient to them and you. Learning slack is also an important and marketable skill for many potential future jobs, and if you become familiar with it you can put that on your resume. We will discuss the nature of Slack, how to use it, and our collective rules regarding its use, in class. Our course slack webspace is https://2020fnetworks.slack.com/ We will invite you to join so please go through the motions to do so by putting in your preferred email address and choosing a name for yourself. Please choose a name that is related to what we call you in class (i.e. no nicknames, etc.).

Students use Slack to share information with one another and ask questions. We will be doing a lot of work manipulating data this semester and Slack will come in handy as you troubleshoot coding problems and issues you are having getting the software to work properly. We encourage you all to share helpful hints or to answer each other's questions about these types of things, although obviously answering lab problems for each other is not the goal! 😊 We might find ourselves using it a lot, or we may not. Each class will develop its own vibe. It will be what we make of it.

Download the app: Once you join the workspace you may download the software app for your laptop or phone and use the platform more easily from those applications. You may also continue to use it as a URL in a browser. It will prompt you to download the software and walk you through the motions of doing so.

Notifications: Slack can notify you when there are posts in the general community, and also when your specific name is mentioned. It will prompt you to enable these if you wish, and we recommend doing so.  Students that have the notifications enabled generally use it more than those that do not.

Forums and Direct Messaging: On Slack there is a #general and a #random channel to direct your comments and questions, and there are also two additional channels that are section-specific. Please post questions about course-relevant topics in the #general and points of interest about related but slightly off topic items in the #random channel.  If you are posting about software specific questions, the section-specific thread is probably best.  You can post to the forms directly through the app.   If you want to mention a specific user you can do so by typing @ before their user name.  You can also “direct message” others in the class and discuss things privately between you or a group of students. You'll see a “direct message” area for this.

Organization and Work Structure: In addition to text messages, Slack can post pictures and files, and code snippets. You can also use Slack to post notes to yourself in the “direct message” area for your name. You can do things like set a reminder (with the /remind command) and other helpful tools. For example, if you see something in Slack that you want to save for later - like an interesting message file or conversation - click the Show message actions icon, hover over Remind me about this and choose when you'd like Slackbot to remind you about the message.  If you type /remind, you'll get instructions on how to set a reminder.  (Such as: “/remind me to drink water at 3 p.m. everyday”). Play around and Google some of these if you're interested!

To Do:  After you have joined please post the following message so that we know you are with us and have at least figured out how to join and post! In the #general channel, please write a message with your name and at least three fun facts about you such as:

●          your favorite place in the world

●          your favorite food

●          your favorite color

●          your favorite type of music

●          your dream job

●          what you want to write your thesis about