Similarity breeds connection. This principle—the homophily principle—structures network ties of every type, including marriage, friendship, work, advice, support, information transfer, exchange, comembership, and other types of relationship. The result is that people's personal networks are homogeneous with regard to many sociodemographic, behavioral, and intrapersonal characteristics. Homophily limits people's social worlds in a way that has powerful implications for the information they receive, the attitudes they form, and the interactions they experience. Homophily in race and ethnicity creates the strongest divides in our personal environments, with age, religion, education, occupation, and gender following in roughly that order. Geographic propinquity, families, organizations, and isomorphic positions in social systems all create contexts in which homophilous relations form. Ties between nonsimilar individuals also dissolve at a higher rate, which sets the stage for the formation of niches (localize...

/pdf/birds-of-a-feather-homophily-in-social-networks-3kjmeyr23w.pdf

Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.2307%2F3343168.pdf

Development as Freedom

Firms compete for reputational status in institutional fields. Managers attempt to influence other stakeholders' assessments by signaling firms' salient advantages. Stakeholders gauge firms' relati...

What's in a Name? Reputation Building and Corporate Strategy

Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, we posited that environmental performance and economic performance are positively linked and that industry growth moderates the relationship, with the returns to environmental performance higher in high-growth industries. We tested these hypotheses with an analysis of 243 Finns over two years, using independently developed environmental ratings. Results indicate that “it pays to be green” and that this relationship strengthens with industry growth. We conclude by highlighting the study's academic and managerial implications, making special reference to the social issues in management literature.

/pdf/a-resource-based-perspective-on-corporate-environmental-o8uurv17d3.pdf

A Resource-Based Perspective On Corporate Environmental Performance And Profitability

Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge. Edited by I. Lakatos and A. Musgrave. Pp. viii, 282. £3·50, paperback £1. 1970. (Cambridge University Press.)

This article analyzes the development of racial and gender homophily in a population of 2,135 schoolchildren, grades 3-12, in all public schools in a biracial Southern community. Sociometric friendship nominations were used to examine changes in racial and gender segregation and preference. The results suggest that for these major status variables, the relationship between homophily and grade is curvilinear, first increasing because of increments in racial homophily from elementary to middle school (while gender homophily remains stable), then decreasing owing to the decline of gender homophily from middle school onward (while racial homophily remains stable). The findings are most consistent with theories that give the middle school a prominent role in shaping peer relations.

Friendship in School: Gender and Racial Homophily.

http://worldsci.net/ee/documents/professional_networks.pdf

Professional networks, scientific collaboration, and publication productivity in resource-constrained research institutions in a developing country

We examine the ways in which the research process differs in developed and developing areas by focusing on two questions. First, is collaboration associated with productivity? Second, is access to ...

/pdf/collaboration-paradox-scientific-productivity-the-internet-2tw99pme0n.pdf

Collaboration Paradox Scientific Productivity, the Internet, and Problems of Research in Developing Areas

An important, but relatively neglected, aspect of social stratification in modern societies is the reputational status associated with complex organizations in interdependent organizational fields. In this study, social factors influencing the reputational status of research organizations in large-scale, cognitively diverse, multisectoral "technical systems" are examined. Data are drawn from interviews with personnel from a national U.S. sample of 50 organizations engaged in research on nuclear-waste management and 47 organizations involved in photovoltaics research. The reputational status of each organization was assessed by knowledgeable respondents from other organizations in each system. A model is presented that characterizes reputational status as a function of organizational performance, organizational structure, and network position. Support is obtained for the model by the use of both subjective and objective indicators, including evidence of the mediating effects of network position. Further re...

Reputational Status of Organizations in Technical Systems

That critics mediate the relationship between artworks and publics has often been suggested but never adequately tested. Cultural capital arguments lead to the expectation that the mediation process operates differently for highbrow and popular genres, while the idea of cultural convergence does not predict such an effect. Data on 624 shows and 1,204 primary reviews from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe are used to investigate the relationship between reviewers' evaluations and audience attendance. The results show that positive reviews are associated with greater audience participation, net of other factors, but the effect is limited to highbrow performance genres such as theater. Critics do not have the power to "make or break" shows. The visibility provided by reviews is more important than their evaluative function. The findings support the idea that the operative aesthetics in popular and highbrow genres are distinct, and critics are important only in the latter.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2781380.pdf

Wesley Shrum

Papers

Friendship in School: Gender and Racial Homophily.

Professional networks, scientific collaboration, and publication productivity in resource-constrained research institutions in a developing country

Collaboration Paradox Scientific Productivity, the Internet, and Problems of Research in Developing Areas

Reputational Status of Organizations in Technical Systems

Critics and Publics: Cultural Mediation in Highbrow and Popular Performing Arts