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Showing papers on "Social change published in 2009"


Book ChapterDOI
02 Mar 2009
TL;DR: In this article, a course on the foundations of social theory, starting with the French and Scottish Enlightenments and the beginnings of a specifically sociological worldview, is presented, where the authors try to understand their theories not just as historical relics, but as living sets of ideas relevant to contemporary social issues.
Abstract: This course will deal with the foundations of social theory, starting with the French and Scottish Enlightenments and the beginnings of a specifically sociological worldview. We will then move on to Durkheim’s organic view of society, to Marx’s dialectical materialism, finishing with Weber’s Verstehen sociology and ideal types of authority. We’ll try to understand their theories not just as historical relics, but as living sets of ideas relevant to contemporary social issues. Class attendance and participation will be strongly encouraged, as will a critical engagement with the ideas presented in the class.

4,525 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors define social entrepreneurship and discuss its contributions to creating social wealth; offer a typology of entrepreneurs' search processes that lead to the discovery of opportunities for creating social ventures; and articulate the major ethical concerns social entrepreneurs might encounter.

2,136 citations


Book
16 Sep 2009
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose a new theory of institutional change that emphasises the distributional consequences of social institutions and explain the emergence of institutions as a byproduct of distributional conflict in which asymmetries of power in a society generate institutional solutions to conflicts.
Abstract: Many of the fundamental questions in social science entail an examination of the role played by social institutions. Why do we have so many social institutions? Why do they take one form in one society and quite different ones in others? In what ways do these institutions develop? When and why do they change? Institutions and Social Conflict addresses these questions in two ways. First it offers a thorough critique of a wide range of theories of institutional change, from the classical accounts of Smith, Hume, Marx and Weber to the contemporary approaches of evolutionary theory, the theory of social conventions and the new institutionalism. Secondly, it develops a new theory of institutional change that emphasises the distributional consequences of social institutions. The emergence of institutions is explained as a by-product of distributional conflict in which asymmetries of power in a society generate institutional solutions to conflicts.

1,399 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the relationship between social identity and symptom appraisal and response, health-related norms and behaviour, social support, coping, and clinical outcomes, and point out the capacity for a social identity approach to enrich academic understanding in these areas and to play a key role in shaping healthrelated policy and practice.
Abstract: The social environment comprising communities, families, neighbourhoods, work teams, and various other forms of social group is not simply an external feature of the world that provides a context for individual behaviour. Instead these groups impact on the psychology of individuals through their capacity to be internalised as part of a person’s social identity. If groups provide individuals with a sense of meaning, purpose, and belonging (i.e. a positive sense of social identity) they tend to have positive psychological consequences. The impact of these identity processes on health and well-being is explored in the contributions to this special issue. In this editorial, we discuss these contributions in light of five central themes that have emerged from research to date. These themes address the relationship between social identity and (a) symptom appraisal and response, (b) health-related norms and behaviour, (c) social support, (d) coping, and (e) clinical outcomes. The special issue as a whole points to the capacity for a social identity approach to enrich academic understanding in these areas and to play a key role in shaping health-related policy and practice.

991 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Recent growth of social media is not uniformly distributed across age groups; therefore, health communication programs utilizing social media must first consider the age of the targeted population to help ensure that messages reach the intended audience.
Abstract: Background: Given the rapid changes in the communication landscape brought about by participative Internet use and social media, it is important to develop a better understanding of these technologies and their impact on health communication. The first step in this effort is to identify the characteristics of current social media users. Up-to-date reporting of current social media use will help monitor the growth of social media and inform health promotion/communication efforts aiming to effectively utilize social media. Objective: The purpose of the study is to identify the sociodemographic and health-related factors associated with current adult social media users in the United States. Methods: Data came from the 2007 iteration of the Health Information National Trends Study (HINTS, N = 7674). HINTS is a nationally representative cross-sectional survey on health-related communication trends and practices. Survey respondents who reported having accessed the Internet (N = 5078) were asked whether, over the past year, they had (1) participated in an online support group, (2) written in a blog, (3) visited a social networking site. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify predictors of each type of social media use. Results: Approximately 69% of US adults reported having access to the Internet in 2007. Among Internet users, 5% participated in an online support group, 7% reported blogging, and 23% used a social networking site. Multivariate analysis found that younger age was the only significant predictor of blogging and social networking site participation; a statistically significant linear relationship was observed, with younger categories reporting more frequent use. Younger age, poorer subjective health, and a personal cancer experience predicted support group participation. In general, social media are penetrating the US population independent of education, race/ethnicity, or health care access. Conclusions: Recent growth of social media is not uniformly distributed across age groups; therefore, health communication programs utilizing social media must first consider the age of the targeted population to help ensure that messages reach the intended audience. While racial/ethnic and health status–related disparities exist in Internet access, among those with Internet access, these characteristics do not affect social media use. This finding suggests that the new technologies, represented by social media, may be changing the communication pattern throughout the United States. [J Med Internet Res 2009;11(4):e48]

964 citations


Book
21 Oct 2009
TL;DR: Asef Bayat as mentioned in this paper argues that popular imagination perceived the Muslim Middle East as unchanging and unchangeable, frozen in its own traditions and history, and argues that such presumptions fail to recognise the routine, yet important, ways in which ordinary people make meaningful change through everyday actions.
Abstract: Prior to 2011, popular imagination perceived the Muslim Middle East as unchanging and unchangeable, frozen in its own traditions and history. In Life as Politics, Asef Bayat argues that such presumptions fail to recognise the routine, yet important, ways in which ordinary people make meaningful change through everyday actions. First published just months before the Arab Spring swept across the region, this timely and prophetic book sheds light on the ongoing acts of protest, practice, and direct daily action. The second edition includes three new chapters on the Arab Spring and Iran's Green Movement and is fully updated to reflect recent events. At heart, the book remains a study of agency in times of constraint. In addition to ongoing protests, millions of people across the Middle East are effecting transformation through the discovery and creation of new social spaces within which to make their claims heard. This eye-opening book makes an important contribution to global debates over the meaning of social movements and the dynamics of social change.

945 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors distinguish social innovation from business innovation, and identify a subset of social innovations that require government support, and suggest one possible definition of social innovation and show that when its empirical meaning is distilled, the term is of great importance.
Abstract: The term ‘social innovation’ has come into common parlance in recent years. Some analysts consider social innovation no more than a buzz word or passing fad that is too vague to be usefully applied to academic scholarship. Some social scientists, however, see significant value in the concept of social innovation because it identifies a critical type of innovation. In this paper, we suggest one possible definition of social innovation and show that when its empirical meaning is distilled, the term is of great importance. We distinguish social innovation from business innovation, and identify a subset of social innovations that requires government support.

790 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors define entrepreneurship as efforts to bring about new economic, social, institutional, and cultural environments through the actions of an individual or group of individuals, and define it as "an attempt to create new economic and social, social and institutional environments".
Abstract: We define "entrepreneuring" as efforts to bring about new economic, social, institutional, and cultural environments through the actions of an individual or group of individuals. Thus, we view entr ...

629 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argue that more theoretical frameworks are needed for exploring the varieties of social change that entrepreneurship may bring about, and they also discuss what difference this would make in extant entrepreneurship perspectives, by reframing entrepreneurship as positive economic activity to social change.
Abstract: We engage in a critical theoretical exercise to extend the boundaries of entrepreneurship theory and research by reframing “entrepreneurship as positive economic activity” to “entrepreneurship as social change.” Reframing entrepreneurship through feminist analytical lenses, we argue that more theoretical frameworks are needed for exploring the varieties of social change that entrepreneurship may bring about. We also discuss what difference this would make in extant entrepreneurship perspectives. Theoretically, methodologically, and analytically, such reframing is the main contribution of this paper.

575 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Sex differences in prosocial behavior reflect the division of labor, which reflects a biosocial interaction between male and female physical attributes and the social structure.
Abstract: Prosocial behavior consists of behaviors regarded as beneficial to others, including helping, sharing, comforting, guiding, rescuing, and defending others. Although women and men are similar in engaging in extensive prosocial behavior, they are different in their emphasis on particular classes of these behaviors. The specialty of women is prosocial behaviors that are more communal and relational, and that of men is behaviors that are more agentic and collectively oriented as well as strength intensive. These sex differences, which appear in research in various settings, match widely shared gender role beliefs. The origins of these beliefs lie in the division of labor, which reflects a biosocial interaction between male and female physical attributes and the social structure. The effects of gender roles on behavior are mediated by hormonal processes, social expectations, and individual dispositions.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Sciiocultural environments are not static either in the developed or the developing world and therefore must be treated dynamically in developmental research.
Abstract: P. M. Greenfield's new theory of social change and human development aims to show how changing sociodemographic ecologies alter cultural values and learning environments and thereby shift developmental pathways. Worldwide sociodemographic trends include movement from rural residence, informal education at home, subsistence economy, and low-technology environments to urban residence, formal schooling, commerce, and high-technology environments. The former ecology is summarized by the German term Gemeinschaft ("community") and the latter by the German term Gesellschaft ("society"; Tonnies, 1887/1957). A review of empirical research demonstrates that, through adaptive processes, movement of any ecological variable in a Gesellschaft direction shifts cultural values in an individualistic direction and developmental pathways toward more independent social behavior and more abstract cognition--to give a few examples of the myriad behaviors that respond to these sociodemographic changes. In contrast, the (much less frequent) movement of any ecological variable in a Gemeinschaft direction is predicted to move cultural values and developmental pathways in the opposite direction. In conclusion, sociocultural environments are not static either in the developed or the developing world and therefore must be treated dynamically in developmental research.

01 Dec 2009
TL;DR: Paul P. Peterson as mentioned in this paper, "Resena del libro:======Politics in Time", History, Institutions and Social Analysis. New Jersey, 2004, p. 196 p.
Abstract: Resena del libro: Politics in Time. History, Institutions and Social Analysis. PAUL PIERSON. Princeton University Press. New Jersey, 2004. 196 p.

MonographDOI
01 Aug 2009
TL;DR: The authors revisited the original "Preschool in Three Cultures" to discover how two decades of globalization and sweeping social transformation have affected the way these three cultures educate and care for their youngest pupils.
Abstract: Published twenty years ago, the original "Preschool in Three Cultures" was a landmark in the study of education: a profoundly enlightening exploration of the different ways preschoolers are taught in China, Japan, and the United States. Here, lead author Joseph Tobin - along with new collaborators Yeh Hsueh and Mayumi Karasawa - revisits his original research to discover how two decades of globalization and sweeping social transformation have affected the way these three cultures educate and care for their youngest pupils. Putting their subjects' responses into historical perspective, Tobin, Hsueh, and Karasawa analyze the pressures put on schools to evolve and to stay the same, discuss how the teachers adapt to these demands, and examine the patterns and processes of continuity and change in each country. "Preschool in Three Cultures Revisited" artfully and insightfully illustrates the surprising, illuminating, and at times entertaining experiences of four-year-olds - and their teachers - on both sides of the Pacific.

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2009
TL;DR: The metaphor of growth and decline, gain and loss have often been employed to characterize change in structure or function of organisms over time as mentioned in this paper, and these metaphors have been used to describe and explain change over time.
Abstract: One of the enduring puzzles in the life sciences is the description and explanation of change over time. Such change is frequently called “development,” and the metaphors of growth and decline, gain and loss have often been employed to characterize change in structure or function of organisms over time. Cells, individuals, groups, and even social systems exhibit change over time. While most change is orderly, regular, and normative, some change is chaotic, irregular, and unpredicted. Growth or decline at the individual level often has antecedents or consequences at the collective group level.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Action research is also a meta-practice: a practice that transforms the sayings, doings, and relating that compose those other practices as mentioned in this paper, and it is composed of different kinds of action research as different ways of life.
Abstract: Action research changes people’s practices, their understandings of their practices, and the conditions under which they practice. It changes people’s patterns of ‘saying’, ‘doing’ and ‘relating’ to form new patterns – new ways of life. It is a meta‐practice: a practice that changes other practices. It transforms the sayings, doings and relating that compose those other practices. Action research is also a practice, composed of sayings, doing and relating. Different kinds of action research – technical, practical and critical – are composed in different patterns of saying, doing and relating, as different ways of life. This paper suggests that ‘Education for Sustainability’, as an educational movement within the worldwide social movement responding to global warming, may be a paradigm example of critical action research.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The complex role of collective identities in the development of intergroup biases and disparities, in interventions to improve orientations toward members of other groups, and in inhibiting or facilitating social action is explored.
Abstract: The present article explores the complex role of collective identities in the development of intergroup biases and disparities, in interventions to improve orientations toward members of other groups, and in inhibiting or facilitating social action. The article revolves around the common ingroup identity model, examining general empirical support but also acknowledging potential limitations and emphasizing new insights and extensions. It proposes that the motivations of majority group members to preserve a system that advantages them and the motivations of minority group members to enhance their status have direct implications for preferred group representations and consequent intergroup relations. In particular, the effects of majority group members' preferences for a common, one-group identity and minority group members' preference for a dual identity (in which differences are acknowledged within the context of a superordinate identity) are considered in terms of intergroup attitudes, recognition of unfair disparities, and support for social action.

Book
02 Dec 2009
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors establish an agenda for research and action built on an enhanced understanding of the relationship between climate change and the key social dimensions of vulnerability, social justice, and equity.
Abstract: Climate change is widely acknowledged as foremost among the formidable challenges facing the international community in the 21st century. It poses challenges to fundamental elements of our understanding of appropriate goals for social and economic policy, such as the connection of prosperity, growth, equity, and sustainable development. This volume seeks to establish an agenda for research and action built on an enhanced understanding of the relationship between climate change and the key social dimensions of vulnerability, social justice, and equity. The volume is organized as follows. This introductory chapter first sets the scene by framing climate change as an issue of social justice at multiple levels, and by highlighting equity and vulnerability as the central organizing themes of an agenda on the social dimensions of climate change. Chapter two leads off with a review of existing theories and frameworks for understanding vulnerability, drawing out implications for pro-poor climate policy. Understanding the multilayered causal structure of vulnerability then can assist in identifying entry points for pro-poor climate policy at multiple levels. Building on such analytical approaches, chapters three and four, respectively, consider the implications of climate change for armed conflict and for migration. Those chapters are followed by a discussion of two of the most important social cleavages that characterize distinct forms of vulnerability to climate change and climate action: gender (chapter five) and ethnicity or indigenous identity (chapter six), in the latter case, focusing on the role of indigenous knowledge in crafting climate response measures in the Latin American and Caribbean region. Chapter seven highlights the important mediating role of local institutions in achieving more equitable, pro-poor outcomes from efforts to support adaptation to climate change. Chapter eight examines the implications of climate change for agrarian societies living in dry-land areas of the developing world, and chapter nine does the same for those living in urban centers. Chapter ten considers the role of social policy instruments in supporting pro-poor adaptation to climate change; and it argues for a focus on 'no-regrets' options that integrate adaptation with existing development approaches, albeit with modifications to take better account of the ways in which climate variables interact with other drivers of vulnerability. Finally, chapter eleven turns to the implications of climate policy and action for forest areas and forest people.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the role of social movement organizations in altering organizational landscapes by undermining existing organizations and creating opportunities for the growth of new types of organizations, and investigate the impact of a variety of tactics employed by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) on two sets of organizations: breweries and soft drink producers.
Abstract: In this paper, we examine the dual role that social movement organizations can play in altering organizational landscapes by undermining existing organizations and creating opportunities for the growth of new types of organizations. Empirically, we investigate the impact of a variety of tactics employed by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), the leading organizational representative of the American temperance movement, on two sets of organizations: breweries and soft drink producers. By delegitimating alcohol consumption, altering attitudes and beliefs about drinking, and promoting temperance legislation, the WCTU contributed to brewery failures. These social changes, in turn, created opportunities for entrepreneurs to found organizations producing new kinds of beverages by creating demand for alternative beverages, providing rationales for entrepreneurial action, and increasing the availability of necessary resources.

Book
22 Jan 2009
TL;DR: The Iraq debate in British parliament as discussed by the authors was a seminal moment in the history of the UK's political debate on the Iraq war. But it was not a watershed moment in British political life.
Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. Context and social cognition 3. Context and society 4. Context and culture 5. Context and politics: the Iraq debate in British parliament 6. Conclusions.

Journal ArticleDOI
Kim McKee1
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the theoretical perspective of post-Foucauldian governmentality, especially the insights and challenges it poses for applied researchers within the critical social policy tradition.
Abstract: This article considers the theoretical perspective of post-Foucauldian governmentality, especially the insights and challenges it poses for applied researchers within the critical social policy tradition. The article firstly examines the analytical strengths of this approach to understanding power and rule in contemporary society, before moving on to consider its limitations for social policy. It concludes by arguing that these insights can be retained, and some of the weaknesses overcome, by adopting Stenson's realist governmentality approach. This advocates combining traditional discursive analysis with more ethnographic methods in order to render visible the concrete activity of governing, and unravel the messiness, complexity and unintended consequences involved in the struggles around subjectivity.

01 Jan 2009
TL;DR: A meta-analysis of 82 studies assessing the relationship between social value orientation (SVO) and cooperation in social dilemmas was conducted by as mentioned in this paper, where a significant and small to medium effect size was found (r =.30).
Abstract: This article reports a meta-analysis of 82 studies assessing the relationship between social value orientation (SVO) and cooperation in social dilemmas. A significant and small to medium effect size was found (r = .30). Results supported a hypothesis that the effect size was larger when participants were not paid (r = .39) than when they were paid (r = .23). The effect size was also larger in give-some (r = .29) as opposed to take-some (r = .22) games. However, contrary to expectations, the effect was not larger in one-shot, as opposed to iterated games. Findings are discussed in the context of theory on SVO and directions for future research are outlined.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper examined how students in a teacher preparation program with a social justice agenda understood the concept and how their understandings played out in practice, and found that teacher candidates focused on ensuring pupils' learning rather than merely boosting their self-esteem or spreading political ideologies.
Abstract: A particularly controversial aspect of teacher preparation is the increasing number of teacher preparation programs that emphasize “social justice” as part of the curriculum. This article examines how students in a program with a social justice agenda understood the concept and how their understandings played out in practice. Using interviews and observations, we show that teacher candidates focused on ensuring pupils’ learning rather than merely boosting their self‐esteem or spreading political ideologies, as critics of the social justice agenda suggest. In classrooms, candidates concentrated on teaching content and skills but also had a critical perspective, built on pupils’ cultural resources, and attempted to reach every pupil. We argue that teaching for social justice, or what we title “good and just teaching,” reflects an essential purpose of teaching in a democratic society in which the teacher is an advocate for students whose work supports larger efforts for social change.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: There has been an increased focus on social justice and educational leadership (Bogotch, Beachum, Blount, Brooks & English, 2008; Marshall & Oliva, 2006; Shoho, Mer... as discussed by the authors ).
Abstract: At the dawn of the 21st century, there has been an increased focus on social justice and educational leadership (Bogotch, Beachum, Blount, Brooks & English, 2008; Marshall & Oliva, 2006; Shoho, Mer...

Journal ArticleDOI
Ann Mische1
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss some of the reasons why the analysis of the future has been so neglected in sociological theory and research, and then sketch a possible framework for reincorporating it that specifies some cognitive dimensions of projectivity.
Abstract: How can we understand the social impact of cognitions of a projected future, taking into account both the institutional determinant.s of hopes and their personal inventiveness? How can we document the repercussions, often contrary to intentions, "back from" such projected futures to the production and transformation of social structures? These are some of the questions to be addressed by a cultural sociology that attempts to look seriously at the effects of a projected future as a dynamic force undergirding social change. In this essay I discuss some of the reasons why the analysis of the future has been so neglected in sociological theory and research, and then sketch a possible framework for reincorporating it that specifies some of the cognitive dimensions of projectivity. In the process, I will show how a focus on future projections can help us make a link between cognition and action in a manner that has so far been neglected in the sociological literature.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the issue of psychological empowerment in crowd events has important implications for both theory and practice, and the authors suggest how psychological empowerment and social change are connected through crowd action.
Abstract: The issue of psychological empowerment in crowd events has important implications for both theory and practice. Theoretically, the issue throws light on both intergroup conflict and the nature and functions of social identity. Practically, empowerment in collective events can feed into societal change. The study of empowerment therefore tells us something about how the forces pressing for such change might succeed or fail. The present article first outlines some limitations in the conceptualization of both identity and empowerment in previous research on crowd events, before delineating the elaborated social identity model of crowds and power. We then describe recent empirical contributions to the field. These divide into two areas of research: (1) empowerment variables and (2) the dynamics of such empowerment. We finally suggest how psychological empowerment and social change are connected through crowd action. We conclude with some recommendations for practice following from the research described.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Drawing on data from the 2003/2004 British Crime Survey and the 2006/2007 London Metropolitan Police Safer Neighbourhoods Survey, this paper suggests that people think about their local police in ways less to do with the risk of victimization and more toDo with judgments of social cohesion and moral consensus.
Abstract: Public confidence in policing is receiving increasing attention from UK social scientists and policy-makers. The criminal justice system relies on legitimacy and consent to an extent unlike other public services: public support is vital if the police and other criminal justice agencies are to function both effectively and in accordance with democratic norms. Yet we know little about the forms of social perception that stand prior to public confidence and police legitimacy. Drawing on data from the 2003/2004 British Crime Survey and the 2006/2007 London Metropolitan Police Safer Neighbourhoods Survey, this paper suggests that people think about their local police in ways less to do with the risk of victimization (instrumental concerns about personal safety) and more to do with judgments of social cohesion and moral consensus (expressive concerns about neighbourhood stability, cohesion and loss of collective authority). Across England and Wales the police may not primarily be seen as providers of a narrow sense of personal security, held responsible for crime and safety. Instead the police may stand as symbolic 'moral guardians' of social stability and order, held responsible for community values and informal social controls. We also present evidence that public confidence in the London Metropolitan Police Service expresses broader social anxieties about long-term social change. We finish our paper with some thoughts on a sociological analysis of the cultural place of policing: confidence (and perhaps ultimately the legitimacy of the police) might just be wrapped up in broader public concerns about social order and moral consensus.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors conceptualize social entrepreneurial discovery based on an extension of corporate social responsibility into social entrepreneurship contexts and develop a model that emphasizes mobilization and timing as underpinnings of social entrepreneurship discovery and offer distinct conceptual aspects and theoretic propositions.
Abstract: Social entrepreneurship activity continues to surge tremendously in market and economic systems around the world. Yet, social entrepreneurship theory and understanding lag far behind its practice. For instance, the nature of the entrepreneurial discovery phenomenon, a critical area of inquiry in general entrepreneurship theory, receives no attention in the specific context of social entrepreneurship. To address the gap, we conceptualize social entrepreneurial discovery based on an extension of corporate social responsibility into social entrepreneurship contexts. We develop a model that emphasizes mobilization and timing as underpinnings of social entrepreneurial discovery and offer distinct conceptual aspects and theoretic propositions instrumental to future social entrepreneurship research.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine how geography affects the different types of networks underlying social movements, and stress the contributions of place-based relations in social movements and assess how activist places connect to form social movement space.
Abstract: This essay examines how geography affects the different types of networks underlying social movements. The principal argument of the paper is that networks forged in particular places and at great distances play distinctive yet complementary functions in broad-based social movements. Not only does the articulation of these different types of networks result in complementary roles, but it also introduces key relational dynamics affecting the stability of the entire social movement. The purpose of the paper is therefore threefold: to provide a conceptual framework for interpreting the complex geographies of contemporary social movement networks, to stress the contributions of place-based relations in social movements and to assess how activist places connect to form ‘social movement space’.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors view networks as sociocultural structures and propose to view them as symbolic constructions of social relationships, including symbolic construction of persons and the application of social categories (like race or gender).
Abstract: This essay proposes to view networks as sociocultural structures. Following authors from Leopold von Wiese and Norbert Elias to Gary Alan Fine and Harrison White, networks are configurations of social relationships interwoven with meaning. Social relationships as the basic building blocks of networks are conceived of as dynamic structures of reciprocal (but not necessarily symmetric) expectations between alter and ego. Through their transactions, alter and ego construct an idiosyncratic “relationship culture” comprising symbols, narratives, and relational identities. The coupling of social relationships to networks, too, is heavily laden with meaning. The symbolic construction of persons is one instance of this coupling. Another instance is the application of social categories (like race or gender), which both map and structure social networks. The conclusion offers an agenda for research on this “meaning structure of social networks.”