Showing papers on "Social network published in 1979"

Social Network Analysis For Organizations

Abstract: This article introduces the social network approach — its origins, key concepts, and methods. We argue for its use in organizational settings and apply the network approach in a comparative analysis of two organizations.

The Two-Communities Theory and Knowledge Utilization:

Abstract: utilization in policy formulation is limited, the literature abounds with social scientists speculation about why the information they produce has little impact on policy matters. Either explicitly or implicitly, the most prevalent theory found in this literature may be characterized as the &dquo;Two-Communities&dquo; theory. Authors who hold this view attempt to explain nonutilization in terms of the relationship of the researcher and the research system to the policy maker and the policy-making system. They argue that social scientists and policy makers live in separate worlds with different and often conflicting values, different reward systems, and different languages. The social scientist is

Individuals and groups in social psychology.

Abstract: In a recent paper, Taylor & Brown have argued that, although research in social psychology needs to take into account the social context of social behaviour, the theories should aim at the explanation of individual behaviour. The present paper argues against this view as it applies to some important issues in social psychology. First, it is contended that the ‘individualistic’ bias of research in social psychology derives from the nature of the theories dominating the discipline. Second, a theory of inter-group behaviour is briefly outlined in order to show that its structure and aims are different in some important ways from the individualistic theories. The bias of these theories which is due to their assumption that social behaviour takes place inside homogeneous and unstructured social systems is illustrated using as examples the theory of belief similarity in prejudice and equity theory.

Child Development and Personal Social Networks.

Abstract: COCHRAN, MONCRIEFF M., and BRASSARD, JANE ANTHONY. Child Development and Personal Social Networks. CmLD DEVELOPMENT, 1979, 50, 601-616. In this article we use the framework of network analysis to assess the social ecology of the parent and child in relation to its possible effects upon child development. The personal social network is defined, and several routes of network influence transmission articulated. Access to direct assistance, the provision of childrearing controls, and the availability of role models are postulated as major processes through which this influence is transmitted. In a section about the direct influences of networks on parent and child we discuss cognitive and social stimulation, direct support, observational model, and opportunities for participation. This section is followed by one devoted to the developing child, where we place particular emphasis on the formation of reciprocal exchange skills. We then shift to a consideration of possible child developmental outcomes, both cognitive and social. The final sections of the paper include discussions of the key elements making up the personal network as a social system and proposed directions for future research.

Understanding Events: Affect and the Construction of Social Action

Abstract: Preface 1. Affect control and situated action 2. Affective reactions 3. Event construction and retroduction 4. Analysing social processes 5. Social roles 6. Current status of affect-control theory Appendix: Catalogues of social identities and interpersonal acts Notes References Index.

Cliques, clubs and clans

Abstract: In the analysis of social networks adequate concepts are necessary to indicate various types and configurations of social groups such as peer groups, coteries, acquaintance groups, etc. The problem has theoretically been argued convincingly by e.g. Kadushin (1968), who introduced the general concept of "social circle". In the actual empirical study of social networks there is therefore a need for adequate operational and analytically useful concepts to represent such more or less closely knit groups. Many of these can be developed with the help of the theory of graphs and networks. A well-known concept, more or less corresponding to that of the peer group is the clique: a group all members of which are in contact with each other or are friends, know each other, etc. However, similar concepts will be necessary to denote less closely knit, yet significantly homogeneous social groups, such as "acquaintance groups", where every pair of members, if they are not in mutual contact, have mutual acquaintances, or common third contacts, etc. In this latter type of social group an important aspect is brought out by the question of whether the homogeneity of a social group is due to its position in a larger social network in which it is embedded, or whether it is a property of the group itself as a more or less autarchic unit, independent of the surrounding social network. In the first case, for instance, a group may be as closely knit as an "acquaintance network",

Network Analysis in Organizational Settings

Abstract: This article sets out to reinforce andfurther develop an emerging paradigm: social network analysis, which represents social structure in terms of relationships (ties) between social objects. Not all the social objects are directly linked, and objects may be connected by multiple relationships of affect, influence, information, or goods and services. Network analysis deals with the types and patterns of relationships, and the causes and consequences of these patterns. The article applies the paradigm to the study of organizational structure by both developing theoretical constructs and presenting methodology for carrying out social network analysis in organizations. An analysis of three organizations from the Aston Study is presented using social network analysis to test propositions about differences between mechanistic and organic structures.

Exploring Social Psychology

Abstract: Preface. About the Authors. 1. The Field of Social Psychology: How We Think About and Interact with Others. 2. Social Perception and Social Cognition: Internalizing Our Social World. 3. Attitudes: Evaluating the Social World. 4. The Social Self: Personal and Social Identities. 5. Prejudice and Discrimination: Understanding their Nature, Countering their Effects. 6. Relationships: From Attraction to Parting. 7. Social Influence: Changing Others' Behaviour. 8. Helping and Harming: Prosocial Behaviour and Aggression. 9. Groups and Individuals: The Consequences of Belonging. 10. Applied Social Psychology: Health, Work, and Legal Applications References. Name Index. Subject Index. Credits.

Contemporary social psychology in historical perspective.

Abstract: This paper presents an assessment of the current state of social psychology in the light of its historical and social context. The discipline is viewed as a social system, and an attempt is made to show how the properties of this system have influenced the research techniques, substantive content, and theories of contemporary social psychology. It is suggested that the field's basic mission should be defined as the attempt to understand how society influences the cognition, motivation, development, and behavior of individuals and, in turn, is influenced by them. It is proposed that this definition provides a basis for integrating all of social psychology, including its two main subdivisions and several areas of specialization. The entire history of social psychology as a field of empirical research extends over a period of only approximately eighty years. And since most of its growth has occurred within the past four decades, it is largely the product of scholars who are still active in the field. In this paper, I would like to draw upon my own experience as a social psychologist over the past

The child and its family

Abstract: Introduction: Issues in the Study of the Social Network.- 1 The Child's Social Network: Social Object, Social Functions, and Their Relationship.- 2 The Infant as a Focus for Family Reciprocity.- 3 Conceptualization of Father Influences in the Infancy Period.- 4 The Infant's Exposure to Talk by Familiar People: Mothers, Fathers, and Siblings in Different Environments.- 5 The Family as a System of Mutual Influences: Parental Beliefs, Distancing Behaviors, and Children's Representational Thinking.- 6 Self-Recognition in Chimpanzees and Man: A Developmental and Comparative Perspective.- 7 Only Children, Stereotypes, and Research.- 8 Interaction between Young Siblings in the Context of Family Relationships.- 9 Toddlers + Toys = An Autonomous Social System.- 10 The Effect of Adults on Peer Interactions.- 11 Differential Development of Various Social Relationships by Rhesus Monkey Infants.- 12 Young Children's Concepts of Social Relations: Social Functions and Social Objects.- 13 The Changing American Family and Its Implications for Infant Social Development: The Sample Case of Maternal Employment.- Author Index.

Family treatment approaches to drug abuse problems: a review.

Abstract: This review covers the literature that has emerged specifically on the family treatment of drug abuse problems. Following a brief discussion of patterns and structures prevalent in drug-abusing families, 68 different studies or programs (discussed in 74 papers) are compared as to their techniques and results. These are categorized within the following modalities: marital treatment, group treatment for parents, concurrent parent and identified patient treatment, treatment with individual families (both inpatient and outpatient), sibling-oriented treatment, multiple family therapy, and social network therapy. A table presents the various studies, along with the types of results they provide. Outcomes are contrasted for the 14 studies that quantified their results. The final section presents implications for the following areas: treatment activities (clarification of technique, family recruitment, direction and effectiveness of treatment, confidentiality, and treatment delivery systems), training, prevention, and future research (outcome, technique and responsibility). It is concluded that family treatment for drug abuse is gaining widespread acceptance and shows considerable promise for dealing effectively with problems of this type.

The Place of Knowledge in Social Work Activity

Abstract: This study considers whether a small sample of social workers was using theoretical knowledge as a basis for activities in practice. The findings indicate that the use of this type of knowledge was minimal. They also bring to light a number of questions related to the development of knowledge for use in social work practice.

Social networks and schizophrenia.

Abstract: This article begins with an introduction to social networks research and its practical importance in the understanding and treatment of schizophrenia, and concludes with a consideration of the experience, the phenomenology, of schizophrenia, from a social network point of view.

The Child’s Social Network: Social Object, Social Functions, and Their Relationship

Abstract: The infant enters into the world. It is a social world full of conspecifics, a small segment of which shares his gene pool, a larger segment who will influence him, and, finally, the largest segment that forms the background in which these other interactions will take place. The smallest segment we call the family, the larger, his friends, acquaintances, and peers, and the largest segment, the culture. The people who populate the child’s world are many and the behavior they direct toward the child varied. In order to explore the child as a member of its social group or network, it is necessary to explore some ideas concerning the social objects and social functions of the child’s world.

Clinical use of network analysis for psychiatric and aged populations

Abstract: Despite a recent renewal of interest in natural community support networks and self-help groups, there currently exist no systematic therapeutic approaches for working with network systems. Over the past two decades advances in the field of social network analysis have laid the groundwork for its conversion to a clinical tool. This paper illustrates how network analysis can provide quantitative and qualitative data useful in therapeutic interventions and agency planning decisions.

Young Children’s Concepts of Social Relations: Social Functions and Social Objects

Abstract: As a consequence of the growing interest in social development, there has been a recent increase in concern for considering the social network of young children, both from the perspective of what children and infants actually do as well as what they believe. Although most emphasis has been placed on the mother-child relationship, it has recently become clear that even during infancy, children enthusiastically interact with a variety of people in their environments. Moreover, children’s initiations and responses to the different people—for example, to mothers, fathers, strange adults, or brothers or sisters, and younger, older and same-age peers_become patterned early in life (see, for example, Lewis, Young, Brooks, & Michalson, 1975). Clearly, almost all young children form lasting relationships with people besides their primary caretakers and make distinctions between people, which has the consequence of allowing them to vary their behavior toward a wide array of people, both those who are familiar as well as those who are strangers. Unfortunately, not much is known about the overall organization of these social relationships of young children. There are at least two different ways of understanding that organization. The first way is from a systems perspective, that is, analyzing the structure and operation of the networks in which the children are involved.

From the Study of Social Mobility to the Study of Society

Abstract: The numerous contemporary and historical studies of social mobility over the past several decades have often turned mobility into an object of study by itself. This had led to certain characteristic problems with occupational classification and the meaningful interpretation of mobility rates. A solution to these problems lies in using the study of social mobility as just one source for understanding social structure and social change. An extended example of such an approach is undertaken by examining the place of small shopkeepers in the occupational structure of mid-19th-century Frankfurt am Main.

Differential Development of Various Social Relationships by Rhesus Monkey Infants

Abstract: The social network of the infant is one of ever-expanding complexity in a number of respects. Far from being a tabula rasa, the typical neonate enters its postnatal world equipped with substantial perceptual capabilities and behavioral predispositions, and it rapidly becomes the focus of widespread social activity by those within its immediate environment. Few contemporary developmental researchers would argue with the view that in the succeeding weeks, months, and years, the infant’s perceptual systems become considerably more sophisticated, its behavioral repertoire expands enormously, and its cognitive capabilities increase qualitatively as well as quantitatively. Those arguments that do exist tend to deal instead with the degree to which such advancement is a function of the “normal” maturation of the infant’s brain and CNS, as opposed to a function of the infant’s interaction with its social and nonsocial environment. Perhaps as a result of this continuing controversy, models of social development involving either one or, to a growing extent, both of these sets of factors have become increasingly sophisticated in recent years (e.g., Sameroff, 1975).

Graph theory as a structural model in cultural anthropology

Abstract: The aims of this review are to indicate the diversity of applications and some of the specific and general advantages of graph theory as a structural model in cultural anthropology. The review also considers some problems of appli­ cation, extensions of the model, and concepts of potential empirical signifi­ cance. For convenience of exposition the format is based on graph theoretic rather than anthropological topics. Graph theory is a branch of mathematics concerned with the analysis of structures consisting of points joined by lines. It is related to such fields as matrix theory, set theory, combinatorics, and topology. It has been used as a model in the physical and, much more recently, the social sciences. Anthropological interest stems primarily from social network studies where it has been recommended as a metalanguage for the description of structure (4, 72). There are, however, also applications to such topics as belief systems, semantic and task structures, mythology, and cultural change. An important advantage of graph theory, which largely accounts for its intuitive appeal, is that it contains a means for the depiction of structure ( 17).1 Thus in an early application, Conklin (22) found it helpful to repre­ sent land utilization sequences as a directed graph in order to see ideal and

Toward a New Definition of Health: An Overview

Abstract: Recent developments in medicine, in mental health, and in the social sciences have called attention to the fact that the concepts “disease” and “health” can no longer be adequately defined in purely medical terms of the presence or absence of “symptoms.” We know, for example, that disease may exist in the absence of observed symptoms; that the incidence of disease in human groups is influenced by such demographic characteristics as age, social class, ethnicity, place of residence; and that the very labels “disease” and “health” are culturally determined. Similarly, we know that to promote the health of its people, society must do more than treat known diseases. It must upgrade environmental and social conditions, enable people to live a healthier, less stressful life-style, and focus on promoting the well-being of the “whole person” in the context of his social network.

Agency Function and Social Work Principles

Abstract: The concept of agency function is examined in relation to the nature of the social work task. It is often the case that agency function is seen more as a problem for social work and not as one of its characteristics. It is argued in this paper that the agency itself is not responsible for the apparently delicate state of present day social work, but that on the contrary, the failure to appreciate social work's relationship to society and social processes in part accounts for its uncertain condition.