Social Network Analysis

With a new chapter on social media, new worked examples and better addressing the needs of the newcomer (whilst still remaining authoritative), this fourth edition continues to be an invaluable resource in introducing readers to the theories and techniques of social network analysis.

Incorporating the most important and cutting-edge developments in the field, this bestselling text introduces newcomers to the key theories and techniques of social network analysis and guides more experienced analysts in their own research.

New to This Edition:

• A chapter on data collection, covering a crucial phase of the research process
• Fully updated examples reiterate the continued importance of social network analysis in an increasingly interconnected world
• Detailed Further Reading sections help you explore the wider literature

• Practical exercises including real-world examples of social networks enable you to apply your learningExpanded and brought right up-to-date, this classic text remains the indispensable guide to social network analysis for students, lecturers and researchers throughout the social sciences.

  Autorentext
  John Scott is an Honorary Professor at the Universities of Essex, Exeter, and Copenhagen. He was formerly a professor of sociology at the Universities of Essex and Leicester, and pro-vice-chancellor for research at the University of Plymouth. He has been president of the British Sociological Association, Chair of the Sociology Section of the British Academy, and in 2013 was awarded the CBE for Services to Social Science. His work covers theoretical sociology, the history of sociology, elites and social stratification, and social network analysis. His most recent books include British Social Theory: Recovering Lost Traditions before 1950 (SAGE, 2018), Envisioning Sociology. Victor Branford, Patrick Geddes, and the Quest for Social Reconstruction (with Ray Bromley, SUNY Press, 2013), Objectivity and Subjectivity in Social Research (with Gayle Letherby and Malcolm Williams, SAGE, 2011).

  Inhalt

  What is Social Network Analysis?
  The data used in social network analysis
  Is there a network theory?
  An overview
  The History of Social Network Analysis
  The sociogram and sociometry
  Balance and group dynamics
  Informal organization and community relations
  Matrices and cliques
  Formal models of community and kinship
  Formal methods triumphant
  Getting by without the help of your friends
  Entry of the social physicists
  Data Collection for Social Network Analysis
  Asking questions
  Making observations
  Using documents
  Boundaries in relational data
  Positional and reputational approaches
  Does sampling make sense?
  Organizing and Analyzing Network Data
  Matrices and relational data
  Matrix conventions
  An analysis of directorship data
  Direction and value in relational data
  Computer programs for social network analysis
  Terminology for Network Analysis
  The language of network analysis
  More than joining up the lines
  The flow of information and resources
  Density of connections
  Density in egonets
  Problems in density measures
  A digression on absolute density
  Community structure and density
  Popularity, Mediation and Exclusion
  Local and overall
  Mediation and betweenness
  Centrality boosts centrality
  Centralization and graph centres
  The absolute centre of a graph
  Bank centrality in corporate networks
  Groups, Factions and Social Divisions
  Identifying subgraphs
  The components of a network
  The strength and stability of components
  Cycles and circuits
  The contours of components
  Cliques within components
  Intersecting social circles
  Components and citation circles
  Structural Locations, Classes and Positions
  The structural equivalence of points
  Clusters and similarities
  Divide and CONCOR
  Divisions and equivalence
  Regular equivalence in roles and functions
  Corporate interlocks and participations
  Social Change and Development
  Structural change and unintended consequences
  Small-world networks
  Modelling social change
  Testing explanations
  Visualizing and Modelling
  Taking space seriously
  Using multidimensional scaling
  Principal components and factors
  Non-metric methods
  How many dimensions?
  Worth a thousand words?
  Elites, communities and influence
  Business elites and bank power
  Notes
  Bibliography
  Index