Network Thinking

This module gives you a taste of network theorizing. We read and discuss a few classic papers.

Readings

Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American journal of sociology, 94, S95-S120.
Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American journal of sociology, 78(6), 1360-1380.
Burt, R. S. (2002). The social capital of structural holes. The new economic sociology: Developments in an emerging field, 148(90), 122.
Lin, N. (1999). Social networks and status attainment. Annual review of sociology, 25(1), 467-487. [just the main points]
DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American sociological review, 147-160. [the part before the propositions]
Uzzi, 1996. The Sources and Consequences of Embeddedness for the Economic Performance of Organizations: The Network Effect. American Sociological Review. [ the ethnographic part. Ignore the quant]
McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Cook, J. M. (2001). Birds of a feather: Homophily in social networks. Annual review of sociology, 27(1), 415-444.

Note to future Steve:

Supplementary readings

Centola, D. (2015). The social origins of networks and diffusion. American Journal of Sociology, 120(5), 1295-1338.
(handout) Mechanisms of Network Dynamics
Forrest R. Pitts, 1978/79. The Medieval River Trade Network of Russia Revisited. Social Networks 1:285-292 [pdf] [summary]
Coleman, J., Katz, E., & Menzel, H. (1957). The diffusion of an innovation among physicians. Sociometry, 20(4), 253-270.
Chen, H., Mehra, A., Tasselli, S., & Borgatti, S. P. (2022). Network dynamics and organizations: A review and research agenda. Journal of Management, 48(6), 1602-1660.
Granovetter, M. (2018). Economic action and social structure: The problem of embeddedness. In The sociology of economic life (pp. 22-45). Routledge.

From last week but still relevant:

Borgatti, S.P. & Halgin, D.S. (2011). On Network Theory. Organization Science. September/October 2011 22(5):1168-1181

Questions to think about

Handouts