Social Structure and Network Analysis

by Marsden, Peter V.; Lin, Nan

• ISBN13: 9780803918894
• ISBN10: 0803918895
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1982-06-01
• Publisher: Sage Pubns

Summary

Network analysis is being increasingly looked to as a means of understanding social structure. It can shed light on how individual actions create social structure, how social structure constrains the individual, and how attitudes and behaviour are determined by social structure. Articles by leading proponents of network analysis and structuralism examine how these methodological techniques and this theoretical approach can be applied to a variety of social phenomena. Written by some of the leading proponents of network analysis, this book will be welcomed by professionals in sociology and their students. Network analysis is a new approach to the study of social relations between people, which opens the way to a structural approach to the study of society. Original essays show how it has been applied in such fields as the sociology of science, social stratification, the sociology of mental health, and political sociology. Others are concerned with social networks and purposive action, and with the role of network analysis within social science.