Abstract
Social network analysis has a long history in sociology, but interest in this topic has broadened dramatically since 1995. This article reviews the origins and key concepts from the sociological literature on social networks, and outlines the network approach to economic behaviour (see Zuckerman J Econ Lit 46, 545–565, 2003 or White Markets from networks: Socioeconomic models of production. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002 for a broader vision of ‘economic networks’ not covered here due to space limitations). The central themes we trace relate to ‘social embeddedness’ and aggregation – how occupying different positions in complex networks enables and constrains action, as well as the resulting properties of global networks that arise from these actions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsBibliography
Baker, W. 1984. The social structure of a national securities market. American Journal of Sociology 89: 775–811.
Barabasi, A.-L., and R. Albert. 1999. Emergence of scaling in random networks. Science 286: 509–512.
Bearman, P., J. Moody, and K. Stovel. 2004. Chains of affection: The structure of adolescent romantic networks. American Journal of Sociology 110: 44–91.
Blau, P.M. 1964. Exchange and power in social life. New York: Wiley.
Blau, P.M. 1977. Inequality and heterogeneity: A primitive theory of social structure. New York: The Free Press.
Blau, P.M., and J.E. Schwartz. 1984. Crosscutting social circles: Testing a macrostructural theory of intergroup relations. Orlando: Academic.
Bowles, S., J.K. Choi, and A. Hopfensitz. 2003. The co-evolution of individual behaviors and social institutions. Journal of Theoretical Biology 223: 135–147.
Burt, R.S. 1992. Structural holes: The social structure of competition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Centola, D., R. Willer, and M. Macy. 2005. The emperor’s dilemma: A computational model of self-enforcing norms. American Journal of Sociology 110: 1009–1040.
Chase, I.D. 1980. Social process and hierarchy formation in small groups: A comparative perspective. American Sociological Review 45: 905–924.
Cohen, J.M. 1977. Sources of peer group homogeneity. Sociology of Education 50: 227–241.
Coleman, J.S., E. Katz, and H. Menzel. 1966. The diffusion of an innovation among physicians. Sociometry 20: 253–270.
Cook, K.S., R.M. Emerson, M.R. Gillmore, and T. Yamagishi. 1983. The distribution of power in exchange networks: Theory and experimental evidence. American Journal of Sociology 89: 275–305.
Davis, J.A. 1963. Structural balance, mechanical solidarity, and interpersonal relations. American Journal of Sociology 68: 444–462.
Durkheim, E. 1984. The division of labor in society. Trans. W.D. Halls. New York: The Free Press.
Feld, S.L. 1981. The focused organization of social ties. American Journal of Sociology 86: 1015–1035.
Granovetter, M. 1973. The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology 81: 1287–1303.
Granovetter, M. 1985. Economic action and social structure: The problem of embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology 91: 481–510.
Granovetter, M. 1992. Problems of explanation in economic sociology. In Networks and organizations: Structure, form and action, ed. N. Nohria and R.G. Eccles. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Handcock, M.S., Hunter, D.R., Butts, C.T., Goodreau, S.M., and Morris, M. 2003. Statnet: An R package for the statistical modeling of social networks. Funding support from NIH grants R01DA012831 and R01HD041877. Available at http://www.csde.washington.edu/statnet. Accessed 22 March 2007.
Holland, P., and J. Leinhardt. 1971. Transitivity in structural models of small groups. Comparative Group Studies 2: 107–124.
Johnsen, E.C. 1985. Network macrostructure models for the Davis–Leinhardt set of empirical sociomatrices. Social Networks 7: 203–224.
Johnsen, E.C. 1986. Structure and process: Agreement models for friendship formation. Social Networks 8: 257–306.
Keister, L.A. 2001. Exchange structures in transition: A longitudinal study of lending and trade relations in Chinese business groups. American Sociological Review 66: 336–360.
Lee, N.H. 1969. The search for an abortionist. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lin, N. 2002. Social capital: A theory of social structure and action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mare, R.D. 1991. Five decades of educational assortative mating. American Sociological Review 56: 15–32.
Marsden, P.V. 1987. Core discussion networks of Americans. American Sociological Review 52: 122–131.
McPherson, M., L. Smith-Lovin, and M.E. Brashears. 2006. Social isolation in America: Changes in core discussion networks over two decades. American Sociological Review 71: 353–375.
Moody, J. 1999. The structure of adolescent social relations: Modeling friendship in dynamic social settings. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina.
Moody, J. 2000. The importance of relationship timing for diffusion. Social Forces 81: 25–56.
Moody, J., and D.R. White. 2003. Social cohesion and embeddedness: A hierarchical conception of social groups. American Sociological Review 68: 103–127.
Morris, M. 1993. Epidemiology and social networks: Modeling structured diffusion. Sociological Methods and Research 22: 99–126.
Morris, M. 1995. Data driven network models for the spread of infectious disease. In Epidemic models: Their structure and relation to data, ed. D. Mollison, 302–322. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Morris, M. 2003. Local rules and global properties: Modeling the emergence of network structure. In Dynamic social network modeling and analysis, ed. R. Breiger, K. Carley, and P. Pattison. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Morris, M. 2004. Network epidemiology: A handbook for survey design and data collection, International Studies in Demography. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Morris, M., S. Goodreau, and J. Moody. 2008. Sexual networks, concurrency, and STD/HIV. In Sexually transmitted diseases, 4th ed, ed. K.K. Holmes, P.F. Sparling, W.E. Stamm, P. Piot, J.N. Wasserheit, L. Corey, M. Cohen, and H. Watts. New York: McGraw–Hill.
Morris, M., and M. Kretzschmar. 1997. Concurrent partnerships and the spread of HIV. AIDS 11: 641–648.
Myers, D.J. 2000. The diffusion of collective violence: Infectiousness, susceptibility, and mass media networks. American Journal of Sociology 106: 173–208.
Pool, I.D.S., and M. Kochen. 1978. Contacts and influence. Social Networks 1: 5–51.
Rogers, E.M. 1962. Diffusion of innovations. New York: The Free Press.
Simmel, G. 1908. In The sociology of Georg Simmel, ed. K.H. Wolf. New York: The Free Press, 1950.
Snijders, T.A.B.. 2001. The statistical evaluation of social network dynamics. Sociological Methodology 31: 361–395.
Snijders, T.A.B.., P.E. Pattison, G.L. Robins, and M.S. Handcock. 2006. New specifications for exponential random graph models. Sociological Methodology 36: 99–153.
Uzzi, B. 1996. The sources and consequences of embeddedness for the economic performance of organizations: The network effect. American Sociological Review 61: 674–698.
Uzzi, B. 1999. Embeddedness in the making of financial capital: How social relations and networks benefit firms seeking financing. American Sociological Review 64: 481–505.
Valente, T.W. 1995. Network models of the diffusion of innovations. Cresskill: Hampton Press.
Wasserman, S., and K. Faust. 1994. Social network analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Watts, D.J., and S.H. Strogatz. 1998. Collective dynamics of ‘small-world’ networks. Nature 393: 440–442.
White, H.C. 1963. Anatomy of kinship: Mathematical models for structures of cumulated roles. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
White, H.C. 2002. Markets from networks: Socioeconomic models of production. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Zuckerman, E.W. 2003. On networks and markets. Journal of Economic Literature 46: 545–565.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Moody, J., Morris, M. (2018). Social Networks, Economic Relevance of. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_2046
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_2046
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95188-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95189-5
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences