Introduction

Craig M. Rawlings; Jeffrey A. Smith; James Moody; Daniel A. McFarland

doi:10.1017/9781139794985.001

1 - Introduction

Network Analysis Today

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 September 2023

James Moody and

Craig M. Rawlings: Affiliation:
Duke University, North Carolina
Jeffrey A. Smith: Affiliation:
Nova Scotia Health Authority
James Moody: Affiliation:
Duke University, North Carolina
Daniel A. McFarland: Affiliation:
Stanford University, California

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Summary

Stop. Take a moment to look around. What do you see? No matter where you are, you are likely perceiving a world consisting of things. Maybe you are reading this book in a coffee shop, and if so, you probably see people, cups, books, chairs, and so on. You see a world of objects with properties, yourself included: white cups are on wooden tables, people sitting in chairs are reading books and talking with one another. At the same time, you are a subject, responding to this world and actively bringing yourself and these objects into interrelation. And yet, the world of objects with properties that you are perceiving is but one slice of a complex reality.

Keywords

systems theory history of network analysis relational sociology network science

Type: Chapter
Information: Network Analysis
Integrating Social Network Theory, Method, and Application with R
, pp. 1 - 16

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139794985.001 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2023

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References

Suggested Further Reading

Barabási, Albert-László. 2002. Linked: The New Science of Networks, Cambridge MA: Perseus Press. (Provides an interesting systems-science foil for social science approaches. Barabasi, Watts, and Newman are key figures in the late 1990s rise of “network science” as distinct from social network analysis. See also Watts 2003; Newman 2018.)Google Scholar

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Light, Ryan, and Moody, James. 2020. The Oxford Handbook of Social Networks. New York: Oxford University Press. (A broad overview covering multiple contemporary topics by field experts.)Google Scholar

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Wellman, Barry. 1988. “Structural Analysis: From Method and Metaphor to Theory and Substance.” In Social Structures: A Network Approach, edited by Wellman, Barry and Berkowitz, S. D.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (A nice introduction to the what and why of networks.)Google Scholar

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Borgatti, Stephen P., Everett, Martin G., and Johnson, Jeffrey C.. 2018. Analyzing Social Networks. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Press. (Clear and concise methods text for applied network analysis; extended in 2022 in collaboration with Filip Agneessens to include direct instruction in R.)Google Scholar

Knoke, David, and Yang, Song. 2021. Social Network Analysis, 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. (The third edition of Knoke’s text [the first was in 1982], each with different collaborators. An excellent quick-start guide to applied network analysis.)Google Scholar

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