Book contents
- Personal Networks
- Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences
- Personal Networks
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- I Background
- II Early Foundations
- 1 From Georg Simmel, “On the Significance of Numbers for Social Life: Introduction,” “The Isolated Individual and the Dyad,” “The Triad,” and “The Web of Group Affiliations”
- Georg Simmel’s Contribution to Social Network Research
- 2 From Elihu Katz and Paul F. Lazarsfeld, Personal Influence
- Influencers, Backfire Effects, and the Power of the Periphery
- 3 From J. Clyde Mitchell, “The Concept and Use of Social Networks”
- On J. Clyde Mitchell’s “The Concept and Use of Social Networks”
- 4 From Elizabeth Bott, “Urban Families: Conjugal Roles and Social Networks”
- Commentary on Bott’s “Family and Social Network”
- 5 From Leon Festinger, Stanley Schachter, and Kurt Back, Social Pressures in Informal Groups
- Festinger, Schachter, and Back’s Social Pressures in Informal Groups
- 6 From H. Russell Bernard, Peter Killworth, David Kronenfeld, and Lee Sailer, “The Problem of Informant Accuracy”
- Implications of Informant Accuracy Research for Ego Networks
- 7 From Harrison C. White, Identity and Control
- On Parachutes and Lion-Taming
- III Later Foundations
- IV New Perspectives
- Index
- Recent Books in the Series
- References
7 - From Harrison C. White, Identity and Control
from II - Early Foundations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 October 2021
Book contents
- Personal Networks
- Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences
- Personal Networks
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- I Background
- II Early Foundations
- 1 From Georg Simmel, “On the Significance of Numbers for Social Life: Introduction,” “The Isolated Individual and the Dyad,” “The Triad,” and “The Web of Group Affiliations”
- Georg Simmel’s Contribution to Social Network Research
- 2 From Elihu Katz and Paul F. Lazarsfeld, Personal Influence
- Influencers, Backfire Effects, and the Power of the Periphery
- 3 From J. Clyde Mitchell, “The Concept and Use of Social Networks”
- On J. Clyde Mitchell’s “The Concept and Use of Social Networks”
- 4 From Elizabeth Bott, “Urban Families: Conjugal Roles and Social Networks”
- Commentary on Bott’s “Family and Social Network”
- 5 From Leon Festinger, Stanley Schachter, and Kurt Back, Social Pressures in Informal Groups
- Festinger, Schachter, and Back’s Social Pressures in Informal Groups
- 6 From H. Russell Bernard, Peter Killworth, David Kronenfeld, and Lee Sailer, “The Problem of Informant Accuracy”
- Implications of Informant Accuracy Research for Ego Networks
- 7 From Harrison C. White, Identity and Control
- On Parachutes and Lion-Taming
- III Later Foundations
- IV New Perspectives
- Index
- Recent Books in the Series
- References
Summary
In the mid-1990s Harrison White was in the midst of his “linguistic turn,” which began with the publication of Identity and Control in 1992. During that period, he engaged like-minded scholars in discussions of time, identity, language and networks. Social ties, he argued, are not static entities, but rather are generated by reporting attempts amidst contending efforts at control. Since ties are multiple, fluid, and narratively constructed, he saw the new challenge for network analysis as understanding the link between temporality, language and social relations. I discuss the tension between formalization and hermeneutics in White’s work; he sought to put networks in motion, providing a theoretical framework for understanding the linguistic and discursive processes by which networks are constituted and transformed. Finally, I present four takeaways from Identity and Control that continue to resonate with social science research: (1) the ephemeral, contingent nature of “persons,” (2) the origins of social structure in intersecting struggles for stability and control: (3) the co-constitution of narratives and networks; and (4) the generativity of ambiguity in “getting action” amidst contests for control.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Personal NetworksClassic Readings and New Directions in Egocentric Analysis, pp. 185 - 198Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
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