Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The concept of social networks finds its beginnings in the work of Georg Simmel. Simmel argued that a pure or formal sociology ought to take as its special focus the study of societal forms. Employing a geometric analogy, Simmel suggested that social forms can be identified and defined, thereby allowing the sociologist to group together a myriad of substantive phenomena under the broader or more abstract formal categories. But instead of geometric sides and angles, the essential elements comprising the forms for sociological analysis are simply human social interaction (or what Simmel called “sociation”). As Simmel (1950 : 22) explained, the societal forms “are conceived as constituting society (and societies) out of the mere sum of living men. The study of this second area may be called ‘pure sociology,’ which abstracts the mere element of sociation.” Building on Simmel and certainly going beyond him, the social networks approach is a type of structural sociology which emphasizes the relationships between social units (see Blau 1994 : 3–8). It was not until the 1930s that an explicit networks research agenda appeared, first in the guise of Jacob Moreno's sociometric studies (see, e.g., Moreno 1941 ) and later, for example, in Elizabeth Bott's (1957) study of the network characteristics of the family. The social units of network analysis can be persons, small groups, organizations, ... log in or subscribe to read full text