COMM/SOCI 481 –
Social Networks
Spring, 2008
Thu 1:30-4:30
Prof. Keith Hampton
DESCRIPTION
Social network analysis is
the study of the patterns of social relations. Network analysis examines how
the structure of social relations allocates resources, constrains behavior, and
channels social change. It has applications in the study of friendship, communities,
social support, Internet use, organizational behavior, mental and physical
health, and the diffusion of information. This seminar takes a non-mathematical
approach to the study of network theories and methods. It is an introduction to
the fundamental concepts of social structure, including: network size, diversity,
density, centrality, multiplexity, frequency of contact, tie duration, and tie
strength. The course focuses on how network structure is related to everyday
life, such as health, access to social support, job attainment, and the spread
of information. Particular attention is given to the role of communications
media in facilitating interpersonal connectivity (face-to-face, telephone, and new
media), and the role of information and communication technologies (i.e. the
Internet) in social support. Students will critically examine empirical
studies, formulate theories of how networks influence behavior and how behavior
influences networks, and test theories through the use of network methods.
REQUIREMENTS
Seminar sessions will involve
intensive discussions of assigned readings. Final grades will be based on an
evaluation of 10 blog postings on the subject of the weekly course readings
(30%), 20 comments on other students’ blog postings (10%), four assignments (50%),
and class participation (10%). Students are urged to pay close attention to due
dates, late assignments will not be accepted.
A major component of the
course will involve the development and use of a personal blog. Students will
receive access to the necessary blogging software and will be provided with
basic instruction on how to maintain a blog. Students are not expected to have prior
experience with blogs.
Course readings and
participation: Students are expected
to have read the week’s readings in advance of the course meeting. Class
meetings will be in a seminar format and students should be prepared to
participate in a discussion based on the topic and readings of the week.
Blog Postings: Students are responsible for submitting short
commentaries on 10 of the weeks’ readings (300-500 words). Commentaries should focus
on all of the readings from each week and should consist of limited
summary; focusing on an evaluation of the readings and identifying 2-3
questions for discussion during the class meeting (focus on the papers’ key
issues, strengths and limitations, and a comparison to previous weeks’
readings). Each commentary should be submitted as a post to the student’s blog
by 8:00am on the Tuesday before the class meeting. To be clear, students
should post commentaries to their blog on the Tuesday before the topic is
discussed in class.
Blog Comments:
Each student is responsible for contributing comments to fellow students’
blogs. Comments should be a minimum of 125 words and offer a critique of that
week’s posting, seek clarification, compare or contrast postings, or provide
additional evidence or new information (such as a link to a related article,
website, etc.). Each student must contribute a minimum of 20 comments, credit
will be given for a maximum of two comments each week, students cannot
comment on the same blog more than three times over the duration of the course.
Comments must be posted by 8:00am on the day of class for posts related to
that week’s readings.
Assignments: Students are responsible for completing all four of the
following assignments. The following are intended as brief outlines of each
assignment, detailed instructions will be provided in class and supporting material
will be posted to the course blog.
1) The Small World of the University
(25%). Handout: January 31, Part 1 due: February 7, Part II in class on March
27, Part III due: April 24. Your goal is to get your folder to the target
person through the shortest chain of intermediaries. Following the instructions
in the assignment handout, start the chain by passing your folder to someone on
the Penn campus that you have had at least several conversations with outside
the classroom and who is more likely than you to reach the target person. Each intermediary
is instructed to return a postcard describing themselves. Part I (5%): Post a
commentary to your blog (500-750 words) addressing the questions and hypotheses
outlined in the assignment handout. Part II (5%) (in class): Meet with your
small group and compile the results using the group handout. Part III (15%): Post
a short paper to your blog (1250-2000 words) discussing the findings of your
individual project and the aggregated findings of your group, address the questions
and hypotheses you formulated in Part I.
2) Important Matters
(5%), Handout: February 7, Due: February 21. Listen to the radio interview
featuring Prof. Lynn Smith-Lovin (
3) Communication Diary
(10%), Handout: February 28, Due: March 27. Over the next week, track the
interactions you have with people using ‘new media’ (e.g., mobile phones and the
Internet). Addressing the questions in the assignment handout, write a blog
posting (1250-1750 words) discussing your findings. Bring the project handout
to class, meet with your small group, combine your results using the group
handout and make a short 10 minute group presentation explaining your findings.
4) Network Measures (10%),
Handout: March 20, Due: April 24. Administer the “important matters” name
generator, the “position generator,” and short demographic survey to 20 people.
Write a blog posting (1250-1700 words) discussing the interview process and
your findings.
COURSE MATERIALS
Handouts, information on
assignments, and other announcements will be available from the course blog:
http://www.mysocialnetwork.net/blog08/481/
COURSE OUTLINE
Week 1 (January 17) - Introduction and Organization
Week 2 (January 24) – What is Social Network Analysis? (NOTE:
NO CLASS!)
Wellman, Barry. 1999. The
Network Community: an Introduction. Pp. 1-48 in Networks in the Global Village, edited by Barry Wellman.
Freeman, L. C. (2000).
See you in the funny papers: Cartoons and social networks. Connections, 23(1),
32-42.
Munge, Peter and Noshir Contractor. 2003. Theories of Communication Networks.
Week 3 (January 31)
– Small World
Milgram, Stanley. (1967). The
Small-World Problem. Psychology Today 1:62-67
Gladwell, M. (1999). Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg. The New Yorker 74(41): 52-64.
Korte, C., &
Milgram, S. (1970). Acquaintance Networks Between Racial Groups. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 15(2), 101-108.
Kilworth, Peter, Christopher McCarthy, Russell Bernard
and Mark House. (2006). The Accuracy of Small World Chains in Social Networks. Social Networks 28(1): 85-96.
Watts,
Week 4 (February 7)
– Tie Strength.
Granovetter, Mark. (1973).
The Strength of Weak Ties. American
Journal of Sociology 78(6): 1360-1380.
Burt, Ronald. (1993). The Social Structure of Competition.
Pp. 65-103 in Explorations in Economic
Sociology, edited by Richard Swedberg.
McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Brashears, M. E.
(2006). Social Isolation in
Week 5
(February 14) – Community
Bott,
Fischer, Claude. (1982). To Dwell Among Friends.
Wellman, Barry, and Scot Wortley. (1990). Different
Strokes From Different Folks: Community Ties and Social Support. American Journal of Sociology 96(3):558-88.
Kalmijn, M. (2003).
Shared friendship networks and the life course. Social Networks, 25,
231-249.
Week 6 (February
21) – Network Size and Homophily.
McPherson, Miller,
Pearson, M., Steglich,
C., & Snijders, T. (2006). Homophily and assimilation among sport-active
adolescent substance users. Connections, 27(1), 47-63.
Hill, R. A., &
Dunbar, R. I. M. (2003). Social Network Size in Humans. Human Nature, 14(1),
53-72.
Killworth, Peter,
Eugene Johnsen, H Russell Bernard, Gene Ann Shelley, and Christopher McCarthy.
1990. Estimating the Size of Personal Networks. Social Networks 12:
289-312.
Week 7 (February
28) – Popularity, Centrality and
Prestige
Wasserman, S., & Faust, K. (1994). Chapter 6:
Centrality and prestige. In Social
Network Analysis: Methods and Applications.
Freeman, Linton. 1979. Centrality in Social Networks:
Conceptual Clarification. Social Networks
1: 215-39.
Krebs, V. (2002).
Uncloaking Terrorist Networks. First Monday, 7(4).
Valente, T., Unger,
J., & Johnson, A. (2005). Do popular students smoke? The association
between popularity and smoking among middle school students. Journal of
Adolescent Health, 37, 323-329.
Week 8 (March 6) –
Measurement
Zwijze-Koning, K.,
& Jong, M. D. T. d. (2005). Auditing Information Structures in
Organizations. Organizational Research methods, 8(4), 429-453.
Marin, Alexandra & Keith Hampton (2007).
Simplifying the Personal Network Name Generator: Alternatives to Traditional
Multiple and Single Name Generators. Field Methods 19(2), 163-193.
Lin,
van der Gaag, Martin and Tom .A.B. Snijders. (2005).
The Resource Generator: Social Capital Quantification with Concrete Items. Social Networks 27(1): 1-29.
Week 9
(March 13) – Spring Break (NO CLASS!)
Week 10 (March 20) -- Computer Networks as Social Networks I.
Kronholz , June (2003, February 13). After the Science
Fair: Dear World, Please Stop Writing Me: A Girl's E-Mail Experiment Clogs
In-Box for Weeks. The Wall Street Journal:
A1.
Wellman, Barry and Milena Gulia. 1999. Net-Surfers
Don’t Ride Alone: Virtual Communities as Communities. Pp. 331-366 in Networks in the Global Village, edited
by Barry Wellman.
Hampton, Keith & Barry Wellman (2003). Neighboring
in Netville: How the Internet Supports Community and Social Capital in a Wired
Suburb. City and Community 2(4),
277-311.
Baym, N., Zhang, Y. B., & Lin, M.-C. (2004).
Social Interactions Across Media: Interpersonal Communication on the Internet,
Telephone and Face-to-Face. New Media
& Society, 6(3), 299-318.
Mesch, Gustavo, & Talmud, Ilan. (2007). Similarity
and the Quality of Online and Offline Social Relationships Among Adolescents in
Week 11 (March 27) – Small World Assignment Part II
(ATTENDANCE MANDITORY!)
Week 12 (April 3) –
Computer Networks as Social Networks II.
Marks, Paul (2006, June 9). Pentagon sets its sights
on social networking websites. New
Scientist. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19025556.200
Ellison, N., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The
Benefits of Facebook ‘Friends:’ Social Capital and College Students’ Use of
Online Social Network Sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4).
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue4/ellison.html
Miyata, Kakuko, Boase, Jeffrey., & Wellman, Barry
(2008). The Social Effects of Keitai and Personal Computer E-mail in
Hampton, Keith, et al (forthcoming). WiFi and Public
Space, a Poor Interface? An Empirical Study of Wireless Internet Use and
Sociability.
Wellman, Barry (2001). Physical Place and
Week 13 (April 10) –
Search Process and Information Flow
Tepperman, Lorne. (1975). Deviance as a Search
Process. Canadian Journal of Sociology 1
(3): 277-294.
Rogers,
Markus, Lynne (1987). Toward a ‘Critical Mass’ Theory
of Interactive Media: Universal Access, Interdependences and Diffusion.
Communication Research 14(5): 491-511.
Metcalf, Bob (2006,
August 18). Guest Blogger Bob Metcalf’s Law Recurses Down the Long Tail of
Social Networks. VCMike’s Blog. Retrieved on January 1, 2007: http://vcmike.wordpress.com/2006/08/18/metcalfe-social-networks/
Week 14 (April 17) – Health
Cohen, S., Brissette,
Dickens, C.M., L. McGowen, C. Percival, J. Douglas, B.
Tomensen, L. Cotter, A Heagerty, and F.H. Creed. (2004). Lack of Close
Confidant, but not Depression, Predicts Further Cardiac Events After Myocardial
Infraction. Heart 90(5): 518-522.
Christakis, N.A. & Fowler, J.H. (2007). The Spread
of Obesity in a Large Social Network over 32 Years. The
Bearman, P. S., Moody,
J., & Stovel, K. (2004). Chains of Affection: The Structure of Adolescent
Romantic and Sexual Networks. American Journal of Sociology, 110(1),
44-91.
Week 15 (April 24) –
Social Inequality
Fernandez, Roberto and David Harris. (1992). Social
Isolation and the Underclass. Pp. 257-293 in
Drugs, Crime, and Social Isolation, edited by Adele Harrell and George
Peterson: The Urban Institute.
Marsden, Peter, and Jeanne Hurlbert. (1988). Social
Resources and Mobility Outcomes. Social
Forces 66:1038-1059.