Harrison C. White

Social Structure from Multiple Networks. I. Blockmodels of Roles and Positions

Networks of several distinct types of social tie are aggregated by a dual model that partitions a population while simultaneously identifying patterns of relations. Concepts and algorithms are demonstrated in five case studies involving up to 100 persons and up to eight types of tie, over as many as 15 time periods. In each case the model identifies a concrete social structure. Role and position concepts are then identified and interpreted in terms of these new models of concrete social structure. Part II, to be published in the May issue of this Journal (Boorman and White 1976), will show how the operational meaning of role structures in small populations can be generated from the sociometric blockmodels of Part I.

Structural equivalence of individuals in social networks

The aim of this paper is to understand the interrelations among relations within concrete social groups. Social structure is sought, not ideal types, although the latter are relevant to interrelations among relations. From a detailed social network, patterns of global relations can be extracted, within which classes of equivalently positioned individuals are delineated. The global patterns are derived algebraically through a ‘functorial’ mapping of the original pattern. Such a mapping (essentially a generalized homomorphism) allows systematically for concatenation of effects through the network. The notion of functorial mapping is of central importance in the ‘theory of categories,’ a branch of modern algebra with numerous applications to algebra, topology, logic. The paper contains analyses of two social networks, exemplifying this approach.

Social Structure from Multiple Networks. II. Role Structures

Role structures in small populations are given operational meaning as algebras generated from the sociometric blockmodels of Part I by Boolean multiplication (matrix multiplication employing binary arithmetic). Many different sociometric structures can yield the same algebraic multiplication table, which captures a different level of social structure. Elements of the algebras are interpreted concretely as compound roles, and interlock among these roles is studied through investigation of their algebraic properties (equations and inclusions). Similarities and differences among algebras from six case studies are explored by means of homomorphisms as well as by multidimensional scaling on a derivative numerical distance measure. Results for particular populations, including reliability and stability tests, are summarized through simple target tables reporting aggregations of more complicated role structures.

Price and Authority in Inter-Profit Center Transactions

Price and authority have traditionally been regarded as alternative social mechanisms for allocating resources. However, actual transactions-whether inter- or intrafirm-can be evaluated in terms of the extent to which they combine both of these mechanisms. An especially revealing example of this is the exchange of goods between two profit centers in the multi-profit center firm. Three of the most common arrangements, or transfer pricing polices, for effecting these transactions are examined here. Exchange autonomy transfers depend primarily on price, with no or minimal use of authority. Mandated full cost transfers involve a substantial exercise of authority relative to the use of price. Mandated market based transfers use both authority and price in important ways. For all three policies, the transaction costs of these internal transactions may exceed these costs on external transactions.

Networks and Meaning: Styles and Switchings

Zusammenfassung Der Aufsatz setzt Niklas Luhmanns Systemtheorie in Beziehung zur soziologischen Netzwerkanalyse, um Grundlagen für eine allgemeine Netzwerktheorie zu entwickeln. Er beginnt mit Luhmanns Diskussion von Sinn als einer zentralen Kategorie der Soziologie. Luhmanns Formulierung wird erweitert von einem Fokus auf die Dyade und doppelte Kontingenz hin zur Reichweite von Netzwerken und daher multipler Kontingenz. Während Kommunikations- und Handlungsaspekte von Sinn in Netzwerken ineinandergreifen, entflechtet der Aufsatz analytisch deren jeweils besondere Bedingungen und führt dabei die Konzepte Netdoms, Netdom Switching und Discipline ein. Netzwerktheorie lenkt damit den Blick auf das Zusammenspiel von zeitlichen, sozialen und interpretativen Dynamiken in der Konstitution und Verkettung von Sinnhorizonten. Darüber hinaus entfaltet der Aufsatz das Konzept »Style« als synkopierte Komplexität, um Luhmanns Top-Down-Ansatz bei der selbstreferentiellen Reproduktion von funktionalen Subsystemen zu ergänzen.

A Model of Robust Positions in Social Networks

This article introduces a network model that pictures occupants of robust positions as recipients of diversified support from durably located others and portrays occupants of fragile positions as dependents on tenuously situated others. The model extends Herfindahls index of concentration by bringing in the recursiveness of Bonacichs method. Using Newcombs study of a college fraternity, we find empirical support for the contention that fragility reduces future growth in status. Applications of the model to input-output networks among industries in the U.S. economy and to hiring networks among academic departments are also presented. Implications for future research are discussed.

Modeling discourse in and around markets

Abstract Each production market is socially constructed within relational networks across some population of firms. Profit maximization is sought by firms but only after footings of comparability are achieved among that set of firms which thereby constitute a market. This market mechanism adjusts to perceived contexts upstream and downstream. Discourse, written and oral, is principal medium of this social construction. How the mechanism works can be tested by tracing features of discourse. Indexical reflexivity provides basis for identifying market membership. Switch in orientation of a market between upstream and down is traceable through their characteristic packets of conventional stories, idioms. An explicit mathematical model relates substitutability in a market, and thence whether it is crowded, to the degree of overlap between customer bases, which is reflected in overlap of the respective registers in vocabulary and idiom.

Mobilizing Identities : Uncertainty and Control in Strategy

Some see the development and execution of strategy as necessarily driving outcomes of organizational activity, thereby ignoring counter-actions, stochastic disturbances and unintended consequences. We suggest an alternative to these deterministic assumptions based on a broader view of social organization and illustrated through case example. Strategy does imply some mobilization of network resources according to desired ends and projected events. Yet strategic action is also generated by some perturbation of a status quo ante and a decoupling from this slate of affairs. The central theoretical premise of the article is that any identity, as either an individual or grouping, emerges from persistent efforts to seek control in immediate and uncertain surroundings. Identities appear and evolve according to positions and movements among networks of social ties, which imply access to different sets of meanings. So distinct identities are triggered by disjunctions in social interactions and disruptions in the social or physical environment. And further levels of social organization are by-products. Anticipating deviations from established routine and coping with uncertain environments is the basis for strategic action. Strategies can be viewed as atlempts to secure a stable and lasting footing in an operating environment while simultaneously configuring organizational identities in line it strategic ends. Management in business, the military and fashion design supply case evidence.

Passages réticulaires, acteurs et grammaire de la domination

Harrison С. White : Netzubergange, Aktoren und Grammatik der Beherrschung. Getrennte Netze sind soziale Realisierungen in Form von Verbindungen zwischen verschiedenen kulturellen Gebieten, die ihrerseits erstarrte Schnitte der Aktionsorte sind. In diesem Aufsatz wird eine Naherung des soziokulturellen Prozesses erstellt, als Ubergange zwischen Netztypen deren Aktoren Unterprodukte sind. Es werden die verwirrten Beziehungen des Sozialen als Netz mit dem Kulturellen als « Doman » in der Definition des Umfeldes unterstrichen. Der Diskurs entsteht aus Beherrschungsstrukturen und erzeugt sie in solchen Prozessen, wobei er die Grammatik als Spur produziert.

Stayers and Movers

A new model for inheritance in intergenerational mobility is developed and related to mover-stayer models of intragenerational mobility. Application is made to data for the United States, Britain, and Denmark. Predictions are required to match observed proportions of men remaining in their origin strata and also the observed distribution of men among destination strata.