AIDS and Social Networks
Title
AIDS and Social Networks
Author
Weinreb, Alexander
Adams, Jimi
Trinitapoli, Jenny
Research Area
The Individual and Society
Topic
Health and Illness
Abstract
During the past 30 years, research on the global AIDS pandemic and on social networks has coevolved. Insights from social networks literature have advanced our understandings of AIDS; simultaneously, key empirical insights from the AIDS literature have furthered the development of social network research—especially methodologically. We elaborate on this reciprocal relationship, identifying some of the key developments and future directions for research on AIDS and on social networks generally. From existing literatures, we discuss how (i) social networks analysis was central to early attempts to understand the spread of HIV through sexual and needle‐sharing relationships; (ii) subsequent prevention efforts leveraged similar insights to different ends; (iii) social networks have been crucial in understanding patterns of care for people living with HIV/AIDS; and (iv) the structural composition of networks across international, organizational, and individual levels highlights the epidemic's global implications in ways that extend far beyond epidemiology. We contend that future research must integrate recent developments from both fields in order advance understandings. Among these, we identify as most promising: (i) a move from static modeling approaches toward research emphasizing the dynamic properties of networks; (ii) a shifting focus from single networks in isolation (e.g., sexual transmission networks) to the analysis of multiplex networks (i.e., those involving multiple relationship types represented simultaneously); and (iii) an acknowledgment—conceptual and methodological—of the “vertical” embeddedness of networks. Continued advances in this area will require the gathering of high quality social network data specifically designed to address such questions.