Essays
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AIDS and Social Networks - Weinreb, Alexander
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. -
Applications of Selective Exposure and Attention to Information for Understanding Health and Health Disparities - Earl, Allison
In this essay, we discuss how social psychological work on selective exposure and attention can be used to understand information selection decisions in a health context. In particular, we begin with an overview of the selective exposure and attention literatures, including a summary of literature suggesting that people are more likely to seek out (selective exposure) and pay attention to (selective attention) information they agree versus disagree with. We then discuss various motives that may influence information selection and attention. Finally, we conclude with a summary of how the work on selective exposure and attention can be brought to bear on health message design and reduction of health disparities. -
Bringing the Study of Street Gangs Back into the Mainstream - Short Jr., James F.
Criminology's evolution, from early roots in sociology through claims of autonomy and specialization within the field, has become more global in its reach. Study of street gangs, once imbedded in sociology, has become a specialized field within criminology and more closely identified with law enforcement and control. The immediacy of control concerns had the effect of virtually removing gangs as a focus of the basic social and behavioral sciences, an effect exacerbated by law enforcement's primary focus on individual gang members, thus obscuring the importance of historical, organizational, and group contexts and processes that are associated with gangs and their behavior. Historical research, network and group process analyses, and studies of genocide and human rights violations suggest that the study of gangs by mainstream social and behavioral sciences is important to these sciences as well as for better understanding of gangs. Examples from recent studies, including our research agenda, are provided as a basis for optimism in this regard. -
Civic Engagement - Levine, Peter
Civic engagement is usually measured as a set of concrete activities, from voting to protesting, that individuals undertake in order to sustain or improve their communities. Higher rates of civic engagement generally correlate with desirable social outcomes. Education and socioeconomic status predict whether individuals participate, but programs that recruit and organize disadvantaged people are effective at boosting their civic engagement. Although it is valuable to know the causes and consequences of these behaviors, the ideal of civic engagement is intrinsically normative, connected to basic debates about what constitutes a good society and a meaningful human life. In the future, civic engagement research should not only be an empirical investigation into concrete behaviors but also a reorientation of research throughout the liberal arts to serve civic ends. That will require more fruitful combinations of empirical, normative, and strategic thinking. -
Close Friendships among Contemporary People - Brashears, Matthew E.
Do contemporary people have fewer friends than they used to? In this entry, we examine the research on strong tie networks, or networks containing people especially important to us, in order to provide a partial answer. We begin with a review of the methods employed to collect data on social network connections. We then summarize the literature on the size of Americans' social networks as well as change in this size over time. Finally, we conclude with an analysis of where the study of strong networks needs to go and some suggestions for getting it there. Overall, the research suggests that while strong networks have changed over the past 30–40 years, and may be smaller overall, people are no more isolated than they were in the past. -
Creativity in Teams - Thompson, Leigh L.
Organizations want to be more creative, but improving creativity remains an elusive process. We examine the study of creativity in teams and groups beginning with the intuitive assertion that teams are more creative than individuals and review decades of research that suggest otherwise: Individuals are actually more creative than their groups. We then focus on the key cognitive and social factors that thwart team creativity, such as conformity pressure, and highlight techniques for improving the creative performance of groups, such as brainwriting (rather than brainstorming), quantity goals (versus quality goals), and rotating (rather than stable) membership. We conclude with paradoxical tactics for and consequences of improving creativity. -
Crime and the Life Course - Warr, Mark
The introduction of the life‐course perspective to criminology brought about a conceptual realignment of the field. After recounting this history, we describe emerging research in criminology, point to some nagging unanswered questions, and suggest some new avenues for future research. -
Culture and Social Networks - Fuhse, Jan A.
Since the early 1990s, social networks and culture are increasingly seen as intertwined and studied in conjunction. This “cultural turn” of network research is based on the relational sociology of Harrison White and others. It links classical structuralism with cultural analysis. Three approaches to the linkage of culture and social networks can be distinguished: The first traces cultural developments, for example, in science or in art, to network constellations: collective identities arise out of densely connected networks; new styles emerge at the intersection of network clusters from the combination of previously unconnected repertoires. The second approach views social networks themselves as intricately interwoven with culture. Roles in a network (e.g., kinship roles) are built on culturally available blueprints (institutions). As are relationships that varyingly adopt relationship frames such as “love” or “patronage.” Styles and collective identities develop from network constellations and shape them in turn. The third approach analyzes culture itself as a network of symbols and concepts. Their meaning lies in the relations to other concepts and symbols. Network analyses of culture have frequently analyzed the meaning of role categories and of relationship frames, thus linking the three approaches. Areas of particular interest for going forward include research on micro‐events in networks, the interplay of networks with ethnic categories and cultural differences, and the role of networks in societal fields. -
Did That Brownie Do Its Job? Stress, Eating, and the Biobehavioral Effects of Comfort Food - Janet Tomiyama, A.
Comfort eating is a widespread behavior, but does it actually work? The purpose of this review is to provide a summary of the existing research on the potentially comforting effects of comfort food. We begin by summarizing the existing nonhuman animal research in this area, and then summarize the human research. On the basis of this foundational research, we provide a conceptual model of comfort eating that can be used as a hypothesis‐generating tool to guide future research. Finally, we highlight what we consider to be the most exciting future directions in comfort eating. These include (i) determining whether comfort eating is trait‐like or state‐like, (ii) understanding the antecedents and sequelae of comfort eating, (iii) elucidating the types of food implicated in comfort eating, (iv) creating linkages between comfort eating and comfort drinking, (v) incorporating measures of the autonomic nervous and immune systems in addition to the current focus on the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenocortical axis, (vi) studying both short‐term and long‐term effects, and (vii) testing the biological and psychological mechanisms of comfort eating. Given that comfort eating has been practiced for centuries, we conclude that the time is ripe to advance the science of comfort eating. -
Disability in a Global Context - Albrecht, Gary L.
Disability is a condition that directly involves over 15% of the global population with reverberations throughout every nation and level of society. The World Bank, World Health Organization, and Gates Foundation emphasize that this population has serious social and economic effects on the stability and development of nations and well‐being of individuals touched by disability. This essay places disability in a global context and details the foundational work in the field. Cutting edge research combining biomedical advances, smartphone and computer technology, robotics, artificial intelligence and analysis of social networks and cultural contexts, disability activism and agency, and physical, social, political, and economic environments are examined. Looking to the future, the essay explores the consequences of global population growth, migration, environmental changes, and increased demand for services and technological innovation on the world's disabled population, their social networks, and nations. Lastly, the importance of exploring global disability in all areas of the world while being open to similarities and differences is emphasized. -
Diversity in Groups - Fernandes, Catarina R.
Diversity has the potential to either disrupt group functioning or, conversely, be the source of collective creativity and insight. These two divergent perspectives pose a paradox that has held the attention of scholars for many years. In response, researchers have marshaled evidence to specify the conditions under which diversity leads to more positive outcomes and explain why it does so under these conditions. After describing these foundational perspectives and more recent work that addresses this paradox, we outline several promising directions for research in this domain. We encourage researchers to develop integrative theoretical explanations, use new technologies to gain insight into group processes, study diversity in the context of virtual interaction, and take advantage of opportunities for cross‐disciplinary research. -
Emerging Trends in Social Network Analysis of Terrorism and Counterterrorism - Knoke, David
A key issue in tracking transnational terror trends is the utility of social network analysis, both as a theoretical perspective and as a methodological toolkit, for understanding and assessing terror organizations, and for developing counterterror policies and practices to detect and disrupt terror attacks. Foundational efforts were case studies of particular groups or operations, culling data from newspaper reports and court trial documents, then creating matrix files for analysis with social network computer programs. Mathematicians, game theorists, and computer scientists are dramatically expanding research beyond foundational case studies of terrorist networks. Much of their work centers on devising strategies for counterterror organizations to destabilize clandestine organizations. They develop elegant and precise mathematical models and computer algorithms, then systematically change parameters to assess capabilities of detecting and disrupting terrorist activities under varying conditions. Key issues for future network research include: conducting rigorous comparative analyses of four historical waves of modern terrorism for clues about the present and future waves; building more comprehensive, cohesive, and integrated theoretical models capable of explaining the formation, structure, and consequences of terrorist networks; developing new methods of measuring network relations among terrorists; performing more laboratory experiments as an alternative to collecting inaccessible and dangerous field observation data; and creating large, high‐quality relational datasets to test social network theories of terrorism. -
Global Economic Networks - Bandelj, Nina
Globalization can be most concretely captured in an investigation of global economic networks. In this essay, we review foundational and cutting‐edge research on global economic networks, including economic ties that result from trade, investment, finance, and remittance relations between corporations and/or citizens from different nations; through flows of people due to migration and global tourism; and via international institutions that govern global economic exchange. We focus on research that examines the determinants and consequences of global economic ties from different theoretical perspectives, such as neoclassical economics, the world‐systems research, global commodity chains, regionalization, and world society perspective. We also review research that maps the structure of the global economy. We end by identifying promising venues for future research. -
Health and Social Inequality - Pescosolido, Bernice A.
The link between social cleavages and life chances has been a mainstay of sociology, social science, and public health's contribution to understanding well‐being, morbidity, and mortality. From early classic work to the most recent studies, inequality has been associated with the incidence and prevalence of disease, access to health care, and higher‐than‐expected death rates, even for infants. Importantly, these differences have been documented for individuals, for neighborhoods, and for nations. On all of these key indicators, there is a clear gradient, whether measured by socioeconomic status (SES), education, or even social networks. Recent work has restated and expanded the impact of inequality through the Theory of Fundamental Causes and a focus on “health disparities.” The latter targets group membership by race, ethnicity, and/or gender, to name a few social characteristics. However, challenges arise from pushing our understandings of the role of inequalities further as status configurations, for example, only proxy the social interactions, social conditions, and social experiences that produce inequality. New theoretical and empirical research also suggests that incorporating biology into our understanding of how social inequality translates into poor health, unequal treatment, and premature death can be done by synthesizing new visions of sociocultural embeddedness with biological embedding into a complex systems framework for health and health care research. This integration dismisses the “old silos” and calls for increased collaborations across the sociomedical sciences, medicine, and genetics. -
How Networks Form: Homophily, Opportunity, and Balance - Lewis, Kevin
Owing to rapid advances in available data and methods, social network analysis has recently been propelled into a new era: Instead of documenting patterns in static network structures, we are increasingly able to pinpoint the principles governing the evolution of these structures as well as how they emerged in the first place. In this essay, I trace the contours of this new trend. First, I describe foundational research on three mechanisms of network generation that have received particular attention in the literature: homophily, opportunity constraints, and structural balance. Next, I outline cutting‐edge research that has built on this foundation. In just the past several years, scholars have broadened prior approaches into larger, encompassing analytic frameworks; disentangled the various underlying processes that give rise to observed patterns in network structures; and distinguished between attribute‐driven network change and network‐driven attribute change—all largely thanks to advances in modeling tools that have overcome prior obstacles and enabled theoretical progress. Finally, I discuss three directions for future research. While recent scholarship has revolutionized our understanding of network dynamics, our grasp of how tie‐generating mechanisms operate and interact remains comparatively shallow; counterintuitive divisions exist between major sites of relational research and there remains much room for comparative work; and for all the promise of computational social science, there is risk that this movement will return us to the descriptive techniques of prior days but on a much larger scale. -
Immigrant Health Paradox - Markides, Kyriakos S.
With rising rates of immigration around the globe we have seen increased interest in the socioeconomic situation of immigrants as well as their health status and health care needs, and their impact on the host countries' health care system. Much of the research has focused on immigrants of non‐Western origin to the three traditional immigration destinations—the United States, Canada, and Australia. While earlier research was often focused on the negative impact of immigration on immigrants' health and mental health, research in the last couple decades has consistently found evidence of relatively good health among most immigrants especially “voluntary” immigrants from non‐Western origins to western nations, a finding often referred to as an immigrant health paradox. Most interest in immigrant health in the United States has focused primarily on immigrants from Latin America, especially Mexico. Immigrants tend to have better health and mortality profiles than the native born, especially from the same racial/ethnic group. While there are some exceptions to these findings, which we note in the current entry, the preponderance of evidence indicates that selection processes are pivotal for understanding the paradox. Sociocultural resources have also been implicated; however, most of this line of research is still underdeveloped. In the current investigation we outline (a) foundational research, (b) cutting edge research, and (c) key issues for future research. We argue that better health among immigrants is not necessarily paradoxical. Most “voluntary” immigrants arrive in their country of destination with good health and a positive outlook on life. However, the finding that longer stays in the United States deplete health likely reflects acculturation forces. More research is needed to more adequately capture acculturative stress processes, changes in lifestyle factors (smoking, diet, and exercise), and the sociocultural resources that protect immigrants from being vulnerable to premature mortality. -
Micro‐Cultures - Fine, Gary Alan
Although understanding the dynamics of culture through the examination of large‐scale social systems is important, culture is embedded in smaller systems as well. The exploration of micro‐cultures—also termed small group cultures or idiocultures—helps us to recognize that culture is cemented through the interaction of individuals with long‐term, ongoing relationships. Structure alone does not create social order, but requires a set of stable collective interpretations. But just as we examine how culture is organized through societies or institutions, we should see the role of culture in smaller units, including families, clubs, workgroups, and other gatherings. As a result, culture and meaning‐building emerges within group life and is spread through networks. Seeing culture as resulting from interaction emphasizes the role of talk and action as guarantors of social order and as building collective understanding. By focusing on micro‐cultures, social scientists emphasize the importance of the middle level of analysis between the self and structure: what has been termed the meso‐level of analysis. Micro‐cultures recognize that groups produce a self‐reflexive basis for the interaction order. Ultimately, social actors act in concert, producing shared lines of action and creating a tiny public that can then permit individuals to fit into larger social systems, including creating citizens within nation‐states. -
Parenting with Digital Devices - Davis‐Kean, Pamela E.
Parents have always faced challenges in managing the family environment. Within the past decade, these challenges have increased as digital devices and media have become more ubiquitous in the home. The issues faced by families include the appropriate age for children to interact with these devices, whether children's cognitive and social skills may be negatively impacted by the use of devices, and the role of parents in setting limitations and rules regarding the use of digital devices in the home. The use of digital devices may also have a positive influence on family management. Parents are now able to stay in contact with their children during the day, which helps in managing the time of children and parents. Social interactions with extended family members as well as with other children can be enhanced with digital devices and allows for visual contact with others. Unfortunately, there is little research that helps in advising families on how to manage digital devices in the home and how to accommodate the constant changes that occur in technology. The research itself has antiquated methods for assessing the role of digital devices in the lives of families and children. Thus, newer methods will need to be created in order to track how families are using digital devices to organize and manage their lives. There is a clear demand for more research on how technology is changing the family environment and that will be the challenge for the next decade of research. -
Self‐Fulfilling Prophesies, Placebo Effects, and the Social–Psychological Creation of Reality - Crum, Alia
In this essay, we pull together foundational research from the psychological, sociological, and medical sciences to illuminate the undeniable influence of the psychosocial context in constructing objective reality. From psychology, we review the growing body of research on how beliefs and expectations about common experiences (e.g., nutrition, stress, and aging) can fundamentally alter the impact of those experiences. From sociology, we review the role of social influence in constructing the quality and impact of cultural products and experiences. And from medicine, we review the neurological and physiological underpinnings of the placebo effect, a powerful demonstration of expectation and social context to produce physiological changes in the body. As we align evidence from these related—although currently disconnected—fields, we uncover important limitations from within each field of study and portray how an integrative approach can offer a more rich and comprehensive understanding of the phenomena underlying the social–psychological creation of reality. Combining foundational research with the interdisciplinary findings from our laboratory, we explore how psychological and social contexts can fundamentally alter the psychological, behavioral, and physiological effects of one of the most common human experiences: drinking water. To conclude, we present a series of questions and suggestions to assist and inspire further interdisciplinary collaboration. We offer a pathway for researchers to more frequently acknowledge, more thoroughly understand, and more effectively utilize the power of psychosocial influence to effect positive change in a number of disciplines including marketing, medicine, and public health. -
Sexual Behavior - Emery Thompson, Melissa
Research on human sexual behavior is a multidisciplinary pursuit that seeks to understand one of the most vital and complex aspects of our biology. Foundations for this study include the basic principles of sexual selection, including differential reproductive roles of male and female, and the processes of sexual differentiation. Study of human sexual behavior is made vastly more complex by emotional involvements and the diversity of sexual behaviors exhibited by our species. Historically, sex researchers have struggled to overcome the methodological challenges involved with objective study of behavior in our own species and with the ethical and political implications of their work. Early research focused on merely quantifying the spectrum of human sexual behaviors and on understanding the physiological and psychological processes of sexual response. Subsequent work developed the concept of gender and began to address how behavioral and corporeal manifestations of sex can diverge from one another. Modern studies incorporate a variety of advanced scientific techniques to investigate mechanistic and functional hypotheses for specific behaviors. This review highlights four prominent research topics, highlighting current understanding, cutting edge work, and key issues for future research: mate preferences, concealed ovulation, sexual coercion, and homosexuality. In each of these areas of research, there is strong evidence for biological influences on behavior. It is also clear that known biological mechanisms only partly explain actual behavioral patterns, suggesting strong mediation by cultural, environmental, and developmental processes. -
Social Network Analysis in the Study of Ethnic Inequalities - Kalter, Frank
Standard large‐scale survey designs and methods enabled integration research to progress far in recent decades, emphasizing especially the structural aspects of ethnic minorities' integration. To further increase our understanding, the role social aspects play in the complex process of integration merits more attention. Within this endeavor, network analytical designs and techniques provide a particularly promising complement to the standard empirical research agenda. Network analysis provides adequate measures for diverse subaspects of social integration and allows to tackle key open questions and issues, such as disentangling mechanisms of choice from those of opportunity structure or of selection from influence. The use of network analytical tools in integration research corresponds to the more general program of analytical sociology calling for a stronger weight of contexts and social interactions within the next generation of empirical research. While standard survey designs and data sets study integration processes pretty much as if actors behaved in isolation, integration is actually a heavily interactive and highly complex dynamic process. -
Social Neuroendocrine Approaches to Relationships - van Anders, Sari M.
Social neuroendocrinology is the study of social behaviors and hormones, using ultimate (evolutionary) and proximate (mechanistic) considerations, alongside social context. In this entry, two scholars from psychology and anthropology focus on social relationships (e.g., parenting, romantic relationships, sexual contacts) and both peptide (e.g., oxytocin, vasopressin) and steroid hormones (e.g., testosterone, estradiol, cortisol). Basic theoretical underpinnings of social neuroendocrinology are discussed, along with classic and cutting edge scholarship alongside newer theories. The challenges and promises of social neuroendocrine approaches to relationships are detailed, with an eye to the future of the discipline. -
Social Relationships and Health in Older Adulthood - Robles, Theodore F.
Older adults make up a larger proportion of the population and are living longer than in any time in previous history, which has important implications for their social relationships. This essay reviews key theory and research on changes in social networks over the lifespan, the benefits (and costs) of social relationships for physical health, and the health impact of loss of social relationships during older age. Methodological innovations are shedding new light on the specific biological mechanisms that explain how high and low quality social relationships can impact health, and we review these innovations in different contexts: marriage and loneliness. While social networks generally decrease in size across the lifespan, there is considerable potential for expanding social networks and forming new relationships in later life. However, the research literature on forming new friendships and intimate relationships in older adults is quite limited. Thus, this essay concludes by describing key issues and methodological challenges involved in studying new relationship formation in older adults. -
Social, Psychological, and Physiological Reactions to Stress - McEwen, Bruce S.
Emerging research examines biological processes not as primary causes of social outcomes but rather as mechanisms that themselves depend on social environments. In particular, environments that produce toxic stress help shape brain development and brain and body function throughout the lifespan. Early life stress, in particular, has serious consequences for life‐long health and affects cognitive performance, emotional intelligence, and self‐regulation. Because the brain is plastic, social as well as individual behavioral interventions can alter some of these developmental paths, modifying brain function and individual life trajectories—but with increasing difficulty as children become adolescents and adults. Now reflecting the new era of “epigenetics” and a life course perspective, this new view of stress, the brain, and social environments highlights the importance of the social, psychological, and biological sciences working together to elucidate underlying mechanisms both to expand knowledge and help promote a better society. -
The Micro–Macro Link in Social Networks - Stadtfeld, Christoph
Important questions in the social sciences are concerned with the link between micro‐level behavior and aggregate macro‐level outcomes. This essay proposes that studies of the micro–macro link in social systems can utilize conceptual representations and analytical strategies from the field of social networks. In particular, statistical network models and research strategies from agent‐based network modeling can be combined to investigate dynamics and the emergence of structure. An empirical case study illustrates how stochastic actor‐oriented models can be applied as empirically calibrated agent‐based simulations. The fruitfulness of this approach is demonstrated by a Schelling‐inspired case study on the emergence of segregation in social networks. It is shown that even individuals without homophilous preferences may find themselves in segregated structures due to the complex interaction of different network mechanisms. The example thereby illustrates how social networks can serve as a conceptual and analytical framework to study the micro–macro link in dynamic, interdependent, and multi‐mechanistic social systems.