Book contents
- Personal Networks
- Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences
- Personal Networks
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- I Background
- II Early Foundations
- III Later Foundations
- 8 From Claude S. Fischer, To Dwell among Friends
- From the Northern California Community Study, 1977–1978, to the University of California, Berkeley, Social Networks Project, 2015–2020
- 9 From Mark S. Granovetter, “The Strength of Weak Ties”
- Strength of Weak Ties in the Labor Market: An Assessment of the State of Research
- 10 From Barry Wellman and Scot Wortley, “Different Strokes from Different Folks”
- A Network Pilgrim’s Progress: Twenty-Six Realizations in Fifty-Five Years
- 11 From James S. Coleman, “Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital”
- Three Decades of Research into Social Capital: Achievements, Blind Spots, and Future Directions
- 12 From Bernice A. Pescosolido, “Beyond Rational Choice”
- Confronting How People Cope with Crisis: From the Social Organization Strategy Framework to the Network Episode Model to the Network Embedded Symbiome
- 13 From Scott L. Feld, “The Focused Organization of Social Ties”
- Reflections on “The Focused Organization of Social Ties” and its Implications for Bonding and Bridging
- 14 From Ronald S. Burt, Structural Holes
- Structural Holes Capstone, Cautions, and Enthusiasms
- 15 From Edward O. Laumann, Peter V. Marsden, and David Prensky, “The Boundary Specification Problem in Network Analysis”
- On the Boundary Specification Problem in Network Analysis: An Update and Extension to Personal Social Networks
- 16 From Miller McPherson, Lynn Smith-Lovin, and James M. Cook, “Birds of a Feather”
- The Enormous Flock of Homophily Researchers: Assessing and Promoting a Research Agenda
- 17 From Robert Huckfeldt and John Sprague, “Networks in Context”
- Individuals, Groups, and Networks: Implications for the Study and Practice of Democratic Politics
- 18 From Nan Lin, “Building a Network Theory of Social Capital”
- Social Capital: An Update
- 19 On the General Social Survey
- IV New Perspectives
- Index
- Recent Books in the Series
- References
9 - From Mark S. Granovetter, “The Strength of Weak Ties”
from III - Later Foundations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 October 2021
Book contents
- Personal Networks
- Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences
- Personal Networks
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- I Background
- II Early Foundations
- III Later Foundations
- 8 From Claude S. Fischer, To Dwell among Friends
- From the Northern California Community Study, 1977–1978, to the University of California, Berkeley, Social Networks Project, 2015–2020
- 9 From Mark S. Granovetter, “The Strength of Weak Ties”
- Strength of Weak Ties in the Labor Market: An Assessment of the State of Research
- 10 From Barry Wellman and Scot Wortley, “Different Strokes from Different Folks”
- A Network Pilgrim’s Progress: Twenty-Six Realizations in Fifty-Five Years
- 11 From James S. Coleman, “Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital”
- Three Decades of Research into Social Capital: Achievements, Blind Spots, and Future Directions
- 12 From Bernice A. Pescosolido, “Beyond Rational Choice”
- Confronting How People Cope with Crisis: From the Social Organization Strategy Framework to the Network Episode Model to the Network Embedded Symbiome
- 13 From Scott L. Feld, “The Focused Organization of Social Ties”
- Reflections on “The Focused Organization of Social Ties” and its Implications for Bonding and Bridging
- 14 From Ronald S. Burt, Structural Holes
- Structural Holes Capstone, Cautions, and Enthusiasms
- 15 From Edward O. Laumann, Peter V. Marsden, and David Prensky, “The Boundary Specification Problem in Network Analysis”
- On the Boundary Specification Problem in Network Analysis: An Update and Extension to Personal Social Networks
- 16 From Miller McPherson, Lynn Smith-Lovin, and James M. Cook, “Birds of a Feather”
- The Enormous Flock of Homophily Researchers: Assessing and Promoting a Research Agenda
- 17 From Robert Huckfeldt and John Sprague, “Networks in Context”
- Individuals, Groups, and Networks: Implications for the Study and Practice of Democratic Politics
- 18 From Nan Lin, “Building a Network Theory of Social Capital”
- Social Capital: An Update
- 19 On the General Social Survey
- IV New Perspectives
- Index
- Recent Books in the Series
- References
Summary
Mark Granovetter’s 1973 “The Strength of Weak Ties” (SWT) is arguably the most influential paper in sociology. The great appeal of SWT is that it links micro-processes to macro patterns, yielding a provocative, non-obvious prediction. While mostly a theory paper combining insights from multiple research areas, he offered primary empirical evidence of SWT from his labor market research on how network processes affect job finding. My goal in this brief review is to assess the current state of knowledge in labor market studies of the SWT. I particularly focus on the progress that has been made toward bolstering the causal status of SWT theory in the labor market context. I highlight three theoretical and empirical challenges that have hampered progress in in this respect: the issue of baselines, the nature of the dependent variable, and the complexity of the causal chain. I conclude by discussing promising avenues for further research in this domain.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Personal NetworksClassic Readings and New Directions in Egocentric Analysis, pp. 240 - 250Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
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