Introducing Social Networks (Introducing Statistical Methods series) (Paperback)

~ Mr Alain Degenne (Author), Michel Forse (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

`We highly recommend this book for those who need an introduction to network analysis but want more than a textbook and want to actually move directly into research and data analysis' - Bulletin de Methodologie Sociologique

`This book is a valuable addition. The social network area is so lively, important and distinctive that it needs a goodnew introductory book every few years....It packs a surprising amount of important material into a modest amount of space, and delivers the material with style' - Sociological Research Online

Product Description

This introduction to the study of social networks combines a hands-on manual with an up-to-date review of the latest research and techniques.

The authors provide a thorough grounding in the application of the methods of social network analysis. They offer an understanding of the theory of social structures in which social network analysis is grounded, a summary of the concepts needed for dealing with more advanced techniques, and guides for using the primary computer software packages for social network analysis.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd; 1 edition (August 9, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761956042
• ISBN-13: 978-0761956044
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #632,473 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A textbook on network analysis, April 18, 2003

By	Suckwoo Lee "cura_lee" (Seoul, Seoul South Korea) - See all my reviews

ItˇŻs now the fashion to use the network analysis in social sciences. Originated from sociology, itˇŻs easy to find the term of network in top class journals like ˇ®Strategic Management JournalˇŻ or ˇ®Research PolicyˇŻ. Alas, there are not many primers available on the market, however. ItˇŻs a weird thing. Without some decent introduction, you canˇŻt read even a piece of article which comes out in ˇ®Social NetworksˇŻ, the official journal of network analysis field. The network analysis might be the only sociological methodology which attains the level of economics in terms of the mathematical modeling. Almost all articles adopting network analysis tell the forms and contents of network in number. They use the dedicated applications, such as Ucinet or Structure, to compute and plot the networks, and test hypotheses. In doing so, they deploy idiosyncratic terminology which would baffles uninitiated novices. There are some textbooks like Wasserman and et alˇŻs ˇ®Social Network Analysis : Methods and ApplicationsˇŻ or ScottˇŻs ˇ®Social Network Analysis: A HandbookˇŻ. But they are dry and boring: terse description with no enlightening examples. In this regard this book is the absolute savior. This book has two strong features:
1. A plethora of example: textbook is expected to introduce neophyte to utterly unknown field. Writer should not assume the reader would have read or even hear of any part of the field. Of course, itˇŻs a daunting task. But there is some usual prescription: explain with real world examples. This book is full of examples from real field works done in France and America. Even if you canˇŻt figure out what the hell of that explanation of term, like multiplexity, equivalence, or centrality, at all, you can easily grasp the meaning and applicability of the term through lengthy examples from various researches.
2. Systematic organizing: The network analysis is not confined to drawing out the network structure (or graph). The real focus is always directed to the contents of the networks: What resources are flowing through the network? How is the community or clique structured? What is the impact of network position of individual node in that structure on the memberˇŻs behavior? To answer these questions, researcher, first, should map out the network structure. Ch.1 to 4 deals with the form of network (or, in the words of network analysis, network structure). And ch.5 to 8 tackles what kind of contents is expected in the network and how to evaluate them. With following chapter by chapter, you can capture how the network analysis could map out the social world and interpret it with not much difficulty. Network analysis is proposed not mere research methodology, but now the general theory of social world. So they prefer the term of structural analysis to the word of network analysis: they attempt to solve the dichotomy between the society and individual, or between integration and conflict with their own image of social world. After the fall of functionalism, a bunch of theorist has come and gone with bold claims that they have the answer to the conundrum. Such big names of Giddens and Bourdieu are the good example. GiddensˇŻ structuration theory gained popularity in this regard. But it has waned away. The problem is this: theoretical framework of structuration theory is gorgeous. But there is no key to where one should start the research at the real field. For example, the concept of power plays the organizing role in his grandiose framework to integrate all fragments he collected from various sources. The resulting profile is lovely and glowing. But the concept is too plastic or at worse elusive, when it comes to real work. Nobody would reject his conception of duality. But itˇŻs easier to be said than done in research. ItˇŻs no more than eclectic artifice. Here comes the structural analysis. I think the theoretical position of structural analysis is fully compatible with GiddensˇŻ (for example Nan LinˇŻs theoretical architecture). But itˇŻs more than that: it provides us with the unit of analysis, the network. This book is not displaying the level of theoretical sophistication of Nan LinˇŻs. But you could capture what the picture of social world the structural analysis would depict. This book is carefully constructed to introduce the reader to the social world the structural analysis depicts in the incremental cascading from personal network to total network, to network position, to power to global dynamic of total network.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dispersive, July 30, 2008

By	Luigi Russi ""prospective Ph.D. applicant... (Cuneo, Italy) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought this product as part of a research on small-world networks, since I wanted to gather some knowledge on social networks in sociology.
I put it aside after four chapters for the following reasons:

(1) the introduction is a "punch in the stomach", scaring readers with the use of heavy technical lingo;
(2) the other three chapters seem more of a recollection of empirical studies, doing little to offer a truly logical framework of reference.

I recognise it might be personal taste, and my disorientation might also be due to the fact that I am no sociologist (I am a law student). Still, what I would expect from an introductory text is less divagation, and a deeper focus on the actual concepts.
Now, I'm going for Social Network Analysis: A Handbook. The introduction, already, seems much more digestible than Degenne and Forsé's (in my opinion) poor effort.