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***** To join INSNA, visit http://www.insna.org *****
I fully agree with Emanuela. For me, starting from ethnographic fieldwork
And building up from there via grounded theory to see networks and then
learning quantitative network techniques by working on the comparative
US/Germany/Japan project with Knoke and Pappi, I have the grounded
perspective as my ground of learning about networks. That view constantly
raises very profound issues about how humans really interact in very complex
and nuanced ways. That view alerts me that any way of operationalizing or
measuring a network with discrete instruments has to be taken with a grain
of salt.
Jeffrey Broadbent
Abe Fellow 2007-2008
Visiting Researcher, Faculty of Law,
Keio University, Tokyo, Japan
Regular Position:
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology
and Institute of Global Studies
909 Social Science Building
University of Minnesota
267 19th Avenue South
Minneapolis, Minnesota
USA 55455
Tel. 612-624-1828
Fax. 612- 624-7020
Email: [log in to unmask]
Webpage: http://www.soc.umn.edu/faculty/broadbent.html
-----Original Message-----
From: Social Networks Discussion Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 10:21 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: German shepherd and social networks
***** To join INSNA, visit http://www.insna.org *****
Scot,
Your point is quite relevant, although I believe, that it is important to
distinguish between
-the analyst - who identifies objects and decides to collect relational data
about possible links between these objects and some subjects,
... and
- the actors themselves particularly those subjects who interact with the
objects (dogs, babies, trees... are they really objects???).
I don't think it is correct to substitute one with the other, and I don't
think it is irrelevant to debate the essential nature of dogs, babies and
trees - what kind of objects / subjects they are - so what types of
interactions we may expect to find in the network. This is what I would call
theorising about the actors and the relationships in a network. Substituting
relationships with links between actors and substituting observations (or
metaphors) with a well defined theoretical construct can cause all sorts of
associative incorrect thinking, when one network analyst sees the 'doggy
world' in the park, while another network analyst sees the park as a social
context (or a stage) built with nature, engineering, design, and perhaps
some capital and labour, so the actual design of the park facilitates the
dog-owners not merely to walk their dogs, but to interact between
themselves.
I think this discussion is quite an interesting exchange of ideas - which is
different from exchange of references and technical information, and I don't
think we should draw a credibility line here.
Emanuela Todeva
-----Original Message-----
From: Social Networks Discussion Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Feld, Scott L
Sent: 21 April 2008 15:25
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: German shepherd and social networks
***** To join INSNA, visit http://www.insna.org *****
Returning to the original question in this interesting discussion.....
(IS a german shepherd or a baby a member of one's network?)
Everything CAN belong to a network, because anything can be considered to be
an object, and there are always some notions of relations (however vague and
indirect) involving those objects. The question should always be how USEFUL
it is to think of things in some particular way-- and that depends upon
one's particular purpose.
I find it terribly ironic (albeit not unusual) that several pieces of the
present discussion that are based upon severe criticism of essentialism
(e.g. Latour) spend so much time debating the essential nature of things.
I personally often find general questions about what IS an actor, an object,
a relation, THE network, a SOCIAL network, or even how one analyzes networks
in general, to be more distracting than helpful. I especially appreciate
seeing people sharing their most useful examples of both substantive
examples and tools in this and other threads.
Scott
Scott Feld
Professor of Sociology
Purdue University
-----Original Message-----
From: Social Networks Discussion Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of MARKKU LONKILA (SOSIO)
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 4:50 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [SOCNET] German shepherd and social networks
***** To join INSNA, visit http://www.insna.org *****
Dear socnetters,
I want to stir the pot of social network definitions with a question about
the notion of `social´ in social networks. Can a five-year-old German
shepherd belong to one´s social network? How about a one-month- old baby?
Compared to the dog, the small baby is clearly much less communicative and
interactive. Moreover, the dog may well be as central to one´s `social´ life
(e.g. though connecting the owner with other dog owners and dogs) than the
network member with human dna...
Markku Lonkila
--
Markku Lonkila
Docent, PhD, Researcher
The Finnish Centre for East European Studies / Department of Sociology,
University of Helsinki
homepage: http://www.valt.helsinki.fi/staff/lonkila
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
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_____________________________________________________________________
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