***** To join INSNA, visit http://www.insna.org *****

Prezado Mario,

Thank you so much for the response and the sense of direction, I
believe we will have more opportunities to engage in further
discussions.

Best regards,
Romana Xerez

Citando Mario Small <[log in to unmask]>:

> ***** To join INSNA, visit http://www.insna.org *****
>
> Hi Romana,
>
> See below.
>
> [log in to unmask] wrote:
>> Dear Mario & SOCNET Members,
>>
>> I am writing in response to your announced book. After reading the
>> first chapter my impression was enhanced ? it is a thoughtful and
>> provocative manner of discussing the significance of social networks.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Although my
>> modest opinion might not be relevant to the SNA discussions, I have
>> decided to reply as a beginner in the field. This situation has
>> been challenging and has led to my developing some arguments
>> concerning social networks:
>>
>> 1. The argument of qualitative methods in the social networks research
>> I have mainly been collecting quantitative data for my PhD research
>> in the neighbourhood (Villa Alvalade) in Lisbon, I have
>> simultaneously developed a qualitative analysis and have
>> encountered a gap regarding literature and methods supporting the
>> relevance of social clubs in cities as a source of community
>> building. Does anyone have significant literature/research on this
>> field? How does this ethnographic research matter to the
>> development of a more qualitative perspective in SNA (as the
>> Manchester University did)?
>>
> Perhaps Douglas White and Ulla Johansen's *Network Analysis and
> Ethnographic Problems* might be relevant. The copy I ordered just
> arrived in the mail. It looks terrific. I'd be interested in hearing of
> other (recent) works in this field.
>
>> 2. The argument of weak ties significance in the urban context
>> Granovetter and Gans (even though he is not a social analyst) had
>> divergent perspectives on the power of social networks in deprived
>> urban areas. How does Small?s perspective fill the gap regarding
>> this relevant argument?
>>
> Sandra Smith's recent *Lone Pursuit* and Susan Saegert and colleagues'
> *Social Capital in Poor Communities* may be helpful/relevant here.
>
>> 3. The Latinos? argument
>> As a Portuguese and SNA researcher I have been collecting and
>> analysing (informally) Latinos specificities concerning networks
>> (bonding, bridging, homophily, embeddedness,?), as a result I have
>> some questions: How does Latinos? differ, or not, from the others,
>> regarding social networks? How do Small case studies? enrich this
>> eventual SNA perspective?
>>
> Silvia Dominguez has been working these issues recently. She has a paper
> with Celeste Watkins and is working on a book. (My *Villa Victoria* is
> also relevant.) There ought to be more on this issue!
>
>> 4. The Social Policy argument
>> Despite the tremendous SNA developments in last years -
>> publications and developments in social networks - cutting across
>> boundaries of traditional disciplines. How do Small?s, Briggs? (and
>> probably others) perspectives matter towards cutting across Social
>> Policy boundaries? How do Social Policy & Welfare State matter to
>> the social analyst?s research?
>>
> I would also be interested in SNA research on social policy and welfare
> questions.
>
>> 5. I would like to apologize for the ones who eventually feel their
>> time has consumed on these arguments, but the extraordinary
>> sociological imagination of SNA field and this timely book have
>> made me reflect and put forward these considerations.
>>
>> I thank you in advance.
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Romana Xerez
>>
> Abrazos,
>
> Mario
>
>
>>
>> Citando Mario Small <[log in to unmask]>:
>>
>>> ***** To join INSNA, visit http://www.insna.org *****
>>>
>>> Dear colleagues,
>>>
>>> A book that may be of interest was just released. A critique of social
>>> capital theory, it examines how the institutional conditions of routine
>>> organizations affect network formation.
>>>
>>>
>>> Unanticipated Gains: Origins of Network Inequality in Everyday Life
>>> Mario Luis Small, 2009
>>> Oxford University Press
>>> http://tinyurl.com/laomzd
>>>
>>>
>>> From the publisher:
>>> Social capital theorists have shown that some people do better than
>>> others in part because they enjoy larger, more supportive, or otherwise
>>> more useful networks. But why do some people have better networks than
>>> others? *Unanticipated Gains* argues that the practice and structure of
>>> the churches, colleges, firms, gyms, childcare centers, and schools in
>>> which people happen to participate routinely matter more than their
>>> deliberate "networking."
>>>
>>> Exploring the experiences of New York City mothers whose children were
>>> enrolled in childcare centers, this book examines why a great deal of
>>> these mothers, after enrolling their children, dramatically expanded
>>> both the size and usefulness of their personal networks. Whether, how,
>>> and how much the mother's networks were altered--and how useful these
>>> networks were--depended on the apparently trivial, but remarkably
>>> consequential, practices and regulations of the centers. The structure
>>> of parent-teacher organizations, the frequency of fieldtrips, and the
>>> rules regarding drop-off and pick-up times all affected the mothers'
>>> networks. Relying on scores of in-depth interviews with mothers,
>>> quantitative data on both mothers and centers, and detailed case studies
>>> of other routine organizations, Small shows that how much people gain
>>> from their connections depends substantially on institutional conditions
>>> they often do not control, and through everyday processes they may not
>>> even be aware of.
>>>
>>> Emphasizing not the connections that people make, but the context in
>>> which they are made, *Unanticipated Gains* presents a major new
>>> perspective on social capital and on the mechanisms producing social
>>> inequality.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> _________________________________
>>> Mario Luis Small
>>> Associate Professor of Sociology and the College
>>> University of Chicago
>>> 1126 East 59th Street
>>> Chicago, IL 60637
>>>
>>> http://home.uchicago.edu/~mariosmall
>>>
>>> _____________________________________________________________________
>>> SOCNET is a service of INSNA, the professional association for social
>>> network researchers (http://www.insna.org). To unsubscribe, send
>>> an email message to [log in to unmask] containing the line
>>> UNSUBSCRIBE SOCNET in the body of the message.
>>
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------
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>>
>
> --
> _________________________________
> Mario Luis Small
> Associate Professor of Sociology and the College
> University of Chicago
> 1126 East 59th Street
> Chicago, IL 60637
>
> http://home.uchicago.edu/~mariosmall
>
> _____________________________________________________________________
> SOCNET is a service of INSNA, the professional association for social
> network researchers (http://www.insna.org). To unsubscribe, send
> an email message to [log in to unmask] containing the line
> UNSUBSCRIBE SOCNET in the body of the message.



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