Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wzw2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-20T20:58:42.543Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

24 - On Inequality

The Context of Network Inequality

from IV - New Perspectives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2021

By
Hana Shepherd  and
Filiz Garip
Edited by
Mario L. Small ,
Brea L. Perry ,
Bernice Pescosolido  and
Edward B. Smith
Mario L. Small
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Brea L. Perry
Affiliation:
Indiana University, Bloomington
Bernice Pescosolido
Affiliation:
Indiana University, Bloomington
Edward B. Smith
Affiliation:
Northwestern University, Illinois
Get access

Summary

An individual’s network ties are crucial to their well-being and life outcomes, and an emerging literature connects these network effects to the persistence or mitigation of group-based inequality. At the same time, we know very little about how the contexts in which relationships are formed shape individual-level and group-level networks. This leaves our understanding of network-based mechanisms of inequality separate from the contexts in which relationships are formed and operate. This chapter sets forth a model that combines context, ego and global network structure, and inequality arising from network effects into one causal chain. We review evidence on how different characteristics of context – population size and composition, number and kinds of social foci, and organizational practices – contribute to the structure of social networks. We then review research demonstrating how those network features, as well as the overall structure of relationships, contribute to distributions of outcomes in the population. The chapter concludes with applications of the model using examples from student behavior in schools and from evidence about migration. We suggest that network scholars and scholars of inequality build this more expansive perspective into their work in order to better understand mechanisms of inequality.

Keywords

network effectscontextinequalitydiffusionnetwork structurepopulationtheory
Type
Chapter
Information
Personal Networks
Classic Readings and New Directions in Egocentric Analysis
 , pp. 630 - 650
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barabási, Albert-László, and Bonabeau, Eric. 2003. “Scale-Free Networks.” Scientific American 288(5): 60–9.Google Scholar
Behrman, Jere R., Kohler, Hans-Peter, and Watkins, Susan Cotts. 2002. “Social Networks and Changes in Contraceptive Use over Time: Evidence from a Longitudinal Study in Rural Kenya.” Demography 39(4): 713–38.Google Scholar
Blau, Peter M. 1977. “A Macrosociological Theory of Social Structure.” American Journal of Sociology 83(1): 26–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blau, Peter M., and Schwartz, Joseph E.. 1984. Crosscutting Social Circles: Testing a Macrostructural Theory of Intergroup Relations. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Boyd, Monica. 1989. “Family and Personal Networks in International Migration: Recent Developments and New Agendas.” International Migration Review 23(3): 638–70.Google Scholar
Burt, Ronald S. 1998. “The Gender of Social Capital.” Rationality and Society 10(1): 5–46.Google Scholar
Calvó-Armengol, Antoni, Patacchini, Eleonora, and Zenou, Yves. 2009. “Peer Effects and Social Networks in Education.” The Review of Economic Studies 76(4): 1239–67.Google Scholar
Campbell, David E. 2013. “Social Networks and Political Participation.” Annual Review of Political Science 16: 33–48.Google Scholar
Case, Anne C., and Katz, Lawrence F.. 1991. “The Company You Keep: The Effects of Family and Neighborhood on Disadvantaged Youths.” NBER working paper w3705. Available at: www.nber.org/papers/w3705.pdfCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Centola, Damon. 2010. “The Spread of Behavior in an Online Social Network Experiment.” Science 329(5996): 1194–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Centola, Damon. 2015. “The Social Origins of Networks and Diffusion.” American Journal of Sociology 120(5): 1295–338.Google Scholar
Centola, Damon, and Macy, Michael. 2007. “Complex Contagions and the Weakness of Long Ties.” American Journal of Sociology 113: 702–34.Google Scholar
Nicholas, Christakis, and James, Fowler. 2008. “The Collective Dynamics of Smoking in a Large Social Network.” New England Journal of Medicine 358: 2249–58.Google Scholar
Crosnoe, Robert, Cavanagh, Shannon, and Elder, Glen H. Jr. 2003. “Adolescent Friendships as Academic Resources: The Intersection of Friendship, Race, and School Disadvantage.” Sociological Perspectives 46(3): 331–52.Google Scholar
Curran, Sara R., Garip, Filiz, Chung, Chang Y., and Tangchonlatip, Kanchana. 2005. “Gendered Migrant Social Capital: Evidence from Thailand.” Social Forces 84(1): 225–55.Google Scholar
DiMaggio, Paul, and Garip, Filiz. 2011. “How Network Externalities Can Exacerbate Intergroup Inequality.” American Journal of Sociology 116(6): 1887–933.Google Scholar
DiMaggio, Paul, and Garip, Filiz. 2012. “Network Effects and Social Inequality.” Annual Review of Sociology 38: 93–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doreian, Patrick, and Conti, Norman. 2012. “Social Context, Spatial Structure and Social Network Structure.” Social Networks 34(1): 32–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duflo, Esther, and Saez, Emmanuel. 2002. “Participation and Investment Decisions in a Retirement Plan: The Influence of Colleagues’ Choices.” Journal of Public Economics 85(1): 121–48.Google Scholar
Durand, Jorge, Massey, Douglas S., and Zenteno, Rene M.. 2001. “Mexican Immigration to the United States: Continuities and Changes.” Latin American Research Review 36(1): 1007–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durlauf, Steven N., and Ioannides, Yannis M.. 2010. “Social Interactions.” Annual Review of Economics 2: 451–78.Google Scholar
Ensel, Walter M. 1979. Sex, Social Ties, and Status Attainment. Albany, NY: SUNY-Albany Press.Google Scholar
Entwisle, Barbara, Faust, Katherine, Rindfuss, Ronald R., and Kaneda, Toshiko. 2007. “Networks and Contexts: Variation in the Structure of Social Ties.” American Journal of Sociology 112(5): 1495–533.Google Scholar
Feld, Scott L. 1981. “The Focused Organization of Social Ties.” American Journal of Sociology 86(5): 1015–35.Google Scholar
Fernandez, Roberto M., Castilla, Emilio J., and Moore, Paul. 2000. “Social Capital at Work: Networks and Employment at a Phone Center.” American Journal of Sociology 105(5): 1288–356.Google Scholar
Festinger, Leon, Schachter, Stanley, and Back, Kurt. 1950. Social Pressures in Informal Groups: A Study of Human Factors in Housing. Oxford: Harper.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, Claude S. 1977. Networks and Places: Social Relations in the Urban Setting. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Fischer, Claude S. 1982. To Dwell Among Friends: Personal Networks in Town and City. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Frank, Kenneth A., Muller, Chandra, and Mueller, Anna S.. 2013. “The Embeddedness of Adolescent Friendship Nominations: The Formation of Social Capital in Emergent Network Structures.” American Journal of Sociology 119(1): 216–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frank, Kenneth A., Muller, Chandra, Schiller, Kathryn S., Riegle-Crumb, Catherine, Muller, Anna Strassman, Crosnoe, Robert, and Pearson, Jennifer. 2008. “The Social Dynamics of Mathematics Coursetaking in High School.” American Journal of Sociology 113(6): 1645–96.Google Scholar
Freese, Jeremy, and Lutfey, Karen. 2011. “Fundamental Causality: Challenges of an Animating Concept for Medical Sociology,” pp. 67–81 in Handbook of the Sociology of Health, Illness, and Healing. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Fussell, Elizabeth, and Massey, Douglas S.. 2004. “The Limits to Cumulative Causation: International Migration from Mexican Urban Areas.” Demography 41(1): 151–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gamoran, A. 2011. Designing Instruction and Grouping Students to Enhance the Learning of All: New Hope or False Promise? Frontiers in Sociology of Education 1(1): 111–26.Google Scholar
Garip, Filiz. 2008. “Social Capital and Migration: How Do Similar Resources Lead to Divergent Outcomes?” Demography 45(3): 591–617.Google Scholar
Garip, Filiz. 2014. “The Impact of Migration and Remittances on Wealth Accumulation and Distribution in Rural Thailand.” Demography 51(2): 673–98.Google Scholar
Garip, Filiz. 2016. On the Move: Changing Mechanisms of Mexico-U.S. Migration. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Goolsbee, Austan, and Klenow, Peter J.. 2002. “Evidence on Learning and Network Externalities in the Diffusion of Home Computers.” The Journal of Law and Economics 45(2): 317–43.Google Scholar
Granovetter, Mark. 1974. Getting a Job. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hagan, Jacqueline M. 1998. “Social Networks, Gender, and Immigrant Incorporation: Resources and Constraints.” American Sociological Review 63: 55–67.Google Scholar
Haug, Sonja. 2008. “Migration Networks and Migration Decision-Making.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 34(4): 585–605.Google Scholar
Hoxby, Caroline M., and Weingarth, Gretchen. 2005. “Taking Race Out of the Equation: School Reassignment and the Structure of Peer Effects.” Working paper. Available at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.472.2561&rep=rep1&type=pdf [last accessed February 13, 2021].Google Scholar
Ioannides, Yannis M., and Loury, Linda Datcher. 2004. “Job Information Networks, Neighborhood Effects, and Inequality.” Journal of Economic Literature 42(4): 1056–93.Google Scholar
Isakov, Alexander, Fowler, James H., Airoldi, Edoardo M., and Christakis, Nicholas A.. 2019. “The Structure of Negative Social Ties in Rural Village Networks.” Sociological Science 6: 197–218.Google Scholar
Sanders, Korenman, and Turner, Susan. 1996. “Employment Contacts and Minority-White Wage Differences.” Industrial Relations 35(1): 106–22.Google Scholar
Kossinets, Gueorgi, and Watts, Duncan J.. 2006. “Empirical Analysis of an Evolving Social Network.” Science 311(5757): 88–90.Google Scholar
Kreager, Derek A., and Haynie, Dana L.. 2011. “Dangerous Liaisons? Dating and Drinking Diffusion in Adolescent Peer Networks.” American Sociological Review 76(5): 737–63.Google Scholar
Lewis, Valerie A., MacGregor, Carol Ann, and Putnam, Robert D. 2013. “Religion, Networks, and Neighborliness: The Impact of Religious Social Networks on Civic Engagement.” Social Science Research 42(2): 331–46.Google Scholar
Lin, Nan. 1999. “Social Networks and Status Attainment.” Annual Review of Sociology 25(1): 467–87.Google Scholar
Lin, Nan, Ensel, Walter M., and Vaughn, John C.. 1981. “Social Resources and Strength of Ties: Structural Factors in Occupational Status Attainment.” American Sociological Review 46(4): 393–405.Google Scholar
Louch, Hugh. 2000. “Personal Network Integration: Transitivity and Homophily in Strong-Tie Relations.” Social Networks 22(1): 45–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marmaros, David, and Sacerdote, Bruce. 2002. “Peer and Social Networks in Job Search.” European Economic Review 46(4–5): 870–9.Google Scholar
Marsden, Peter V. 1987. “Core Discussion Networks of Americans.” American Sociological Review 52(1): 122–31.Google Scholar
Marsden, Peter V., and Gorman, Elizabeth H.. 2001. “Social Networks, Job Changes, and Recruitment,” pp. 467–502 in Sourcebook of Labor Markets: Evolving Structure and Processes, edited by Berg, I. and Kalleberg, A. L.. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massey, Douglas S. 1990. “Social Structure, Household Strategies, and the Cumulative Causation of Migration.” Population Index 56(1): 3–26.Google Scholar
Massey, Douglas S., and Espinosa, Kristin E.. 1997. “What’s Driving Mexico-US Migration? A Theoretical, Empirical, and Policy Analysis.” American Journal of Sociology 102(4): 939–99.Google Scholar
McFarland, Daniel A., Moody, James, Diehl, David, Smith, Jeffrey A., and Thomas, Reuben J.. 2014. “Network Ecology and Adolescent Social Structure.” American Sociological Review 79(6): 1088–121.Google Scholar
McPherson, Miller, Smith-Lovin, Lynn, and Cook, James M.. 2001. “Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks.” Annual Review of Sociology 27(1): 415–44.Google Scholar
McPherson, Miller, and Smith-Lovin., Lynn 1987. “Homophily in Voluntary Organizations: Status Distance and the Composition of Face-to-Face Groups.” American Sociological Review 52(3): 370–9.Google Scholar
McPherson, Miller, Smith-Lovin, Lynn, and Brashears, Matthew E.. 2006. “Social Isolation in America: Changes in Core Discussion Networks over Two Decades.” American Sociological Review 71(3): 353–75.Google Scholar
Mollenhorst, Gerald, Völker, Beate, and Flap, Henk. 2008. “Social Contexts and Personal Relationships: The Effect of Meeting Opportunities on Similarity for Relationships of Different Strength.” Social Networks 30(1): 60–8.Google Scholar
Moody, James. 2001. “Race, School Integration, and Friendship Segregation in America.” American Journal of Sociology 107(3): 679–716.Google Scholar
Morenoff, Jeffrey D., Sampson, Robert J., and Raudenbush, Stephen W.. 2001. “Neighborhood Inequality, Collective Efficacy, and the Spatial Dynamics of Urban Violence.” Criminology 39(3): 517–58.Google Scholar
Paluck, Elizabeth L., Shepherd, Hana, and Aronow, Peter M.. 2013. “Changing Climates of Conflict: A Social Network Experiment in 56 Schools, New Jersey.” Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37070.v1Google Scholar
Pampel, Fred C., Krueger, Patrick M., and Denney, Justin T.. 2010. “Socioeconomic Disparities in Health Behaviors.” Annual Review of Sociology 36: 349–70.Google Scholar
Pattie, Charles, and Johnston, Ron. 1999. “Context, Conversation and Conviction: Social Networks and Voting at the 1992 British General Election.” Political Studies 47(5): 877–89.Google Scholar
Pearl, Judea, and Mackenzie, Dana. 2018. The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Perry, Brea L., and Pescosolido, Bernice A.. 2015. “Social Network Activation: The Role of Health Discussion Partners in Recovery from Mental Illness.” Social Science & Medicine 125: 116–28.Google Scholar
Pescosolido, Bernice A. 1986. “Migration, Medical Care Preferences and the Lay Referral System: A Network Theory of Role Assimilation.” American Sociological Review 51(4): 523–40.Google Scholar
Pescosolido, Bernice A. 2006. “Of Pride and Prejudice: The Role of Sociology and Social Networks in Integrating the Health Sciences.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 47(3): 189–208.Google Scholar
Petersen, Trond, Saporta, Ishak, and Seidel, Marc-David L. 2000. “Offering a Job: Meritocracy and Social Networks.” American Journal of Sociology 106(3): 763–816.Google Scholar
Pettigrew, Thomas. 1998. “Intergroup Contact Theory.” Annual Review of Psychology 49: 65–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reskin, Barbara F., McBrier, Debra B., and Kmec, Julie A.. 1999. “The Determinants and Consequences of Workplace Sex and Race Composition.” Annual Review of Sociology 25(1): 335–61.Google Scholar
Richardson, R. J., Erickson, Bonnie H., and Nosanchuk, Terry A.. 1979. “Community Size, Network Structure, and the Flow of Information.” Canadian Journal of Sociology/Cahiers canadiens de sociologie 4(4): 379–92.Google Scholar
Riosmena, Fernando, and Massey, Douglas S.. 2012. “Pathways to El Norte: Origins, Destinations, and Characteristics of Mexican Migrants to the United States.” International Migration Review 46(1): 3–36.Google Scholar
Roethlisberger, Fritz J., Dickson, William J.. 1939. Management and the Worker. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Sacerdote, Bruce. 2011. “Peer Effects in Education: How Might They Work, How Big Are They and How Much Do We Know Thus Far?”, pp.249–77 in Handbook of the Economics of Education, vol. 3, edited by Hanushek, Eric A., Machin, Stephen, and Woessmann, Ludger. New York: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Sampson, Robert J., Morenoff, Jeffrey D., and Gannon-Rowley., Thomas 2002. “Assessing “Neighborhood Effects”: Social Processes and New Directions in Research.” Annual Review of Sociology 28(1): 443–78.Google Scholar
Seidel, Marc-David L., Polzer, Jeffrey T., and Stewart, Katherine J.. 2000. “Friends in High Places: The Effects of Social Networks on Discrimination in Salary Negotiations.” Administrative Science Quarterly 45(1): 1–24.Google Scholar
Shepherd, Hana. 2020. “Organizational Practices and Workplace Relationships in Precarious Work: New Survey Evidence.” Working paper. Available at: 10.31235/osf.io/tfrhdGoogle Scholar
Shepherd, Hana, and Lane, Jeff. 2019. “In the Mix: Social Integration and Social Media Adoption.” Social Science Research 82: 1–17.Google Scholar
Small, Mario Luis. 2007. “Racial Differences in Networks: Do Neighborhood Conditions Matter?” Social Science Quarterly 88(2): 320–43.Google Scholar
Small, Mario Luis. 2009. Unanticipated Gains: Origins of Network Inequality in Everyday Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Small, Mario Luis, and Adler, Laura. 2019. “The Role of Space in the Formation of Social Ties.” Annual Review of Sociology 45: 111–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Kirsten P., and Christakis, Nicholas A.. 2008. “Social Networks and Health.” Annual Review of Sociology 34: 405–29.Google Scholar
Smith, Sandra Susan. 2005. “‘Don’t Put My Name On It’: Social Capital Activation and Job-Finding Assistance among the Black Urban Poor.” American Journal of Sociology 111(1): 1–57.Google Scholar
Smith, Sandra Susan. 2007. Lone Pursuit: Distrust and Defensive Individualism among the Black Poor. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
South, Scott J., and Messner, Steven F.. 1986. “Structural Determinants of Intergroup Association: Interracial Marriage and Crime.” American Journal of Sociology 91(6): 1409–30.Google Scholar
Stack, Carol B. 1974. All Our Kin: Strategies for Survival in a Black Community. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Watts, Duncan J. 1999. “Networks, Dynamics, and the Small-World Phenomenon.” American Journal of Sociology 105(2): 493–527.Google Scholar
Watts, Duncan J., Dodds, Peter S., and Newman, Mark E. J.. 2002. “Identity and Search in Social Networks.” Science 296(5571): 1302–5.Google Scholar
Watts, Duncan J., and Strogatz, Steven H.. 1998. “Collective Dynamics of ‘Small-World’ Networks.” Nature 393(6684): 440–2.Google Scholar
Zhao, Linda, and Garip, Filiz. In press. “Network Diffusion under Homophily and Consolidation as a Mechanism for Social Inequality.” Sociological Methods & Research.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×