Mitchell Centre Seminar Series
| Dates: | 11 February 2015 |
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| Times: | 16:00 - 17:30 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | School of Social Sciences |
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| Speaker: | Robert Hellpap |
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Robert Hellpap, Nuffield College, University of Oxford
Enis Bicer, University of Bremen
“Triadic homophily” - The role of (inter-)connected actors for inter-ethnic friendship formation in classrooms.
Several research findings indicate strong tendencies for ethnic segregation and ethnic boundaries, which can be examined by methods of social network analysis. In accordance with the theory of ethnic homophily, people prefer social bonds to other members of the same ethnic group. Additionally, segregated friendship networks often seem to cluster in higher order network structures such as ethnically homogenous triads. Our examination extends the notion of ethnic boundaries in social networks beyond dyadic inter-ethnic relations. Balance theory suggests, positive relations between two actors to be more likely to emerge when both have positive relations to a common third actor. We therefore differentiate tendencies for ethnic homophily in dyads and in the closure of triads. Further, we investigate the relevance of previously existing ethnic out-group contacts to form new inter-ethnic friendships. We then test whether these mechanisms hold when out-group contact is established via an intermediate actor, leading to ethnically heterogeneous triadic closure. Last, it is analyzed whether the ethnicity an intermediate actor plays a role for establishing out-group contacts. We analyze data from the new longitudinal study “Integration through friendship” (2010) conducted in Bremen, Germany. The study provides information about friendship networks of about 30 classrooms which participated three consecutive years, starting in the 5th grade. Stochastic actor-based models for longitudinal network data (RSIENA) are applied for the second and third wave data.
Speaker
Robert Hellpap
Organisation: University of Oxford
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G6
Humanities Bridgeford Street
Manchester
