Mitchell centre seminar series
| Dates: | 14 November 2018 |
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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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David Schoch, University of Manchester
Networks of Leveling Ties
Social networks can be made of various kinds of ties, but (often implicit) assumptions embodied in network-analytic tools do not necessarily apply to all of them. Centrality indices, for instance, build on the assumption that it is always beneficial to add more ties. This assumption can not be made for networks that include antagonistic relations (or negative ties), since it is doubtful that accumulating foes is beneficial for any actor. Hence, different tools are required to assess, for instance, status in these networks. In this talk, I introduce a third type of ties, called leveling ties, which are neither positive nor negative but an indication of (non-transitive) equivalence among actors. I provide an overview of methods to analyze these networks and highlight some idealized network structures, which guide the development of new methodology.
Finally, several empirical examples are discussed, including the derivation of socio-economic status and ideological alignments of legislators in the U.S. Congress. Additionally, I argue that many existing two-mode networks can in fact be translated to networks with leveling ties, opening up new possibilities to study such networks.
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G7
Humanities Bridgeford Street
Manchester
