Cliques, Galois lattices, and the structure of human social groups☆

The mathematical definition of clique has never been entirely satisfactory when it comes to providing a procedure for defining human social groups. This paper shows how the Galois structure of containment among cliques and actors can be used to produce an intuitively appealing characterization of groups--one that is consistent with ethnographic descriptions. Two examples, using 'classical' social network data sets, are provided.

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