Introduction to multilevel social networks

Social network research focuses on the study of social systems y conceptualizing their internal structure in terms of sets of comlex dependencies among social agents in the form of dyadic social ies. Typically, models for social networks incorporate additional eatures such as actor attributes. Models for social networks may lso be extended in various ways by considering, for example, muliplex or bipartite representations. However, incorrect inferences can be drawn from social netork analysis if the system is conceptualized in an overly simplistic ay. This can happen if crucial elements of social structure are gnored when the data are collected, or are mis-specified in he model used for the analysis. As social network researchers, e know this well, because we avoid individualistic analysis of ttributes when social structure is relevant. In one of the foundaional articles of contemporary social network analysis, Harrison hite and co-authors warned against relying on social classificaion as the sole basis for understanding social structure: “. . .largely ategorical descriptions of social structure have no solid theoretial grounding; . . . network concepts may provide the only way to onstruct a theory of social structure” (White et al., 1976, p.732). etwork researchers (but not all social scientists) have learnt that esson well. Yet, having imbibed White’s warning, we all-too-often content urselves with a relatively simple network representation, without hinking through whether our conceptualization is sufficient for he purpose of our research. We face important theoretical choices ere, and of course it is not feasible to control for every possible actor. Social systems may have important dynamic, temporal and eospatial elements, and if we regard these as central to the proesses we are studying, then they need to be incorporated into ur conceptualization of the social system and hence into the type f data we collect. Recent special issues of Social Networks have oncentrated on network research involving dynamic and spatial actors. Social systems can also contain hierarchy. In his classic paper n the “architecture of complexity,” Herbert Simon (1962) offered compelling analysis of the evolutionary mechanisms responsile of producing the hierarchical structure so frequently observed

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