John Scott 
Social Network Analysis 

Incorporating the most important and cutting-edge developments in the field, this bestselling text introduces newcomers to the key theories and techniques of social network analysis and guides more experienced analysts in their own research.




New to This Edition:

• A chapter on data collection, covering a crucial phase of the research process


• Fully updated examples reiterate the continued importance of social network analysis in an increasingly interconnected world


• Detailed ‘Further Reading’ sections help you explore the wider literature


• Practical exercises including real-world examples of social networks enable you to apply your learning

Expanded and brought right up-to-date, this classic text remains the indispensable guide to social network analysis for students, lecturers and researchers throughout the social sciences.

Table of Content

What is Social Network Analysis?

The data used in social network analysis

Is there a network theory?

An overview

The History of Social Network Analysis

The sociogram and sociometry

Balance and group dynamics

Informal organization and community relations

Matrices and cliques

Formal models of community and kinship

Formal methods triumphant

Getting by without the help of your friends

Entry of the social physicists

Data Collection for Social Network Analysis

Asking questions

Making observations

Using documents

Boundaries in relational data

Positional and reputational approaches

Does sampling make sense?

Organizing and Analyzing Network Data

Matrices and relational data

Matrix conventions

An analysis of directorship data

Direction and value in relational data

Computer programs for social network analysis

Terminology for Network Analysis

The language of network analysis

More than joining up the lines

The flow of information and resources

Density of connections

Density in egonets

Problems in density measures

A digression on absolute density

Community structure and density

Popularity, Mediation and Exclusion

Local and overall

Mediation and betweenness

Centrality boosts centrality

Centralization and graph centres

The absolute centre of a graph

Bank centrality in corporate networks

Groups, Factions and Social Divisions

Identifying subgraphs

The components of a network

The strength and stability of components

Cycles and circuits

The contours of components

Cliques within components

Intersecting social circles

Components and citation circles

Structural Locations, Classes and Positions

The structural equivalence of points

Clusters and similarities

Divide and CONCOR

Divisions and equivalence

Regular equivalence in roles and functions

Corporate interlocks and participations

Social Change and Development

Structural change and unintended consequences

Small-world networks

Modelling social change

Testing explanations

Visualizing and Modelling

Taking space seriously

Using multidimensional scaling

Principal components and factors

Non-metric methods

How many dimensions?

Worth a thousand words?

Elites, communities and influence

Business elites and bank power

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the author

John Scott is an Honorary Professor at the Universities of Essex, Exeter, and Copenhagen. He was formerly a professor of sociology at the Universities of Essex and Leicester, and pro-vice-chancellor for research at the University of Plymouth. He has been president of the British Sociological Association, Chair of the Sociology Section of the British Academy, and in 2013 was awarded the CBE for Services to Social Science. His work covers theoretical sociology, the history of sociology, elites and social stratification, and social network analysis. His most recent books include British Social Theory: Recovering Lost Traditions before 1950 (SAGE, 2018), Envisioning Sociology. Victor Branford, Patrick Geddes, and the Quest for Social Reconstruction (with Ray Bromley, SUNY Press, 2013), Objectivity and Subjectivity in Social Research (with Gayle Letherby and Malcolm Williams, SAGE, 2011).