http://blog.ulisesmejias.com/2007/07/09/networks-and-the-quantification-of-sociality/ assistant professor, suny oswego Wed, 11 Jan 2012 04:14:56 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://blog.ulisesmejias.com/2007/07/09/networks-and-the-quantification-of-sociality/comment-page-1/#comment-329 Don Steiny Tue, 10 Jul 2007 11:34:53 +0000 http://blog.ulisesmejias.com/2007/07/09/networks-and-the-quantification-of-sociality/#comment-329 It may be a mistake to get too caught up in what networks "really" are. Authors often use the term with different meanings even in the same sentence. A fundamental issue can be called "structure vs. agency" or "anti-essentialism vs. essentialism," or "sociological vs. economics" and so on. The enormously influential network theorist, Harrison White, wrote a book "Identity and Control" that attempts to describe all social constructs, including "persons" as emergent from networks (as phenomenological reality). His new edition should be out next March where he moves the project forward. Intelligence, race, gender and many other "things" are "properties" of people that are not really. They have their meaning only in a certain place at a certain time. They "exist" because of the patterns of relations in which the "person" is embedded. Networks provide a way to talk about those patterns. It may be a mistake to get too caught up in what networks “really” are. Authors often use the term with different meanings even in the same sentence. A fundamental issue can be called “structure vs. agency” or “anti-essentialism vs. essentialism,” or “sociological vs. economics” and so on. The enormously influential network theorist, Harrison White, wrote a book “Identity and Control” that attempts to describe all social constructs, including “persons” as emergent from networks (as phenomenological reality). His new edition should be out next March where he moves the project forward. Intelligence, race, gender and many other “things” are “properties” of people that are not really. They have their meaning only in a certain place at a certain time. They “exist” because of the patterns of relations in which the “person” is embedded. Networks provide a way to talk about those patterns.

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