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SOCIAL NETWORKS AND COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE - Coggle Diagram
SOCIAL NETWORKS AND COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE
Social networks
defined as
the relationships (individuals) contract with others
through
social
geographical
space
group people on the basis of factors that are more idiosyncratic.
are defined by
who your friends are
who you live near,
who you have dinner or have drinks with
who you work with
Social network theory was introduced to sociolinguistics from sociology.
Jenny Chesshire (1982) & Penny Eckert (2000)
both used naming when constructing the social networks of the adolescents in their studies.
Taking into account
reciprocal naming patterns
other social characteristics such as
use of swearing
clothing style
Eckert
composed the social networks in the high school where she was working based on responses to the question of
who are ‘the main people you hang out with’
Cheshire
distinguished between people
those who were less integrated into it (peripheral and secondary members)
who were central to the network (core members)
Networks can be differentiated on the basis of whether they are
loose
if you asked that question and you got only minimal overlap in people’s replies you would be dealing with very loose networks.
not all members know each other.
dense
A dense network is one where the members all know each other
Example: if you asked the question ‘who did you have a conversation with yesterday?’ of five people, and the only people each individual named were the other four people
characterised by everyone within the network knowing each other.
dense network members’ contacts outside their network are comparatively superficial
there is less chance of being systematically exposed to innovations from outside
Loose networks make individuals more open to change
The ties that the individual members have to other networks provide an opportunity for them to be exposed to and pick up innovations from outside their network
Networks can also be distinguished in terms of the quality of the ties between individuals
if two individuals are best friends, and they take the same courses at university, and they work in the same pub on the weekend, their tie would be a three-way one – a multiplex tie