| Chapter 2: | Theory |
Over the past several decades, social-network analysis has become increasingly common in social-science literature4. This growing interest stems in no small part from the belief that the formation of networks is not only basic to social life, but also crucial in determining how people will deal with the inevitable crises encountered in life (Wenger, 1996). The social network we are concerned with is the personal network, or egocentric network (Wellman, 1988), established from the point of view of a given individual. Each network is unique to a “focal person”—the term used to identify the pivotal individual in each personal network—and crucial for systematically accounting for social support, a construct of enduring concern in the gerontology literature.5 The personal network doesn’t take for granted that the presence of a given tie will lead to support; instead, the focus is on transactions that occur with anyone considered important, regardless of the specific tie involved.
As Fischer (1982) points out, networks are both sovereign and constrained. They provide an element of agency for individuals to choose, within limits, who to include in their personal network, including which kinsmen. At the same time, it is constrained by geography and social circumstances that can determine which relations are available. Such myriad factors as income, education, gender, ethnicity, religion, and personality factors all can constrain to whom one relates and who wishes to relate to the focal person. This versatility inherent in the concept is particularly appealing when dealing with the fluid nature of social relations that characterize contemporary complex societies where rapid social change is the norm (Granovetter, 1982; Marsden, 2000).
Despite the promise heralded by network researchers and the many concepts generated in recent years, this has yielded little cumulative understanding and no convincing theoretical principles—a situation that has changed little since earlier criticisms in the 1990s (Laumann & Schumm, 1997; Turner, 1991).