Social Network Theory is the study of how people, organizations or

groups interact with others inside their network. Understanding the

theory is easier when you examine the individual pieces starting with
the largest element, which is networks, and working down to the
smallest element, which is the actors.

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3. What Is Social Network Theory?

What Is Social Network Theory?

By Charlie R. ClaywellWeb Designer

Social Network Theory is the study of how people, organizations or groups

interact with others inside their network. Understanding the theory is easier
when you examine the individual pieces starting with the largest element,
which is networks, and working down to the smallest element, which is the
actors.
Examining Networks
In some ways, networks can be thought of as neighborhoods, since networks are comprised of
the actors and the relationships between those actors. These actors, referred to as nodes, can be
individuals, organizations or companies. Regardless of what they are, they are always the
smallest single unit inside a network. If you view the United Nations as a social network, the
United States would be a node or actor inside the network.
The three types of social networks that social scientists explore are ego-centric
networks, socio-centric networks, and open-system networks.

 Ego-centric networks are connected with a single node or individual. For

example, you, the node, connected to all your close friends.
 Socio-centric networks are closed networks by default. Two commonly-
used examples of this type of network are children in a classroom or workers
inside an organization.
 In open-system networks, the boundary lines are not clearly defined. A few
examples in this type of network are America's elite class, connections
between corporations, or the chain of influencers of a particular decision.
Due to the lack of clearly-defined boundaries, this type of network is
considered the most difficult to study.

Studying Relationships
If networks were just a list of your close friends or the people you work with,
there would be nothing to study. What social scientists are concerned with are the
interactions between each of the members of the network. These connections,
called relationships or ties, are at the heart of what social scientists seek to study
and understand. Why do the individuals interact, how do they interact and what
is the level of closeness -- usually referred to as connectedness -- between group
members?

Although, there are many types of relationships, including reciprocal, directional

and others, each of the types can be reduced to either a strong tie or a weak tie.