Social network analysis

This article is an overview of social network analysis, which is viewed as a highly contextual study of social structure. Its development stems from three sources: (1) the sociometry of Moreno, (2) the Harvard School of the 1930s and 1940s, and, lastly, (3) the Manchester School of the 1950s and 1960s. In addition to a survey of the analytical terminology, the distinction between strong and weak ties is underlined as a factor that determines social mobility. Two methodological tools of social network analysis are presented: the positional and the relational. Finally, the concept of weak determinism is compared with two concepts of a dual social order.