4.1 Quantifying Social Structure

In Chapters 2 and 3, you’ve learned the basic mechanics behind network analysis. Without a firm understanding of those foundations, you are unable to construct the more advanced concepts and their associated measures which are used by network analysts to understand the social world. Chapter 4 and 5 are meant to introduce you to some of these advanced concepts and how they are mathematically expressed.

This chapter covers two main ways of understanding social networks. The chapter first focuses on the concept of centrality. Second, the chapter introduces homophily and different measures which are used to think about how people’s networks reflect their own personal traits.