Week | Date | Topic |
---|---|---|
1 | Wed, Aug 27 | Fundamentals and background |
2 | Wed, Sep 3 | Challenges in data collection and statistical models |
3 | Wed, Sep 10 | Social Capital and SOWT: Classics |
4 | Wed, Sep 17 | Homophily and network formation |
5 | Wed, Sep 24 | Small worlds |
6 | Wed, Oct 1 | Scale-free networks and other models of time |
7 | Wed, Oct 8 | NO CLASS - Project check-in |
8 | Wed, Oct 15 | Structure, segregation, and communities |
9 | Wed, Oct 22 | Social Capital and SOWT: Contemporary |
10 | Wed, Oct 29 | Simple contagion |
11 | Wed, Nov 5 | Complex contagion and social influence I |
12 | Wed, Nov 12 | Social influence II |
13 | Wed, Nov 19 | Collaboration and cooperation |
14 | Wed, Nov 26 | THANKSGIVING (no class) |
15 | Wed, Dec 3 | Mini-conference |
Social Networks (Demography 280/Sociology C273N)
(Syllabus last updated: 2025-September-03)
Class meetings: Wednesdays, 2pm-4:30pm, 310 Social Sciences Building
Office hours: see Ed post (or send me an email and we can find a time)
Email: feehan [at] berkeley.edu
Web: https://www.dennisfeehan.org/teaching/2025fa_demog280/
Ed: https://edstem.org/us/courses/81973/discussion
Overview
This course provides a broad introduction to the empirical and theoretical study of social networks. We will cover classic and contemporary studies, beginning with fundamental definitions and models, and then moving through a range of topics, including models of network formation and structure (homophily, foci, communities); dynamic processes on networks (contagion, influence, and disease models); collaborative networks; personal networks; online networks; and network sampling and data collection. The course material is intended to be of interest to students from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds, including demography, sociology, statistics, computer science, and related fields.
This syllabus is not yet final - I’m posting it to give you a sense for what we will cover this semester. Please re-check the syllabus before you start each week’s reading; it will be updated as the semester progresses
Detailed schedule
Wed, Aug 27 - Fundamentals and background
This is an unusual week, since it’s our first class meeting. The first three readings are overviews of social networks from different perspectives; then, there are three studies that exemplify the diversity of social networks research.
Background readings:
- Stephen P. Borgatti et al., “Network Analysis in the Social Sciences,” Science 323, no. 5916 (2009): 892–895, http://science.sciencemag.org/content/323/5916/892.short.
- C. T Butts, “Revisiting the Foundations of Network Analysis,” Science 325, no. 5939 (2009): 414—416, http://www.sciencemag.org/content/325/5939/414.short.
- David Lazer, “Networks in Political Science: Back to the Future,” PS: Political Science and Politics 44, no. 1 (2011): 61–68, https://www.jstor.org/stable/40984485.
Readings to discuss:
- Scott L. Feld, “Why Your Friends Have More Friends Than You Do,” American Journal of Sociology 96, no. 6 (May 1991): 1464–1477, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2781907.
- Miller McPherson, Lynn Smith-Lovin, and Matthew E. Brashears, “Social Isolation in America: Changes in Core Discussion Networks over Two Decades,” American Sociological Review 71, no. 3 (2006): 353–375, http://asr.sagepub.com/content/71/3/353.short.
- Coren L. Apicella et al., “Social Networks and Cooperation in Hunter-Gatherers,” Nature 481, no. 7382 (2012): 497–501, https://www.nature.com/articles/nature10736.
More background to read at some point in the first couple of weeks:
- Mark Newman, Networks: An Introduction, 2nd ed. (Oxford university press, 2018), ch. 6 and 7. - some mathematical background
We won’t explicitly discuss the Newman book chapters in class, but they also worth reading at some point; they describe several different network measures that are often mentioned in the literature.
For an overview of networks topics that is focused on Sociology, the Rawlings et al book is also a good reference:
- Craig M. Rawlings et al., Network Analysis: Integrating Social Network Theory, Method, and Application with R, Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023), https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/network-analysis/C9202FD5420BE99225FEED4B6214DBB7.
OPTIONAL: The wrap-up papers at the end of the syllabus give a good overview of the study of social networks. We won’t explicitly discuss them in class, but they would be helpful to read at some point during the semester.
Wed, Sep 3 - Sampling, data collection, statistics
Readings to discuss:
- Related to McPherson et al (2006) [from last week]
- Claude S. Fischer, “The 2004 GSS Finding of Shrunken Social Networks: An Artifact?” American Sociological Review 74, no. 4 (August 2009): 657–669, http://asr.sagepub.com/content/74/4/657.
- [SKIM] M. McPherson, L. Smith-Lovin, and M. E Brashears, “Models and Marginals: Using Survey Evidence to Study Social Networks,” American Sociological Review 74, no. 4 (2009): 670—681, http://asr.sagepub.com/content/74/4/670.short.
- [READ ABSTRACT] Anthony Paik and Kenneth Sanchagrin, “Social Isolation in America An Artifact,” American Sociological Review (2013): 0003122413482919, http://asr.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/04/05/0003122413482919.abstract.
- N. Eagle, A. S. Pentland, and D. Lazer, “Inferring Friendship Network Structure by Using Mobile Phone Data,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106, no. 36 (2009): 15274—15278, http://www.pnas.org/content/106/36/15274.short.
- Sharad Goel and Matthew J. Salganik, “Assessing Respondent-Driven Sampling,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107, no. 15 (2010): 6743–6747, http://www.pnas.org/content/107/15/6743.short.
- Tian Zheng, Matthew J. Salganik, and Andrew Gelman, “How Many People Do You Know in Prison?: Using Overdispersion in Count Data to Estimate Social Structure in Networks,” Journal of the American Statistical Association 101, no. 474 (June 2006): 409–423, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27590705.
- [READ ABSTRACT] Cathleen McGrath, Jim Blythe, and David Krackhardt, “The Effect of Spatial Arrangement on Judgments and Errors in Interpreting Graphs,” Social Networks 19, no. 3 (1997): 223–242, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378873396002997.
- check out hive plots
I’ll share a video that derives some properties of random graph models; if you want extra background, the Newman chapter (which the video is based on) is a good reference:
- Mark Newman, Networks: An Introduction, 2nd ed. (Oxford university press, 2018), ch. 11. - Poisson random graph models (NB: this is ch. 12 in the first edition)
Wed, Sep 10 - Social capital and SOWT: Classics
Readings we will discuss:
- Mark S. Granovetter, “The Strength of Weak Ties,” American Journal of Sociology (1973): 1360–1380, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/2776392.
- S. L. Feld, “The Focused Organization of Social Ties,” American Journal of Sociology (1981): 1015—1035, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/2778746.
- J. S. Coleman, “Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital,” American Journal of Sociology (1988): 95—120, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/2780243.
Wed, Sep 17 - Homophily - network formation based on similarity
- Gueorgi Kossinets and Duncan J. Watts, “Empirical Analysis of an Evolving Social Network,” Science 311, no. 5757 (January 2006): 88–90, http://www.sciencemag.org/content/311/5757/88.
- G. Kossinets and D. J. Watts, “Origins of Homophily in an Evolving Social Network,” American Journal of Sociology 115, no. 2 (2009): 405—450, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/599247?ai=s6&af=R.
- Sergio Currarini, Matthew O. Jackson, and Paolo Pin, “Identifying the Roles of Race-Based Choice and Chance in High School Friendship Network Formation,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107, no. 11 (2010): 4857–4861, http://www.pnas.org/content/107/11/4857.short.
- Peter D. Hoff, Adrian E. Raftery, and Mark S. Handcock, “Latent Space Approaches to Social Network Analysis,” Journal of the American Statistical Association 97, no. 460 (2002): 1090–1098, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1198/016214502388618906.
Wed, Sep 24 - Network models, connectivity, and small worlds
Readings to discuss:
- Stanley Milgram, “The Small World Problem,” Psychology Today 1 (1967): 62–67, https://courses.cit.cornell.edu/info2950_2012sp/milgram.pdf.
- J. Travers and S. Milgram, “An Experimental Study of the Small World Problem,” Sociometry (1969): 425–443, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/2786545.
- D. J. Watts and S. H. Strogatz, “Collective Dynamics of ‘Small-World’networks,” Nature 393, no. 6684 (1998): 440–442, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v393/n6684/abs/393440a0.html.
- Jon M. Kleinberg, “Navigation in a Small World,” Nature 406, no. 6798 (2000): 845–845, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v406/n6798/abs/406845a0.html.
- Duncan J. Watts, Peter Sheridan Dodds, and Mark EJ Newman, “Identity and Search in Social Networks,” Science 296, no. 5571 (2002): 1302–1305, http://science.sciencemag.org/content/296/5571/1302.short.
- P. S. Dodds, R. Muhamad, and D. J. Watts, “An Experimental Study of Search in Global Social Networks,” Science 301, no. 5634 (2003): 827Äì–829, http://www.sciencemag.org/content/301/5634/827.short.
Some fairly recent online discussion of the small world hypothesis:
- a relevant Facebook research note
- and a relevant comment by Duncan Watts
Wed, Oct 1 - Network formation over time and scale-free networks
- A. L. Barabási and R. Albert, “Emergence of Scaling in Random Networks,” Science 286, no. 5439 (1999): 509—512, http://www.sciencemag.org/content/286/5439/509.short.
- Anna D. Broido and Aaron Clauset, “Scale-Free Networks Are Rare,” arXiv:1801.03400 [Physics, q-Bio, Stat] (January 2018), http://arxiv.org/abs/1801.03400.
- Peter S. Bearman, James Moody, and Katherine Stovel, “Chains of Affection: The Structure of Adolescent Romantic and Sexual Networks1,” American Journal of Sociology 110, no. 1 (2004): 44–91, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/386272.
- M. Morris and M. Kretzschmar, “Concurrent Partnerships and the Spread of HIV,” AIDS 11, no. 5 (1997): 641, https://journals.lww.com/aidsonline/_layouts/15/oaks.journals/downloadpdf.aspx?an=00002030-199704000-00012.
Some recent online discussions of the power law debate (not required reading):
Wed, Oct 8 - Project check-in
We will not meet in person, but I will organize a way for each of us to spend a few minutes explaining what we plan to work on for the final project. There will be an opportunity for some peer feedback.
Wed, Oct 15 - Structure, segregation, and communities
- Peter M. Blau, “A Macrosociological Theory of Social Structure,” American Journal of Sociology 83, no. 1 (1977): 26–54, http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/226505.
- Jure Leskovec, Daniel Huttenlocher, and Jon Kleinberg, “Signed Networks in Social Media,” in Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (ACM, 2010), 1361–1370, https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1753532.
- Thomas A. DiPrete et al., “Segregation in Social Networks Based on Acquaintanceship and Trust,” American Journal of Sociology 116, no. 4 (2011): 1234–83, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/659100.
- Mark EJ Newman and Michelle Girvan, “Finding and Evaluating Community Structure in Networks,” Physical Review E 69, no. 2 (2004): 026113, http://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.69.026113.
Wed, Oct 22 - Social capital and SOWT: Contemporary
Readings we will discuss:
- Sinan Aral and Marshall Van Alstyne, “The Diversity-Bandwidth Trade-off,” American Journal of Sociology 117, no. 1 (July 2011): 90–171, https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/661238.
- Raj Chetty et al., “Social Capital I: Measurement and Associations with Economic Mobility,” Nature 608, no. 7921 (August 2022): 108–121, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04996-4.
- Raj Chetty et al., “Social Capital II: Determinants of Economic Connectedness,” Nature 608, no. 7921 (August 2022): 122–134, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04997-3.
Also, check out the social capital atlas.
Wed, Oct 29 - Simple contagion
The reading is not too long this week. Please take the opportunity to work on your project, and to catch up on your extra paper presentations!
- Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler, “Social Network Sensors for Early Detection of Contagious Outbreaks,” PloS One 5, no. 9 (2010): e12948, http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0012948.
- Stéphane Helleringer and Hans-Peter Kohler, “Sexual Network Structure and the Spread of HIV in Africa: Evidence from Likoma Island, Malawi:” AIDS 21, no. 17 (November 2007): 2323–2332, http://content.wkhealth.com/linkback/openurl?sid=WKPTLP:landingpage&an=00002030-200711120-00009.
- Dennis M. Feehan and Ayesha S. Mahmud, “Quantifying Population Contact Patterns in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Nature Communications 12, no. 1 (2021): 1–9.
Wed, Nov 5 - Complex contagion and social influence part I
- Mark Granovetter, “Threshold Models of Collective Behavior,” American Journal of Sociology 83, no. 6 (1978): 1420–1443, http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2778111.
- Damon Centola, “The Social Origins of Networks and Diffusion,” American Journal of Sociology 120, no. 5 (2015): 1295–1338, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/681275.
- Johan Ugander et al., “Structural Diversity in Social Contagion,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109, no. 16 (2012): 5962–5966, http://www.pnas.org/content/109/16/5962.short.
- N. A. Christakis and J. H. Fowler, “The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social Network over 32 Years,” New England Journal of Medicine 357, no. 4 (2007): 370—379, http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmsa066082.
- Cosma Rohilla Shalizi and Andrew C. Thomas, “Homophily and Contagion Are Generically Confounded in Observational Social Network Studies,” Sociological Methods & Research 40, no. 2 (2011): 211–239, http://smr.sagepub.com/content/40/2/211.short.
Wed, Nov 12 - Social influence II
Note: we may only do a subset of these
- David W. Nickerson, “Is Voting Contagious? Evidence from Two Field Experiments,” American Political Science Review 102, no. 1 (2008): 49–57, http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0003055408080039.
- Robert M. Bond et al., “A 61-Million-Person Experiment in Social Influence and Political Mobilization,” Nature 489, no. 7415 (2012): 295–298, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v489/n7415/abs/nature11421.html.
- Abhijit Banerjee et al., “The Diffusion of Microfinance,” Science 341, no. 6144 (2013): 1236498, http://science.sciencemag.org/content/341/6144/1236498.short.
- Edoardo M. Airoldi and Nicholas A. Christakis, “Induction of Social Contagion for Diverse Outcomes in Structured Experiments in Isolated Villages,” Science 384, no. 6695 (May 2024): eadi5147, https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi5147.
Wed, Nov 19 Collaboration and cooperation
Note: the readings for this week are especially likely to change; this is a placeholder for this topic…
- Jing Wang, Siddharth Suri, and Duncan J. Watts, “Cooperation and Assortativity with Dynamic Partner Updating,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109, no. 36 (2012): 14363–14368, http://www.pnas.org/content/109/36/14363.short.
- David G. Rand et al., “Static Network Structure Can Stabilize Human Cooperation,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111, no. 48 (2014): 17093–17098, http://www.pnas.org/content/111/48/17093.short.
- Akihiro Nishi et al., “Inequality and Visibility of Wealth in Experimental Social Networks,” Nature 526, no. 7573 (2015): 426–429, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v526/n7573/abs/nature15392.html.
- Roger Guimera et al., “Team Assembly Mechanisms Determine Collaboration Network Structure and Team Performance,” Science 308, no. 5722 (2005): 697–702, http://science.sciencemag.org/content/308/5722/697.short.
- Winter Mason and Duncan J. Watts, “Collaborative Learning in Networks,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109, no. 3 (2012): 764–769, http://www.pnas.org/content/109/3/764.short.
- Winter Mason, Siddharth Suri, and Duncan J. Watts, “Long-Run Learning in Games of Cooperation,” in Proceedings of the Fifteenth ACM Conference on Economics and Computation (ACM, 2014), 821–838, http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2602892.
- Matthew O. Jackson, Tomas Rodriguez-Barraquer, and Xu Tan, “Social Capital and Social Quilts: Network Patterns of Favor Exchange,” The American Economic Review 102, no. 5 (2012): 1857–1897, http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/aea/aer/2012/00000102/00000005/art00004.
Wed, Nov 26 - Thanksgiving (no class)
Enjoy the break!
Wed, Dec 3 - Mini-conference
For the mini-conference, we will each give a brief presentation of our paper. There’s no specific reading for this week.
Wrap-up
Optional wrap-up:
- Duncan J. Watts, “The ’New’ Science of Networks,” Annual Review of Sociology (2004): 243–270, http://www.jstor.org/stable/29737693.
- Mark EJ Newman and Juyong Park, “Why Social Networks Are Different from Other Types of Networks,” Physical Review E 68, no. 3 (2003): 036122, http://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.68.036122.
- Matthew O. Jackson, Brian W. Rogers, and Yves Zenou, “The Economic Consequences of Social Network Structure” (2016), https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2467812.