Mathematical ideas in social structural analysis*

For helpful comments we are indebted to Ronald S. Burt, Karen E. Campbell, Thomas J. Fararo, Valerie Haines, David Knoke, and Eric Leifer. Address all correspondence to: Peter V. Marsden, Department of Sociology, Hamilton Hall 070A, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, USA 27514.

Social structural analysis is an approach to studying social structure that emphasizes the relatedness of units or actors, and gives well‐defined meaning to structural concepts through the methods and techniques of social network analysis. Three broad strategies for representation of social structures have been developed: topo‐logical, graph‐theoretic, and spatial models. Each of these makes use of mathematical ideas to give explicit meaning to sociological ones. These strategies are briefly reviewed here; we then turn to a discussion of accomplishments of structural analysis to date, consideration of theoretical, data/empirical, and institutional impediments to sustained progress, and assessment of prospects.

Notes

For helpful comments we are indebted to Ronald S. Burt, Karen E. Campbell, Thomas J. Fararo, Valerie Haines, David Knoke, and Eric Leifer. Address all correspondence to: Peter V. Marsden, Department of Sociology, Hamilton Hall 070A, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, USA 27514.