Using big data to examine the effect of urbanism on social networks

ABSTRACT

Sociological theories suggest that urban life affects human sociability in negative ways. People in urban areas are expected to have fewer and weaker ties than those in rural areas. Rural areas should have proportionally more local ties, whereas urban areas have stronger nonlocal ties. We test these hypotheses using comprehensive large-scale data from a mobile phone company in Spain. We examine urban and rural differences in terms of the average number of ties and the composition and strength of local vs. nonlocal ties of subscribers in 6,124 postal codes. Consistent with urbanism theories, networks in more urban areas are smaller but the effect is weak. What is more pronounced are urban–rural differences in the composition and strength of local and nonlocal ties. There is a tradeoff between strength and number of ties. In urban places where local ties are weaker, there are more such ties, whereas in rural places where local ties are stronger, there are fewer local ties. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the results.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Cheng Wang

Cheng Wang is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame. His research interests include social network analysis, computational social science, and statistics and methods.

Omar Lizardo

Omar Lizardo is the LeRoy Neiman Term Chair Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research deals with various topics at the intersection of cultural sociology, network science, and cognitive social science.

David S. Hachen

David S. Hachen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and the co-director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Network Science and Applications (iCeNSA) at the University of Notre Dame. His current research focuses on the coevolution of people’s behaviors and social networks.