EXPLAINING COMMUNICATION DISPLACEMENT AND LARGE-SCALE SOCIAL CHANGE IN CORE NETWORKS

Abstract

Decline in the size and diversity of American's core networks has been tied to the displacement of face-to-face interaction and to lower societal well-being. Comparing core networks in the United States, Norway, and Ukraine, we reject the conclusions that frequent in-person contact predicts individual well-being and that large/diverse networks predict broader societal well-being. Individuals of lower socioeconomic status (SES) and societies with lower levels of overall prosperity have higher rates of in-person contact. Internet use is associated with higher in-person contact for the socioeconomically advantaged but lower rates of in-person contact for the disadvantaged. In-person and ICT-based contact is generally associated with maintaining a larger network, but in societies of lower well-being frequent interaction impedes the ability to maintain a large network. In contrast to the positive relationship between individual SES and network size, societal prosperity has a negative relationship to network size. Findings are discussed in relation to social support, democratic engagement, and the digital divide.

Keywords:

• media multiplexity
• computer-mediated communication
• social media
• social presence
• media richness
• civic society
• social isolation

Notes

The construct of ‘immediate kin’ is a slight variation from prior studies that focused on the broader classification of all ‘kin.’ The data collected in Norway and Ukraine did not distinguish extended kin (e.g., aunts and uncles) from the ‘other’ category.

We interpret the direction of the relationship here and elsewhere in this paper as ICT use influencing in-person contact. However, we stress that our data are cross-sectional and that, although we argue in favor of this interpretation, we cannot conclusively demonstrate the direction of this relationship.

In the 2004 GSS, there was no zero-order difference in the percentage of respondents who reported having no discussion confidants when in-person and telephone interviews were compared (Fischer 2009).

A recent replication of the core network ‘important matters’ question on a large, representative number of American adults suggests that the first two years of the Great Recession, presumably a time of increased need of informal support, may have been met with a small increase in core network size (Hampton et al. 2011a).