Room:
P10 (00 441 P10)
Topic:
Varieties of Qualitative Perspectives in Social Network Analysis
Form of presentation:
Oral presentation
Duration:
90 Minutes
03:35 pm
Snapshot vs. Biography: Ego-Centered Social Networks in Biographic Perspective
André Knabe | Universität Rostock | Germany
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Authors:
André Knabe | Universität Rostock | Germany
Andreas Klärner | Thünen Institute of Rural Studies | Germany
Research on poverty often refers to social consequences of poverty (isolation, homogenization, stigmatization), but also to social determinants of coping with poverty (social support, social integration). So it is recommended to integrate social network analysis in qualitative poverty research to widen the perspective beyond the subjective narratives of the interviewees. But while biographic narratives refer to a certain temporality of events within the life course, egocentric network data usually is a snapshot of the current relationships of a person. Network data alone, does not report very much about the emergence and the development of ties. We can identify ties as supportive or burdening, but we are not able to say very much about the stories and histories behind different kinds of ties.
We want to present our mixed-methods-approach to combine biographic-narrative analysis with quantitative ego-centered network data. We want to show, how individual action is enabled and restricted by social ties and biographic experiences. Our analysis starts at the current living situation and it's embeddedness in social network structures. In a second step we show which ties within the network are grown in which biographical context of life.
We analyze qualitative interviews with 55 women and men, who were asked about their everyday life and their coping with having very little money. We also collected social network data using the software Vennmaker, mainly asking for supporting but also for quarrelling people. This mixed-methods approach enabled us to analyze the social support network within the frame of the lifeworld of respondents.
Our results show, that snapshots of social Networks give a deep insight in the life-course of the interviewees. If we combine ego-centered network analysis with qualitative methods, we are able to understand the emergence of existing ties within biographical contexts. Existing supportive as well as negative ties, are not only a result of contemporary capacities to organize one's network, but they are linked to events and involvement in social structures in the past.
03:55 pm
Differences in the network structure of female professors from different scientific disciplines
Marina Hennig | JGU Mainz | Germany
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Author:
Marina Hennig | JGU Mainz | Germany
While the network structures of male professors in the natural and social sciences only differ slightly, clear differences can be observed between female professors working in different disciplines.
In this instance the network size and composition differ between feminized and masculinized scientific disciplines and have different effects on individual career development and on network strategies. The social sciences tend to be among the feminized scientific disciplines, which also have a much broader range of relationship types and present greater gender heterogeneity in the network composition than the natural sciences. The differences in the network structures of female professors, their causes, and their impacts on career paths are explained and discussed in this presentation. The database consists of a combination of problem-centered interviews and a quantitative network survey of ten professors (male and female) from different disciplines (social and natural sciences) working at different universities in Germany, which was carried out in 2015.
04:15 pm
Networks as identification resource – Evidence from narrative self-verifications of nascent entrepreneurs
Stefan Bernhard | Germany
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Authors:
Stefan Bernhard | Germany
Nilgun Massih-Tehrani
The presentation draws on and develops qualitative methods in network research. It focuses on aspects of social networks that formal (quantitative) methods neglect, i.e. social networks as identification resources. While research on social capital has stressed the importance, varieties and challenges of networks as resources, their contribution to identification processes has attracted little attention. In light of the emphasis given to “identity” and “interaction” in recent network theorising, this is an astounding omission. We address this research lacunae by looking at processes of self-verification in the transition from unemployment to self-employment. To reinforce their identification with the new and challenging role of an entrepreneur, people use self-verifications towards members of their personal networks. Drawing on narrative network interviews with nascent entrepreneurs I distinguish forms of self-verifications from networks and different usages of personal networks for identification projects. Our study shows that identifications resources are an important resource dimension of social networks that complements traditional forms of social capital.