Someone to Talk to

ISBN-13: 9780190661427 / Angielski / Twarda / 2017 / 296 str.

Mario Luis Small

Opis

Someone To Talk To reveals the often counter-intuitive nature of social support, showing that Americans often take pains to avoid close friends and family-their "strong ties"-when deciding on whom to rely. In contrast, they often confide in "weak ties," as the need for understanding or empathy trumps their fear of misplaced trust. Amid a growing wave of big data and large-scale network analysis, Mario L. Small returns to the basic questions of who weconnect with, how, and why, upending decades of conventional wisdom on how we should think about and analyze social networks.

Recenzje

Small provides an excellent foray into the deeper social network question of who individuals talk to about issues important to them. Further, his critiques on commonly used methods are well founded and timely. I would highly recommend this book not just for social network analysts or sociologists but health professionals hoping to better understand the social influences that may impact health.

O autorze

Mario L. Small, Grafstein Professor of Sociology at Harvard University, is an expert on poverty, personal networks, cities, and social science methods. He is the author of Villa Victoria: The Transformation of Social Capital in a Boston Barrio and Unanticipated Gains: Origins of Network Inequality in Everyday Life.