Order-disorder phase transition in a cliquey social network

We investigate the network model of community by Watts, Dodds and Newman (D. J. Watts et al., Science 296 (2002) 1302) as a hierarchy of groups, each of 5 individuals. A homophily parameter $\alpha$ controls the probability proportional to $\exp(-\alpha x)$ of selection of neighbours against distance $x$. The network nodes are endowed with spin-like variables $s_i = \pm 1$, with Ising interaction $J>0$. The Glauber dynamics is used to investigate the order-disorder transition. The transition temperature $T_c$ is close to 3.8 for $\alpha < 0.0$ and it falls down to zero above this value. The result provides a mathematical illustration of the social ability to a collective action {\it via} weak ties, as discussed by Granovetter in 1973.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure

Reconstructing the Common Good: Theology and the Social Order

Reviewed Book: Dorrien, Gary J. Reconstructing the Common Good: Theology and the Social Order. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1990

The Orange Order in Scotland since 1860: a social analysis

Book synopsis: Irish immigrants and their descendants have made a vital contribution to the creation of modern Scotland. This book is the first collection of essays on the Irish in Scotland for almost twenty years, and brings together for the first time all the leading authorities on the subject. It provides a major reassessment of the Irish immigrant experience and offers social, cultural and religious development of Scotland over the past 200 years

Second-Order Assortative Mixing in Social Networks

In a social network, the number of links of a node, or node degree, is often assumed as a proxy for the node's importance or prominence within the network. It is known that social networks exhibit the (first-order) assortative mixing, i.e. if two nodes are connected, they tend to have similar node degrees, suggesting that people tend to mix with those of comparable prominence. In this paper, we report the second-order assortative mixing in social networks. If two nodes are connected, we measure the degree correlation between their most prominent neighbours, rather than between the two nodes themselves. We observe very strong second-order assortative mixing in social networks, often significantly stronger than the first-order assortative mixing. This suggests that if two people interact in a social network, then the importance of the most prominent person each knows is very likely to be the same. This is also true if we measure the average prominence of neighbours of the two people. This property is weaker or negative in non-social networks. We investigate a number of possible explanations for this property. However, none of them was found to provide an adequate explanation. We therefore conclude that second-order assortative mixing is a new property of social networks.Comment: Cite as: Zhou S., Cox I.J., Hansen L.K. (2017) Second-Order Assortative Mixing in Social Networks. In: Goncalves B., Menezes R., Sinatra R., Zlatic V. (eds) Complex Networks VIII. CompleNet 2017. Springer Proceedings in Complexity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54241-6_

Social Exchange and the Maintenance of Order in Status-Stratified Systems

This paper examines the role of social exchange in the construction of microorder within status-differentiated relations. How order is constructed and maintained in the context of social inequality is a classic sociological problem. We use a serendipitous finding from a recent experiment as a stimulus for theorizing an important feature of this larger problem of order. The finding is that, in an experiment where African-American females negotiated with white males, the white males received much larger payoffs than the African-American females. Yet, despite substantial power and profit differentiation advantaging white males, both individuals reported positive feelings (pleasure/satisfaction and interest/excitement) to the same degree, which contradicts most research on emotional responses to power. We argue that these similar emotional responses, in the context of substantial payoff inequalities, are due to parallel, joint effects of (a) status processes that create and legitimate initial profit differences and (b) exchange processes that make salient a relationship between the actors during repeated exchange. This explanation integrates notions of status value, referential structure, and legitimacy from status theories with notions of relational cohesion and shared responsibility from exchange theories. Broadly, the paper proposes some ways to productively interweave ideas from status and exchange theories to explain the emergence or maintenance of enduring social inequalities

Sovereignty, intervention, and social order in revolutionary times

This article has been accepted for publication and will appear in a revised form, subsequent to peer review and/or editorial input by Cambridge University Press, in Review of International Studies / Volume 39 / Issue 05 / December 2013, pp 1149 - 1167 Copyright © British International Studies Association 2013 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S026021051300025

Economic structure and social order type in post-communist Europe

The paper is organized in the following way. The first section outlines the basic conceptual framework, emphasizing the symbiotic relationship between economics and politics. Social orders are defined and are shown to differ in the degree to which competition is prevalent, and the extent to which this competition is resolved according to impersonal, universally enforced rules. The second section proposes an explanation for the variation in how competition is channeled across the postcommunist region. It is suggested that different patterns of integration with the international economy, as manifested in the structure of a country’s export profile, can help increase our understanding of the sources of social order across the region. The third section provides some preliminary evidence to support this explanation. --

Between Social Order and Disorder: The Destructive Mode of Coordination

The concept of ‘mode of coordination’ captures the way economy is embedded in social relationships and influences the integration of society through an ‘instituted process.’ Three main typical or ideal modes of coordination have been identified in the literature, namely the market, the bureaucratic and the ethical (reciprocity) modes of coordination (Polanyi 1944, [1957] 1968, Lindblom 1977, and Kornai, 1984, 1992). Our purpose is to introduce another type of coordination that we name ‘destructive mode of coordination’. It is social organisation through the use of coercive means. This type of coordination has almost been entirely neglected in the literature, although it has existed since ancient times in different forms and varieties. A typical recent illustration is the social order under the Islamic Republic of Iran that will be the focus of the paper.mode of coordination; destructive coordination; contradictory orders; parallel institutions; Islamic Republic of Iran