Abstract
Network analysis is one of the most promising currents in sociological research, and yet it has never been subjected to a theoretically informed assessment and critique. This article outlines the theoretical presuppositions of network analysis. It also distinguishes between three different (implicit) models in the network literature of the interrelations of social structure, culture, and human agency. It concludes that only a strategy for historical explanation that synthesizes social structural and cultural analysis can adequately explain the formation, reproduction, and transformation of networks themselves. The article sketches the broad contours of such a theoretical synthesis in the conclusion.
Keywords
PresuppositionAgency (philosophy)SociologyReproductionEpistemologySocial network analysisStructure and agencyTransformation (genetics)Network analysisPositive economicsSocial scienceEconomicsPhilosophyEngineeringEcology
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Publication Info
- Year
- 1994
- Type
- article
- Volume
- 99
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1411-1454
- Citations
- 2317
- Access
- Closed
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Cite This
Mustafa Emirbayer,
Jeff Goodwin
(1994).
Network Analysis, Culture, and the Problem of Agency.
American Journal of Sociology
, 99
(6)
, 1411-1454.
https://doi.org/10.1086/230450
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.1086/230450