Analyzing the Instrumental Use of Relations in the Context of Social Structure

Nan Lin, Paul W. Dayton and Peter Greenwald
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Nan Lin: State University of New York, Albany
Paul W. Dayton: New York State Department of Health
Peter Greenwald: New York State Department of Health

Sociological Methods & Research, 1978, vol. 7, issue 2, 149-166

Abstract: Employing a variation of the Small World technique for tracing social relations in the context of a larger social structure, the instrumental uses of social relations are examined in terms of the prestige and types of relations characteristic of participants m the search process. The results show that successful chains tend to involve participants of higher occupational prestige as the chains progress before "dipping" down toward the target prestige level at the last link. Also, the successful chains tend to utilize weak and infrequent social relations rather than strong and frequent social relations.

Date: 1978
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:somere:v:7:y:1978:i:2:p:149-166

DOI: 10.1177/004912417800700203

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