Social Network

Nick Christakis is a sociologist and medical doctor who found that the influence of social networks goes far beyond who we see on a daily basis.  Read an excerpt here.

"Renowned scientists Christakis and Fowler present compelling evidence for our profound influence on one another's tastes, health, wealth, happiness, beliefs, even weight, as they explain how social networks form and how they operate."

Here is Christakis explaining his research at TED:






This is a link to my post about Gephi, a social network visualizer which is especially useful for Facebook and Twitter.
Here are 2 samples of what Gephi can do:

Here is research from The American Sociological Review about how Master Status can be so difficult to change and a powerful influence on an individual.  Here is an explanation of the research on The Society Pages.

Unit 2: Sociological Research

HW: Please read Venkatesh's Gang Leader for a day, due in 2 days.

Unit 1 should have given you an understanding of how sociologists view the world (aka a sociological perspective).  This unit will build on that perspective by giving you an understanding of how sociologists gather research to inform their perspectives.

Let's start with a simple quiz using common sense.  All of these questions are based on sociological research, but if you don't know the research, just answer based on your instinct or your first guess.

Here is the quiz Take the quiz and answer True or False for each.  Answer quickly using common sense.  Then click here to check your answers and see what the point is.

So the point is, that sociology is based on research and sometimes that research reveals that our common sense is not the reality.  And that is why sociology is a scientific study.   Sociological research often shows up in secondary sources.  These sources might mention the conclusions of a study without explaining the methodology that the sociologist used.

Some examples of secondary sources include:

• Often cited in news articles;  Here is a Google search for "sociology" in the NYT.
• The textbook for our class; Real World Sociology by Ferris and Stein. Here are the references for the text.
• Contexts magazine; A publication by the American Sociological Association that explains the latest research in an accessible way for students and general public to understand.  Here is the Contexts website, especially in the In Brief section
• The Society Pages:  Website of sociology resources, especially Discoveries page.

Browse the secondary sources for sociology and find an interesting article.  What did the research find?  Does it explain how the authors did the research?

Ferris and Stein References