Becoming a Nazi: A model for narrative networks

Abstract

This article illustrates a strategy for representing and analyzing narratives as networks. The strategy that we use considers narrative sequences as networks. Elements are treated as nodes which are connected by narrative clauses, represented by arcs. By representing complex event sequences as networks, inducing 'narrative networks', it is possible to observe and measure new structural features of narratives. The narratives we focus on are autobiographical accounts of becoming, and being, a Nazi. The substantive idea that we develop in this article is that the observable narrative structure of life stories can provide insight into the process of identity formation. We illustrate our approach to narrative networks by analyzing a single story that, in conjunction with the analysis of other stories, yields a set of insights into becoming and being.

Genetics and the Social Science Explanation of Individual Outcomes

“…When, precisely, do genetics enter into explanations of individual outcomes? This is not the place for a full philosophy of social science explanation, but one might imagine explanations abstractly as looking something like a network, with nodes being the nouns of explanation (events, states, "variables") and directed edges being the verbs (how cause-effect relations between nodes are produced, "processes," "whys"; see Bearman and Stovel [2000] on narrative networks, Hall [2004] on causal production, and Machamer, Darden, and Craver [2000] on mechanisms). The outcome is the terminal node of this network, with entering directed edges from its immediate causes.…”

A toolkit for analyzing corporate cultural toolkits

“…Semantic analysis combines the analysis of categories (content analysis) with a focus on the grammatical or associational relationships between the concepts (Carley, 1993, p. 93;Roberts, 2000). Semantic analysis is often concerned with implicit maps or concept-networks (Bearman and Stovel, 2000;Carley, 1997). While content-analytic and semantic approaches focus on small textual units, the third approach, narrative analysis, puts the entire text center stage.…”

“…For example, relationships between elements and their positioning in cultural accounts can no longer be analyzed after the aggregation process that lead to the calculation of emphasis metrics. Methodologies, such as sequence analysis (Abbott, 1995) or network-based formal analyses of function and narrative structure (Bearman and Stovel, 2000;Carley, 1997;Mohr, 1998) provide alternative paths.…”

Culture and Choice: Toward Integrating Cultural Sociology with the Judgment and Decision-Making Sciences

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