Geographical variability and network structure

Butts, Carter T.; Acton, Ryan M.; Hipp, John R.; Nagle, Nicholas N.

doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2011.08.003

Cited by 135 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…One implication is that the spatial distribution of people in the neighborhood, the particular mechanism of interest, and when it is expected to have an effect may provide insight to why prior research has not found protective effects for social ties in regards to crime control (Browning et al, 2004;Pattillo, 1998). The findings also suggest a need for future research to explicitly consider other approaches to capture distance to alters than simply average distance, to capture a more heterogeneous spatial pattern (e.g., see Butts et al 2011). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Social fabric and fear of crime: Considering spatial location and time of day

et al. 2017

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Criminologists have long noted that social networks play a role in influencing residents' fear of crime, but findings vis a vis the exact nature of that role have been mixed. More social ties may be associated with less fear of crime through their role in collective action, trust, and emotional support, but also with more fear of crime because of their role in the diffusion of information on local crime patterns. In what follows, we suggest temporal and spatial distinctions in how social ties matter for fear of crime with respect to these different mechanisms. Analysis of data from a large scale egocentric network study in Southern California provides evidence for these claims.Keywords: neighborhoods, social networks, spatial effects, time of day, fear of crime John R. Hipp is a Professor in the departments of Criminology, Law and Society, and Sociology, at the University of California Irvine. His research interests focus on how neighborhoods change over time, how that change both affects and is affected by neighborhood crime, and the role networks and institutions play in that change. He approaches these questions using quantitative methods as well as social network analysis. He has published substantive work in such journals as American Sociological Review, Criminology, Social Forces, Social Problems, Mobilization, City & Community, Urban Studies Fear of crime is a long-standing policy issue of great importance in the U.S., and a large body of literature has emerged on the question of its determinants (Ferraro, 1995;Skogan and Maxfield, 1981;Warr, 1990). One recurrent theme in this literature is that social networks play an important role in influencing residents' fear of crime (e.g., see Bursik and Grasmick, 1993); however, there is considerable debate about the nature of that role. For instance, residents who have more local alters might have more information about criminal activities in the area and hence express more fear, but residents with more local alters might also perceive more potential for collective action in the neighborhood, and therefore express less fear (Bursik and Grasmick, 1993;Skogan and Maxfield, 1981).1 The importance of alter locations for the types of ties ego is likely to have to them, and the types of exchanges taking place through those ties, suggests that the spatial dimension of network structure (itself a topic of growing interest e.g., see Butts et al., 2012) may help disambiguate the relationship between personal networks and fear of crime. In particular, we posit that different mechanisms of social ties for fear of crime have distinct spatial implications. As most research in this area either ignores space or implicitly presumes that alters are only of interest when located in the area nearby ego, little consideration has been given to the effects of alters who are located farther away. In this paper, we examine alter distance on ego's fear of crime, explicitly testing for the effects of both proximate and distant alters.While the spatial distribution of alters ma...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Social fabric and fear of crime: Considering spatial location and time of day

et al. 2017

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“…whether ego is located in an urban or rural area (i.e., the larger spatial scale around ego's home). When considering population density, some research in the planning literature has found that it is not related to degree (Freeman, 2001), but the social networks literature has shown evidence that the spatial distribution of the population is key for network structure (Butts et al, 2012;Fischer, 1977). In this view, population density is fundamentally linked to the opportunity pool of potential contacts.…”

Section: The Built Environment and Personal Social Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

The built environment, spatial scale, and social networks: Do land uses matter for personal network structure?

Boessen

Hipp²,

Butts

et al. 2017

Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science

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In this study, we examine how different features of the built environment -density, diversity of land uses, and design -have consequences for personal networks. We also consider whether different features of the built environment have consequences for the spatial location of persons to whom one is tied by considering their distribution in local area, broader city region, and a more macro spatial scale. We test these ideas with a large sample of the Western United States for three different types of ties. Our findings suggest that the built environment is crucial for personal network structure, both in the number of social ties and where they are located.Keywords: neighborhoods, social networks, spatial effects, built environment, land use 3 Bio Adam Boessen is an Assistant Professor in the department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. His primary research interests include neighborhoods and crime, geography and space, and social networks.John R. Hipp is a Professor in the departments of Criminology, Law and Society, and Sociology, at the University of California Irvine. His research interests focus on how neighborhoods change over time, how that change both affects and is affected by neighborhood crime, and the role networks and institutions play in that change. He approaches these questions using quantitative methods as well as social network analysis. He has published substantive

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“…The complex interactions between individuals, institutions and organizations are allowed as well as constrained by space. It is known, for example, that social interaction patterns like friendship networks are embedded in the geographical setting of the people involved, in such a way that the likelihood of a contact tie to form between two individuals decreases as the geographical distance separating them increases (Butts et al 2012). Likewise, a well-studied fact in urban systems is that the amount of people traveling between two cities is roughly inversely proportional to the distance separating the cities (Zipf 1946).…”

Section: Social Space and The Geometry Of Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The underlying geometry of organizational dynamics: similarity-based social space and labor flow network communities

Mondani

2017

Comput Math Organ Theory

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In this article, we use Swedish longitudinal register data to study the effect that similarity in organizational properties has on the interaction between organizations. We map out the social space of large organizations in the Stockholm Region and the interplay between social distance and the network communities of employee movements between organizations. We firstly use homogeneity analysis to describe the dynamics of organizations in terms of the time evolution of their similarity. Our results show that most categorical variables are quite stable over time. Organizations linked through employee movement edges have a lower average distance in social space than non-linked organizations. Secondly, we look at network community dynamics in social space. Employee flows between organizations in different communities exhibit a so-called gravity law from spatial statistics, decaying more slowly than observed geographical networks, meaning that employees reach out regions of social space further than of physical space. Finally, the rate of change of distance in homogeneity space exhibits a statistical distribution similar to the ones found in various other growth processes in natural and man-made systems.

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Geographical variability and network structure

Cited by 135 publications

References 24 publications

Social fabric and fear of crime: Considering spatial location and time of day

Social fabric and fear of crime: Considering spatial location and time of day

The built environment, spatial scale, and social networks: Do land uses matter for personal network structure?

The underlying geometry of organizational dynamics: similarity-based social space and labor flow network communities

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