ERIC Number: EJ720306
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005-Sep
Pages: 30
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0037-7732
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
What Does Love Mean? Exploring Network Culture in Two Network Settings
Yeung, King-To
Social Forces, v84 n1 p391-420 Sep 2005
Meaning matters in the way people form social ties. Adopting an unconventional analytic technique--the Galois lattice analysis--I show how network researchers can uncover relational meanings using conventional research techniques (i.e., closed-ended network surveys). Galois lattice analysis also inspires new ways of conceptualizing relational meanings in terms of the duality of persons and relationships, that is, how actors' understandings of each other as persons define the understandings of their relationships with them, and vice versa. The co-constitution of these dualistic meanings thus defines a "network culture." Comparing two communal settings in which the meaning of "love" is constructed, I demonstrate that different network cultures produce different meaning structures that guide how actors relate to one another, resulting in different degrees of group stability. (Includes 1 table, 6 figures, and 30 endnotes.)
Descriptors: Intimacy, Research Methodology, Interpersonal Relationship, Social Networks, Friendship, Individual Characteristics, Cultural Influences, Personality Traits, Urban Areas, Collective Settlements, Group Dynamics
University of North Carolina Press, 116 South Boundry Street, P.O. Box 2288, Chapel Hill, NC 27514. Tel: 919-966-3561; Fax: 919-966-3829.
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United States
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A