What is network analysis and why is it useful for community social workers?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

For 30 years, network theorists and researchers have been using network analysis to study community structure. They suggest that communities, like small groups and organizations, should be thought of as networks of social interaction. They have tended to define community as personal community,which is composed of ties with friends, relatives, neighbors, workmates, and so on. Community is personal because the makeup of community membership varies from person to person. Network theorists suggest that new communication technologies, particularly the Internet, have played a large role in transforming community from solidarity community,which seeks the participation of all members in an integrated fashion, to networked individualism,where individuals operate in large, personalized, complex networks. Some network theorists value this transformation, while others argue that communication technologies, and particularly the Internet, can and should be used to develop solidarity community, which is friendlier, richer, and more socially binding than networked individualism, which they argue is a North American idea. Network analysis has been used to study social ties in both territorial and relational communities. In doing so, researchers have found that for many people, community is based more on relationships than territory. One research team did find, however, that barriers of segregation and discrimination make neighborhood relationships more important for Blacks than for Whites. They found that Blacks have more intimate and long-standing ties with neighbors than Whites do in similar neighborhoods, and they engage in more frequent contact with neighbors.