(1990). Ties and Bonds. Connections, 13 (3) - INSNA

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Elsas, Donald A. (1990) . The Scheiblechner model : A loglinear analysis of social interaction data . Social
Networks, 12, 57-82 .
In this paper we will study the attempt of Scheiblechner to measure social relations with model parameters
that are estimated from directed social interaction frequencies . We will show that his estimation procedure is an
application of loglinear analysis . The model is used to analyze data from the field of classical music. Finally it is
shown how the package GLIM can be used to realize the Scheiblechner model .
Erickson, Bonnie H ., & Nosanchuk, TAMA. (1990) . How an apolitical association politicizes . Canadian Review of
Sociology and Anthropology, 27, 206ff.
Participation in politics rises with participation in voluntary associations, even when these associations are
quite apolitical . Theory suggests that members of such groups get politicized through acquaintance diversity, network
size, association activity, holding office, helping with administrative work, or discussing politics with fellow
members . This paper pioneers a suitable strategy for testing these mechanisms and applies this strategy to an
organization irrelevant to politics . Only political discussion mobilizes political participation . If people have friends
who talk politics in the association, they do so more themselves . The effect is strongest for peripheral members .
Intense involvement in a very apolitical organization is at best irrelevant to political participation and may even
divert people from political activity.
Everett, Martin G ., Boyd, John P., & Borgatti, Stephen P. (1990) . Ego-centered and local roles : A graph theoretic
approach . Journal of Mathematical Sociology, 15, 163- 172 .
Structural equivalence (Lorrain and White, 1971) and automorphic equivalence (Everett, 1985) are generalized
to define neighborhood- and ego-centered equivalences . It is shown that local versions of these equivalences
can then be formulated quite naturally . In addition to these natural localizations, a generalized procedure capable
of localizing any model of role equivalence is presented. From a theoretical point of view, local roles are recommended
by the notion that network influences on ego diminish with distance . From a practical point of view, local
roles help find structure in graphs where global equivalences find no two actors equivalent .
Fararo, Thomas J. (1989) . The spirit of unification in sociological theory . Sociological Theory, 7, x-x .
This paper discusses examples of integrative metatheoretical and theoretical work undertaken in the spirit of
unification . Unification is defined as a recursive process in which the outcome of any one integrative episode
provides ideas that may enter into further such episodes . The conceptual materials entering into integration exists
at different levels and in distinct contexts . At the metatheoretical level, the examples relate to a number of contexts
and issues, including methodological individualism versus holism . At the theoretical level, two examples of the idea
of a unification episode are described . In each instance, the ideas entering into the integrative episode are drawn
from distinct research programs . It is argued that the spirit of unification, as embodied in theoretical practice along
the lives suggested by the examples, can create bridges between disparate theory enterprises so as to help break
down particularistic barriers within sociological theory .
Farber, Bernard . (1989) . Limiting reciprocity among relatives : Theoretical implications of a serendipitous finding .
Sociological Perspectives, 32, 307-330.
This article draws some theoretical implications of the findings of a factor analysis of a scale for indicating the
extent to which people embrace an axiom of amity (or prescriptive altruism) in kinship ties . Separate analyses were
undertaken of two samples of persons aged sixty or over - one in Budapest, Hungary and the other American . The
analysis yielded an unexpected pattern of results, namely, that the axiom of amity and the presupposition of distrust
of kin refer to two separate factors . The results suggest that a duality exists in the minds of the interviewees in their
conception of kinship reciprocity . The presupposition of distrust of relatives lends itself to two alternative interpretations
. In the Hungarian sample, the items with the highest loadings on the Distrust factor dealt with exploitation
by kin, and generally the Hungarians reported more agreement than did the United States with statements that
kin are exploitive. In the U .S . sample, the items with the highest loadings on the distrust factor refer to unfairness
and incommensurability in exchange, and the U .S . sample reported more agreement with statements that exchanges
among kin are unfair. One interpretation of these tendencies derives from the conceptualization of kinship as an
element in a social system. The second interpretation is derived from the proposition that kinship systems express
basic paradigms of exchange prevalent in a society .
Fall/Winter 1990
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