A Structural Theory of Social Influence

An account of consensus formation that is unique in its integration of work from the fields of social psychology and sociology.

Noah E. Friedkin (Author)

9780521454827, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 September 1998

252 pages, 31 b/w illus. 15 tables
23.6 x 15.8 x 2 cm, 0.523 kg

"The work is well written and meticulously argued. Friedkin is a master of his craft, and he provides here an entree into network analysis that is important for organizational researchers." David Strang, Administrative Science Quarterly

This book addresses a phenomenon that has been much studied in anthropology, sociology and administrative science - the social structural foundations of coordinated activity and consensus in complexly differentiated communities and organizations. Such foundations are important because social differentiation makes coordination and agreement especially hard to achieve and maintain. Friedkin focuses on the process of social influence, and on how this process, when it is played out in a network of interpersonal influence, may result in interpersonal agreements among actors who are located in different parts of a complexly differentiated organization. This work builds on structural role analysis which provides a description of the pattern of social differentiation in a population. Interpretation of the revealed social structures has long been a problem. The steps for structural analysis that are proposed in this book are addressed to the above problem. To explain the coordination of social positions, the author pursues the development of a structural social psychology that attends to both social structure and process.

List of tables and figures
Preface
Part A. Theory and Setting: 1. Social structure and social Control
2. Toward a structural social psychology
3. A setting in the scientific community
Part B. Measures of the Theoretical Constructs: 4. A structural parameterization
5. Interpersonal influence
6. Self and other
7. Social positions
Part C. Analysis: 8. The structure of social space
9. The production of consensus
10. Influence of actors and social positions
11. Durkheim's vision
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Social theory [JHBA]