UN3920 Social Networks

Spring 2021 | Thursdays 4:10-6PM

Room: Philosophy Hall 507

Office hours: 1-2:30pm Tuesdays, please sign up here

Instructor Email: jyc2163@columbia.edu

Course Summary

What is this course about?

Social networks are integral in everyday life. Networks are part of how we get a job, find partners, and discover new music. They also help us explain cultural change, innovation, or pandemic dynamics.

The goal of the course is equip you to think sociologically1 about networks. A unifying theme is that the social world is relational. How would we identify whether someone is respected in a group, except in relation to others in the group? How do we identify whether something is innovative without relating it to what came before? Often, we can better understand the social world when we think through the lens of social networks.

During the first four weeks of this course, you’ll learn the basic vocabulary around networks and network analysis. The remaining weeks will explore topics like social capital, innovation, hierarchy, power, homophily, contagion, culture, and peer influence. Theory and methods are intertwined, and the course will require that you collect, visualize, and analyze a social network. In groups, you will produce a final paper that uses concepts from this course to describe what you see in the network you collect.

What should you expect to get out of this course?

By the end of the course, you should be able to:

  1. identify social networks in everyday life,
  2. analyze the building blocks of networks, such as dyads and triads,
  3. collect your own network data on a problem interesting to you,
  4. describe the features of the network you collected,
  5. articulate how social networks help us understand important social phenomena.

What is the structure of course sessions?

Class will meet once per week. Each class typically will begin with discussion of readings which requires participation. I will conclude class with a 20 minute lecture to highlight key concepts and notations that will assist you in the following week’s readings.

A core part of this class is group discussion and collaboration. Working collaboratively is a core skill that you will use in nearly any career you choose. Also, after a year of remote learning, working in groups is a way to reconnect with or meet new people.

What kind of student does this course have in mind?

This is an undergraduate upper division seminar. That means it is intended for advanced undergraduate students in Sociology and related disciplines. There are no formal pre-requisite courses, and I have designed the course to be accessible even to those with no programming experience. We will not be covering statistical modelling of networks (such as exponential random graph models), and as such, this course will complement methods-focused courses like “GR 5062 Social Network Analysis.”

How will performance be assessed?

There are four requirements for this class.

Assignment Description Deadlines
Final project (30%) You will collect your own social network data to write a short paper (max 20 pages, double spaced). This report should (a) describe your data collection, (b) visualize your network, (c) summarize the concepts and ideas you are investigating, and (d) showcase what you see in your network. This will be a group project with 2-3 people. To reduce the chance of unfair work distribution, please submit your final paper in the form of a Google doc. I will rely on document history to see who contributed what. I may also ask your group for a contribution statement. A rubric will be provided in class. Your group will present your project results on April 28. The final paper is due via upload to Coursework by 11:59pm on Wednesday May 4.
Short assignments (15%) There are five short assignments due earlier in the semester. These are meant to jumpstart your progress toward the final project. Due throughout the semester via upload to Coursework by 5:00 pm Wednesday, the day before the class.
Leading discussion and memos (25%) Please sign up to be discussion leaders for one of the weekly readings. You will do this twice (2x) during the semester. As a discussion leader, you will communicate to the class what you see as the most important points raised by the readings and prompt additional discussion about them. Discussion leaders should also write a 1-page single spaced memo that summarizes (1 paragraph), evaluates (1 paragraph), and extends (1-2 paragraphs) the core idea of a reading that interests you. Discussion leaders for that week are also invited to meet with me as needed. Please fill out a survey by 5:00pm Jan 21, ranking up to four papers you would be interested in leading.
Class participation (30%) Participation refers to informed contributions to the class. In addition to in-class participation, we will be using Perusall to help us collectively engage with the readings. Perusall is like Google Docs for the readings: you can highlight, comment, discuss, tag, and otherwise share your questions or observations about each text. Some people will contribute more in class, others will contribute more through online comments. Both are valid forms of participation.

What are the basic norms in this course?

  • If you need disability-related accommodations, let me know as soon as possible. You have the right to have your needs met. If you need accommodations, you should be registered with the Office of Disability Services (ODS) in 008 Milbank (212-854-2388, disability@columbia.edu).
  • Life happens. If you submit your work after the deadlines listed above and before the final class of the semester, you can still receive up to 90% of the original points. (But, don’t expect to receive comments.)
  • Avoid using cell phones in class, which can prevent you or others from learning. In cases of emergencies, please take your phone outside.
  • I try to respond to emails within 24 hours. You are welcome to follow-up if I have not responded by then.

What are expectations regarding academic integrity?

Students are expected to exhibit the highest level of personal and academic honesty as they engage in scholarly discourse and research. In practical terms, you must be responsible for the full and accurate attribution of the ideas of others in all of your research papers and projects; you must be honest when taking your examinations; you must always submit your own work and not that of another student, scholar, or internet source. Students are responsible for knowing and correctly utilizing bibliographical guidelines.

Where can I access course materials?

The readings for each week of this course are listed below. There is one required textbook for this course:

đź“• Easley, David, and Jon Kleinberg (EK). 2010. Networks, crowds, and markets: Reasoning about a highly connected world. Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 978-0521195331. I have chosen this text in part because a version of this text is available online.

Other than the required textbook, all other readings are available online via the below links.

The study of social networks is sprawling, and we cannot possibly touch on all topics. For reference, here are other major books on social networks:

  • đź“• Stanley Wasserman and Katherine Faust, Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications (Cambridge, 1994)
  • đź“• Jackson, Matthew O. 2008. Social and Economic Networks. New Jersey: Princeton U. Press.
  • đź“• Barabasi, Albert-Laszlo. 2016. Network Science. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Readings and Due Dates for Assignments

Week 1. The Ubiquity of Networks (Jan 20)

Please complete your preferences for discussion leading before Sunday Jan 23, 11:59pm.

Week 2: Types of Network Data (Jan 27)

âť— Short Assignment 1 - complete group assignment questionnaire before class.

Week 3: Collecting Network Data (Feb 3)

Week 4: Egocentric Networks (Feb 10)

âť— Short Assignment 2 - submit a one-page summary of what kind of network data your group will collect.

Week 5: Social Capital (Feb 17)

Week 6: Homophily and Echo Chambers (Feb 24)

âť— Short Assignment 3 - install R and RStudio, and work through this introductory tutorial on Datacamp: https://campus.datacamp.com/courses/free-introduction-to-r. Upload a screenshot of your completion badge.

Week 7: Balance (March 3)

Week 8: Brokerage and Innovation (Mar 10)

âť— Short Assignment 4 - this is a group assignment. Complete the R tutorial on visualizing networks. Submit a 1-page writeup responding to the questions in the tutorial.

SPRING BREAK: no class (March 17)

Week 9: Hierarchies (March 24)

Week 10: Clusters and Affiliations (March 31)

Week 11: Peer Effects and Contagion (April 7)

Week 12: Small Worlds (April 14)

âť— Short Assignment 5: Submit an complete outline (or draft) of your final paper. Include a one-page cover letter describing any remaining questions or issues your group is facing.

Week 13: Culture (April 21)

Week 14: Final presentations (April 28)

NO READINGS

âť— Final Papers Due (11:59pm on Wednesday, May 4)

  1. There is a universe of research to explore in computer science, economics, political science, and elsewhere. I will touch on these at times, but the focus here will be in sociology. ↩︎

Last updated on Jul 29, 2022

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