Hi Christina

More on the costs and uses of sustaining ties:

DOUGLAS Mary and ISHERWOOD Baron (1979) The World of Goods London: Allen
Lane

It's a classic now but very interesting things to say - one of my
favourite quotes:

'Anyone with influence and status would be a fool to get enmeshed with
high frequency responsibilities.'
 (Douglas and Isherwood 1979:120) 

And my linked observations on this in my PhD thesis "Negotiating Spaces:
Deploying Ethnography Acquaintanceship And Other Resources In Rochdale"
(Poland, 2002:98)

"Douglas and Isherwood have analysed the price of socially and
economically valuable information in terms of investments in and means
of controlling one's own time.  They emphasise the incompatibility of
the periodicities of household work with making oneself available for
high status and non local gatherings to exchange specialised information
and contacts.  Such social occasions, underpinned by a high scale of
expenditure on a wide range of resources, can be a means to underwrite
social and spatial mobility.  Where an individual, often a man, is
successful in committing such an expenditure of time, it is often a cost
borne by other peoples', often womens', acceptance of constraints on
their time established within exchanges where most are unable to deploy
resources to 'trade upwards' into profit, commodity accumulation and
lifestyle enhancement."

Best

Fiona


>-----Original Message-----
>From: Social Network Analysis Group 
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Christina Prell
>Sent: Friday, June 27, 2008 1:49 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: how many strong ties can an actor support (or maintain)?
>
>...ah...Tipping Point. Thank you. Good suggestion. 
>
>Best wishes, Christina
>
>Quoting Nick Crossley <[log in to unmask]>:
>
>> Hi Christina,
>> 
>>    thanks for breaking the silence. I don't know if others 
>have read  
>> anything relevant (hint, hint).
>> 
>> The only thing I remember reading is in the Malcome Gladwell book,  
>> 'Tipping Point'. It's pop science stuff but he does devote a 
>chapter  
>> to some magic number, beyond which it becomes difficult to sustain  
>> meaningful ties. And I seem to remember that he cites 
>academic work to  
>> support his case. Can't remember what the number was and it wasn't  
>> specifically tied to 'strong ties' (doesn't Watts say something in  
>> 'Six Degrees'?).
>> 
>> Might also be worth looking at Simmel on 'the number of 
>members...size  
>> of the group'. As well as discussing the importance of size he also  
>> does an interesting discussion of how situations change with each  
>> person added to a group (so there is no magic number, as such, but  
>> rather each number is unique and magic). Of course threshold and  
>> critical mass models (phase transition etc.) suggest that 
>may not be  
>> entirely true but it is interesting and might give you a way of  
>> avoiding giving a single number.
>> 
>>    Best - Nick
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Quoting Christina Prell <[log in to unmask]>:
>> 
>> > Hello group,
>> >
>> > I have been doing a lit search for research addressing the above   
>> > question, and
>> > so far have come up with...nothing.
>> >
>> > I can't believe there hasn't been research done on 
>this...does anyone in
>> the
>> > group know of anything?
>> >
>> > Hope all are well, Best, Christina
>> >
>> > --
>> > Christina Prell, PhD in Communication and Rhetoric
>> > Lecturer in Sociology, University of Sheffield
>> >
>> > Mail:
>> > Sociological Studies Department
>> > Elmfield Building
>> > Northumberland Road
>> > S10 2TU Sheffield, UK
>> >
>> > Phone: (0)114 222 6402
>> > Email: [log in to unmask]
>> >
>> 
>> 
>> 
>
>
>-- 
>Christina Prell, PhD in Communication and Rhetoric
>Lecturer in Sociology, University of Sheffield
>
>Mail: 
>Sociological Studies Department
>Elmfield Building
>Northumberland Road
>S10 2TU Sheffield, UK
> 
>Phone in UK: 0114 222 6402
>International phone number: +44 114 222 6402
>Email: [log in to unmask]
>