Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
| Online Publication Date: 20 Oct 2011
Unblocking the Path to Effective Block Modeling in Social Movement Research
Unblocking the Path to Effective Block Modeling in Social Movement Research
Page Range: 283 – 302
Key studies of social movement networks use block modelling to uncover movement network structures. While it is promising to see mathematical sociology techniques applied here, there are grounds for engendering an even closer connection between these two fields of study. The mathematical sociology literature recommends, for example, that analyzed networks should be complete and relatively dense, that some degree of deduction should be applied to select the "best" model, that levels of equivalence and/or error scores should be specified, and that reliable and appropriate algorithms and levels of equivalence should be carefully selected. Some dilemmas involved in block modelling analysis are demonstrated through block modelling analysis of interorganizational networking in Friends of the Earth International (FoEI). This illustrates that, in the absence of the robust analytical procedures recommended by mathematical sociologists, block models are unable to uncover the structure of social movement networks.
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