Social Groups and Social Control

Introduction

Over the past few years, a great deal of media attention has been given to online social networking, especially networking Web sites heavily used by teens, such as MySpace and Facebook. Many people believe that the growing use of these sites is causing changes in the nature of social relationships that will, perhaps, have a profound effect on society. The question of whether this new form of relationship is good or bad has become increasingly controversial. This paper discusses network theory in relation with social networking. Network theory explores the structure of relations among social entities and suggests that the pattern of social ties affects the allocation of resources and, therefore, has implications for social change beyond the scope of an independent agency. Relations among organizations, individuals, or groups may be studied from this perspective. Network theory has enabled the quantitative analysis of the structure of relationships and interactions.

Discussion

Rooted in the work of Georg Simmel, network theory conceptualizes social relations as sets of roles and positions and describes the links between them. Individuals are seen as occupying positions and roles rather than existing as compilations of specific attributes. Network theory derives its power not from classifying individuals by their attributes but by aggregating regularity in the patterns of relations among actors. These patterns of ties affect the behaviors available to individual actors. (Harary, 12-15)

In the fanatical view, some sociologists contend that all social phenomena can be explained by social structure. This exclusively structuralist standpoint rejects the individual agency championed by rational choice theorists and others. Network theory has been used in empirical studies of diverse topics such as explorations of the structure of effective relationships, flows of goods or information between organizations, shared membership of boards of directors, and patterns of sexually-transmitted disease transmission. What these studies have in common is an ability to link micro-level and macro-level processes. (Helft, 65)

Social Networking, Network theory and Privacy

A significant amount of attention has been paid over the past decade to issues of privacy on the Internet. Some people simply assume that their activities online are being tracked by advertisers for marketing purposes. Others, meanwhile, worry about increased government surveillance of people's online activity since the U.S. began its “war on terror” in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Many people, however, willingly post personal information about themselves on the Internet for all the world to see. Indeed, since the turn of the 21st century, millions of Americans have joined social networking websites, virtual spaces in which people can keep in touch with their friends and colleagues, as well as meet creative people. As of July 2010, Facebook, the most popular social networking site, boasted more than 500 million unique users, 200 million more people than the entire U.S. population. Facebook users maintain a list of friends who can see all the information they post about themselves; users not on an individual's friend list, typically cannot see any information that the individual does not want them ...