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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="simple" lang="simple" dir="ltr"> <head><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://simple.wikipedia.org:80/wiki/Social_network","20060215142636","https://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1140013596"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/> <meta name="keywords" content="Social network,Church,Community,Contact network,Help,Mosque,Power structure,Psychology,Religion,Social capital,Sociology"/> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/web/20060215142636im_/http://simple.wikipedia.org/favicon.ico"/> <link rel="copyright" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060215142636/http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html"/> <title>Social network - Simple English Wikipedia</title> <style type="text/css" media="screen,projection">/*<![CDATA[*/ @import "/web/20060215142636cs_/http://simple.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/monobook/main.css?5"; /*]]>*/</style> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="print" href="/web/20060215142636cs_/http://simple.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/commonPrint.css"/>      <script type="text/javascript" src="/web/20060215142636js_/http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=-&action=raw&gen=js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/web/20060215142636js_/http://simple.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/wikibits.js"></script> <style type="text/css">/*<![CDATA[*/ @import "/web/20060215142636cs_/http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MediaWiki:Common.css&action=raw&ctype=text/css&smaxage=2678400"; @import "/web/20060215142636cs_/http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MediaWiki:Monobook.css&action=raw&ctype=text/css&smaxage=2678400"; @import "/web/20060215142636cs_/http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=-&action=raw&gen=css&maxage=2678400"; /*]]>*/</style> </head> <body class="ns-0 ltr"> <div id="globalWrapper"> <div id="column-content"> <div id="content"> <a name="top" id="top"></a> <h1 class="firstHeading">Social network</h1> <div id="bodyContent"> <h3 id="siteSub">From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.</h3> <div id="contentSub"></div> <div id="jump-to-nav">Jump to: <a href="#column-one">navigation</a>, <a href="#searchInput">search</a></div>  <p>A <b>social network</b> is a set of social actors (e.g. people, organizations, communities, nations) and a set of social relationships (e.g. friendship/affect, communication, economic transactions, interactions, kinship, authority/hierarchy, trust, social support, diffusion, contagion, shared memberships) among them. Considering social relationships as a network calls attention in some manner (e.g. graphically, analytically) to the importance of the pattern or structure of the set of relationships.</p> <p>A personal social network is the pattern of relationships among a set of actors who have a relationship to a particular focal person. A community social network is the a pattern of relationships among a set of people and/or organizations in a <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community" title="Community">community</a>. Each of these networks can involve <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Social_support&action=edit" class="new" title="Social support">social support</a>, provide people with a sense of <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community" title="Community">community</a> and lead them to <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help" title="Help">help</a> and <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Protect&action=edit" class="new" title="Protect">protect</a> each other.</p> <p>How big a personal network can become depends on the individual and the type of relationships considered. The set of people that a person knows well or with whom a person frequently interacts seldom exceeds several hundred. Similarly as the size of a community network grows maintaining relationships among all or even most members is strained by sheer size. There is a <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Law_of_150&action=edit" class="new" title="Law of 150">Law of 150</a> which suggests that about 150 persons is the best size for a <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village" title="Village">village</a> or large <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Clan&action=edit" class="new" title="Clan">clan</a>. Many experts think that a <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Corporation&action=edit" class="new" title="Corporation">corporation</a> has an ideal size of about 70 people: these people and their <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spouse&action=edit" class="new" title="Spouse">spouses</a> would also fit as a large social network.</p> <p><a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_capital" title="Social capital">Social capital</a> refers to properties of social relationships (i.e. a network) which can be utilized to yield a desired result or return, just as <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Human_capital&action=edit" class="new" title="Human capital">human capital</a> are skills and talents resident in a person that can be used to achieve a desired result and (economic) <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Capital_%28economics%29&action=edit" class="new" title="Capital (economics)">capital</a> are material items that can be used to yield a desired result (e.g. new product, profit). One example of social capital is people in a community network who are willing to help each other. This use of a social network is most obvious during <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Disaster_recovery&action=edit" class="new" title="Disaster recovery">disaster recovery</a>. At that time people often come forward to help each other. Other examples are people using their social network to find employment or to aid their career.</p> <p>In <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology" title="Psychology">psychology</a>, a <b>free rider</b> is a person who uses the social network but does not contribute help when required. It is often thought that <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_structure" title="Power structure">power structures</a> <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Evolve&action=edit" class="new" title="Evolve">evolve</a> from the need to detect and exclude such free riders. Social networks are vulnerable to them, since the circumstances where help is required, like <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Disaster&action=edit" class="new" title="Disaster">disasters</a>, occur by surprise. It might happen that someone cannot help at that one time - it might also happen that they are not there the next time. Only after a lot of time does it become obvious who is and is not contributing to the <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Safety&action=edit" class="new" title="Safety">safety</a> of the group, or who is avoiding the group when people really need their help.</p> <p>Some social networks are held together by the ties of <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion" title="Religion">religion</a>. A <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosque" title="Mosque">mosque</a>, <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church" title="Church">church</a> or <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple" title="Temple">temple</a> is almost always a center of a social network, and often that network has a name and an identity of its own that is not that of the religious organization.</p> <p>See also: <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_network" title="Contact network">contact network</a></p> <div class="editsection" style="float:right;margin-left:5px;">[<a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Social_network&action=edit&section=1" title="Social network">edit</a>]</div> <p><a name="Sources" id="Sources"></a></p> <h2>Sources</h2> <p>The <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Law_of_150&action=edit" class="new" title="Law of 150">Law of 150</a> is well documented by <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robin_Dunbar&action=edit" class="new" title="Robin Dunbar">Robin Dunbar</a>, British Anthropologist, Professor of Psychology, University of Liverpool, in R. I. M. Dunbar, <i>[["Neocortex size as a constraint on group size in primates,"]</i> Journal of Human Evolution (1992), vol. 20, pp. 469-493 - it is also proposed by some branches of <a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology" title="Sociology">sociology</a>.</p>  <div class="printfooter"> Retrieved from "<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network">http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network</a>"</div>  <div class="visualClear"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="column-one"> <div id="p-cactions" class="portlet"> <h5>Views</h5> <ul> <li id="ca-nstab-main" class="selected"><a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network">Article</a></li> <li id="ca-talk" class="new"><a href="/web/20060215142636/http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Social_network&action=edit">Discussion</a></li> <li id="ca-edit"><a 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