Review: Understanding Social Networks by Charles Kadushin

9780195379471

I stumbled on Charles Kadushin’s excellent book Understanding Social Networks: Theories, Concepts, and Findings (find in a library) last year while preparing for my PhD qualifying exams. I already own Wasserman and Faust’s Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications, which is pretty much the go-to text and reference on SNA, as well as Borgatti, Everett, and Johnson’s Analyzing Social Networks but as a social scientist, I was looking for social science applications of network science, and Kadushin’s highly accessible book fit the bill nicely.

Kadushin, emeritus Professor of Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center, has been engaged in social science research on network topics since the mid 1960s and has example after example of not only his own work with networks in social science, but also citations of all of the other social scientists I’d expect to see: Ron Burt, Ed Laumann, Stanley Milgram, Stephen Borgatti, Daniel Brass, and Barry Wellman, to name only a few.

Kadushin takes a decided and purposefully social approach to social networks, noting in his introduction that although network science can be applied to power grids, for example, understanding social networks really requires examining them “as if people mattered.” Kadushin proceeds to explore both the psychological and sociological theories underpinning networks as well as the social consequences of networks and their structures.

The first few chapters provide an overview of network concepts, moving from individual network members (Chapter 2) through entire social networks and their subcomponents and network properties (Chapter 3) and finally network segmentation (Chapter 4).

Chapter 5 explores the psychological foundations of social networks and the book continues through successive levels, next examining small groups and leaders (Chapter 6), then entire organizations (Chapter 7), small-world networks and community structures (Chapter 8), followed by network processes like influence and diffusion (Chapter 9). Chapter 10 explores social capital as a function of networks and network position and Chapter 11 gives much-needed attention to ethical dilemmas in social network research. Finally, Chapter 12 reviews “ten master ideas” of social networks.

I found Kadushin’s book extremely helpful in pointing to citations of social network analysis applied to social science. For any social scientist interested in social networks, I’d strongly recommend starting with Understanding Social Networks (with Borgatti, Everett, and Johnson’s Analyzing Social Networks as a second choice). I will also note that while Kadushin focuses on social science, he does not shy away from covering the work of physicists and others on networks, though he avoids mathematics in his explanations (but references the appropriate papers).

Likewise, for the general reader, I can’t think of a better book that explains social networks and their applications to social science and social ideas than what Kadushin offers here. An additional strength of the book is Kadushin’s enjoyable writing style and clear and concise recap at the end of each chapter in which he informs the reader “where we are now.”

My physical copy of Understanding Social Networks: Theories, Concepts, and Findings is heavily annotated so I also ended up buying the Kindle version, which was only $9.99 at the time of this writing. (The paperback version is $19.96 on Amazon at the time of this writing, but Amazon’s prices do regularly fluctuate).

In sum, Kadushin’s Understanding Social Networks: Theories, Concepts, and Findings (find in a library) is probably the most enjoyable book on social networks I’ve read and has been particularly helpful in identifying particular applications of network science in the social sciences.

Review: Understanding Social Networks by Charles Kadushin